A grandfather’s kind act backfired after he took pity on a family struggling to find a place to rent and let them live with him.
Trevor lives alone in a large house north of Brisbane, so when his work colleague Katie told him her family desperately needed a place to stay, he welcomed them into his home.
But ten months later, everything had turned into a nightmare: Katie, her husband Matt and their three children were still there and refused to leave.
“I’m a prisoner in my own house,” Trevor said. A current issue crying. “I want these people kicked out of my house.”
He had done everything he could to accommodate the family, including moving to grandma’s apartment downstairs so they could run the house.
Trevor claimed the family had overstayed their welcome and left him distraught at what his life had become.
“I think there are squatters in my house,” Trevor said. ‘Don’t I have any legal rights in my own home? I don’t feel it. This is my home, my land, I pay the rates, I pay the bills.’
Neither police nor lawyers were able to move the family, leading Trevor to turn to the media for help and the family eventually moved.
Trevor (pictured) lives alone in a large house north of Brisbane, so when his work colleague Katie said her family desperately needed a place to stay, he welcomed them into his home.
Trevor said the family had been paying $400 a week in rent, but claimed they stopped paying weeks ago.
‘I feel bad for them. “I feel bad for having had to go to these extremes… I don’t want to hurt anyone,” he said.
As a last resort, he turned off the electricity and water to the house.
‘What does a desperate person do?’ said.
Katie and her husband denied squatting in the house, saying they would move out “when we can find a place.”
“I don’t like you guys,” Trevor said.
The couple said the reason they refused to leave was because of a dispute over Trevor’s car, which they had been using for six months and wanted to buy.
They paid him $6,000 of the agreed-upon price of $12,000, but then decided they didn’t want him after all.
Trevor said he would keep the $6,000 as bail until the family moved out.
Katie (left), her husband Matt (right) and their three children overstayed their welcome.
Antonia Mercorella, from the Real Estate Institute of Queensland, said the situation was “disappointing”.
“Someone who has tried to be a good Samaritan has ended up in this unfortunate situation,” he said.
“You need to make sure you document the nature of the relationship so that everyone has their eyes wide open and understands what their rights and obligations are.”
Trevor offered to “halve” the $6,000 and end the matter; the couple agreed to the engagement and eventually moved in.
“They just left and left a mess, but it’s okay, I’ll clean it up,” Trevor said.
