An outraged Texas couple is pleading with lawmakers as their contractor-turned-squatter refuses to leave their property.
Yudith Matthews and Abram Mendez said they hired a contractor to complete tile work for their San Antonio property, which was in need of repairs.
But after he was fired for not completing the work, the contractor refused to leave and is now reportedly living in the house.
The couple even filmed the unwanted guest entering through their window despite being asked to leave.
‘We don’t have any protection. “There are legislators who are out there, who are moving forward, but we need more progress across the United States to protect us homeowners, because there is very little,” Mendez told FOX News.
The couple tried to call the police to remove him from the property, but they said the police refuse to get involved.
Yudith Matthews and Abram Mendez are pleading with lawmakers as their contractor-turned-squatter refuses to leave their property.
The contractor originally asked the couple if he could stay on the property while completing work on their home because he had gout.
“I think it’s really a trick for municipalities all over the United States to make money.”
Initially, the contractor asked the couple if he could stay on the property while completing the work because he had gout.
They agreed, drew up a contract, and Mendez filmed the squatter signing the paperwork.
But the squatter allegedly stole the phone with the images and deleted the video evidence.
The job was only supposed to take a few weeks to complete, but the contractor kept delaying the work or making excuses as to why he couldn’t work.
After the couple sent him away, he still refused to leave.
‘He must be a tramp. ‘He never even worked in the bathroom,’ Méndez said.
“The first few days he complained of gout. Then when I tried to get him a work schedule, he just gave me the runaround.
‘Little by little showing that… it was a room. It was the house she had always wanted,” she continued. “With our trust she abused us.”
Mendez and Matthews visited the police department and the officer’s office several times, but came up empty-handed.
Police told them that due to squatters’ rights in Texas, a squatter can legally obtain property through adverse means. Technically, the problem between the couple and the squatter was civil, rather than criminal, and they would have to involve lawyers for a proper judicial eviction process.
“They (the agent’s office) explained to us the right to tell the police that this is a trespass issue,” Mendez said. “We explained the law, the letter and how to enforce it, but the police didn’t want to do anything.”
The sheriff’s office said the man had 72 hours to leave, but the squatter ducked and brought more belongings to the property.
The conflict escalated when the squatter allegedly pushed Matthews while they were posting the eviction notice on the property.
To their surprise, they said the police asked the squatter if he wanted to press charges and that it was the couple’s fault for getting in their way.
Video footage showed the squatter climbing through the window of the property.
“The squatters broke into my house through the window again,” Matthews is heard saying in the video. ‘Squatters. Interrupting my work and recording me.’
“I can show you your rights,” a woman with the squatter replied to Matthews. “You are breaking the law.”
Matthews told FOX that he recorded the incident in hopes of providing evidence that he was damaging his home and trespassing.
Video footage showed the squatter climbing through the window of the property accompanied by another person.
The couple has had to take legal action and formally begin an eviction process
“I was recording it to have some proof of what was going on,” Matthews said.
‘We called the police and received no help from them. Instead, the police told him that he… has the right to stay (on) the property.’
The squatter has caused $2,000 worth of damage to the home, according to the couple.
“He kicked in a door to get access to a bathroom… he broke windows,” Mendez said. ‘He illegally accessed electricity. We called code enforcement to try to get it out.
Mendez claimed he spent hundreds of dollars just to start the eviction process.
He said he is convinced that the country’s growing squatter problem is a ruse by local governments to increase revenue.
“Don’t trust anyone,” Mendez said. “There’s not much upside to this.”