A squatter who has lived inside a dead man’s house for the best part of a decade has allowed his former owner’s daughter in to retrieve family treasures.
Donna Kent, the rightful owner of the home, inherited the property from her father, who died in 2012, but is now gaining access to her father’s trove of heirlooms she once loved. NewsNation reported.
Kyle, the squatter who has been living in Kent’s home, told the network’s Morning In America team that he has been waiting for her visit for a long time.
He has been living in the New York home for six years rent-free, but says he was happy to let Donna in to sort through his father’s old possessions and revealed why he never threw them away.
A New York home occupied for six years by a squatter has finally been visited by its rightful owner
Donna Kent reflects on how she was finally able to access her father’s possessions, 14 years after his death.
When Donna finally reached her father’s old attic, she said, “There’s so much stuff everywhere.”
Boxes of his father’s worldly possessions cluttered the dusty attic, which, like the rest of the house, was in a state of semi-decay.
Kent sorted through a stack of old family photographs, baseball cards, bookmarks with frayed edges and yellowed pages, and other knick-knacks from decades past.
“At this point, to be honest, I’m a little overwhelmed,” Kent said, after nervously climbing some flimsy stairs to the attic.
In a shocking moment, Kent picks up what appears to be a container full of ashes.
“We think we found some people’s ashes in containers, but we don’t know who they are,” he said.
Donna Kent was finally able to tidy up her father’s attic, 14 years after his death.
Kyle, whose last name is unknown, identifies himself as a squatter only on a technicality
For a second he wonders if they are the remains of his father or other relatives.
But shortly after that surprising moment, she reveals that the cans are most likely filled with family pets.
“It makes me feel a little better that there are pets and not people up here,” she said.
The nature of Kent’s relationship with his father is not entirely clear, but he said he hoped to gain some closure with the excavation around the attic.
‘I always felt there was something there that gave me information, a glimpse into my father’s life. “It’s nice to be able to walk into the house and see it with my own eyes,” he said.
Kent’s father died in 2012; For unclear reasons, he is only now attempting to gain access to what is rightfully his property.
Kent said he had been searching for some degree of information about his father’s life that he thought he might find in his old possessions.
Kyle told the news team that despite living in a house that doesn’t belong to him, he felt a duty to protect what wasn’t his.
“I thought someone would eventually show up, but no one showed up,” said the benevolent squatter.
“I clearly understood the situation and that someone would come back,” he said.
‘And how would you feel if I told you that I threw away your parents’ property?’
For his part, Kyle maintains that he’s a good squatter, not the type to cause trouble or operate with malicious intent.
“Technically,” he admitted, he is a squatter, “but I didn’t break in or trespass,” he said.
“It’s just that they stopped coming to collect rent.”
Several high-profile cases have highlighted the difficult legal situation landlords find themselves in when sole tenants, or people who have never paid rent, refuse to vacate a property.
Fortunately, they were nothing more than the remains of a long-dead pet hidden among other mementos, including decades of family photographs.
In recent months, it has become clear just how much of a problem the squatting epidemic is in New York.
Several high-profile cases have highlighted the difficult legal situation landlords find themselves in when sole tenants, or people who have never paid rent, refuse to vacate a property.
One squatter who spoke to the NewsNation team defended their behavior, saying their occupation of several structures is preferable to ‘crack addicts’ who might be there.
‘There are houses I went into and there are crack addicts there, in the walls, trying to steal the pipes. What they do, you wouldn’t imagine. So, we are actually a blessing,’ he argued.
