Video shows a team of home inspectors in Los Angeles giving a group of about a dozen squatters a reality check before entering their homes, changing locks and boarding up windows. ing.
Cellphone video taken in the front yard of a San Fernando Valley home earlier this month shows one of the squatters telling a police officer in the front yard, “The police are coming.”
“That’s fine,” the inspector replies. “I’m going in.”
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Still images taken from cell phone video show the squatters eventually beginning to drag their belongings out of the house as home inspectors inspect it. (Illegal Occupation Unit/Local News X/TMX)
A group known as the Squatter Squad shot the video and said they have been legally removing squatters from private land since 2018.
They use a variety of legal techniques applied on a case-by-case basis to invade homes and remove people who refuse to leave.
“This was a very tricky and complicated job,” said Rand Fehrenbach, a member of the squatter squad.
The intruders believed they needed three days’ notice through the courthouse to break into the house. But they were wrong. He said building inspections only require 24 hours’ notice and do not need to go through the courts.
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Still images taken from cellphone video show the squatters eventually beginning to drag their belongings out of the home as home inspectors inspect the home they had entered. (Illegal Occupation Unit/Local News X/TMX)
“They were just talking nonsense,” he added.
However, the squatters were seen recording videos of themselves, repeatedly insisting that inspectors must pass through a courtroom before entering, and warning that they had called the police.
“I’m going to press charges,” one of the squatters said, a cigarette dangling from his mouth and a soda can in his hand.
“That’s fine,” the inspector replies. “Take me to court.”
WATCH: Los Angeles home inspector makes squatters pack their belongings before changing locks
The owner sent a team of workers and they came with their own toilets and tools.
Video shows that when officers arrived, they stood in the street and let inspectors do their work. Eventually, the squatters packed up their belongings and left, after which the squatter squad installed no-trespassing signs, put new locks on the gates, and boarded up the windows.
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Earlier this month, New York City police arrested a woman who claims a group of squatters moved into her million-dollar home and refused to leave.
Police arrived after the squatters called 911, but they did not stop housing inspectors from carrying out their duties. (Illegal Occupation Unit/Local News X/TMX)
She inherited the property when her parents died, but later discovered that squatters were living inside it.
According to the local ABC affiliate, she called the police, who removed the two unknown men from the property.
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However, when she changed the locks, one of the squatters returned with another police officer and accused her of breaking into the house. She was taken away in handcuffs, but police declined to charge her with robbery charges.
An NYPD spokesperson told Fox News Digital that she was released with a citation for unlawful eviction and was not arrested.
FOX News’ Mitch Picasso contributed to this report.
