A homeowner in Chicago became so fed up with a group of alleged squatters who refused to leave his property that he decided to move in with them.
Marco Velazquez, the owner of the property on Chicago’s South Side, was preparing to sell it when his estate agent discovered a couple inside.
ABC7 reported that Shermaine Powell-Gillard and her boyfriend Codarro claimed to have purchased the home.
Velazquez told the outlet that the couple showed police officers who were called to the address documents claiming to have a mortgage on the property.
A search of county records, however, revealed that no mortgage record existed.
Officers on the scene informed Velazquez that there was nothing they could do for him due to state laws, and that he would have to take them to civil court. He then decided to move in.
His wife and friends joined him for the overnight, and he added: “We stayed in the living room, watching the door at all times.”
‘[The couple] remained in one of the bedrooms. They have to leave at some point because they’ve had enough of us being on the property.
The next morning, the couple informed Velazquez that they would accept $8,000 in exchange for leaving the address.
He had them sign an agreement and was able to negotiate them down, paying them $4,300 to leave the house.
According to Illinois state law, officers are not permitted to remove anyone from a home.
According to Newsweek, there is a loophole that gives squatters ‘legal standing’ to occupy real estate owned by property owners.
Velazquez went on to say, ‘We didn’t want to give them money, but we heard really bad stories about squatters taking over properties for six, eight, ten months, or even a year.
A few weeks after the standoff, Valezquez told the outlet that an officer informed him that Powell-Gillard was accused of squatting on another property.
In that case, she was arrested and charged with burglary, forgery, obstructing identification, and criminal residential trespassing.
He added, “I’ve heard stories about squatters before.” I never imagined it would happen to me.
Powell-Gillard told ABC7 that she is not a squatter and that any such title is ‘false and unfounded’. There have been no charges filed in the Velazquez case.
Newsweek reported that Chicago lawmakers are attempting to change property rights laws.
Officials are considering changes to how law enforcement handles such incidents.
A proposed ‘Squatter Bill’ sponsored by State Representative La Shawn Ford has passed the state Senate and is awaiting further action.
He told the outlet, “I am distraught by Marco Velazquez’s situation.”
‘This incident is a stark reminder of the difficulties that many property owners face throughout Illinois.’
