The landlord of a Seattle property, who successfully booted two squatters who installed a stripper pole on the property, described to Fox News Digital the horror she experienced seeing her home deteriorate from pristine condition to damages that will amount to thousands of dollars.
"With every passing day, like, okay, what are they doing inside my house?" landlord Leka Devatha said about the "emotional" ordeal she underwent as a result of squatters. She successfully evicted them after three weeks, which was record timing, when it could have lasted months or years.
Devatha said she was first made aware of squatters on her property when complaints came in about the "new tenants" taking other people's parking spots. This confused Devatha because there were no new tenants in the apartment.
When the property manager checked in on the property, it was discovered that the locks were changed, and the squatters claimed they had a lease in place. Devatha said she confronted the squatters herself, and observed property damage in the residence.
SQUATTERS ARRESTED AFTER DAUGHTERS LOCKED UP, FORCED TO EAT MATTRESS TO SURVIVE: POLICE
Devatha hired attorneys to help evict the squatters. Those fees set her back $5,000, she said.
When Devatha entered the residence after the squatters were forcibly removed by the Seattle police department, she was "shock[ed]" about what she found.
"So, because the house was just rented, and it was going to be rented again, it was in pristine condition. Each time a tenant leaves, we vacuum, we steam clean the carpets and make sure the cabinets are really clean, the bathrooms are sparkling," she said.
But the condition of the apartment was far worse than what she had imagined.
"When I walked into the house, it was quite the shocker because there was food everywhere. There was dogs running around. There was trash everywhere. They hadn't bothered to dispose of the carpet that they had removed. So there was like pieces of carpet [around the house]," she said. "The bathrooms were filthy. They even had beds in there. Like, it was crazy shocking to me. They had started to really bring their stuff and start living in there."
'SERIAL SQUATTER' FRESH OUT JAIL UP TO HER OLD TRICKS AS FORMER RESIDENTS PAY THE PRICE: OWNER
And the worst part, she said, "They had [installed] a stripper pole in the middle of my living room. I don't want to imagine what that was used for or what they were doing there."
Her immediate reaction to the stripper pole was, "How could someone come in to one of my properties? I worked hard. I'm not a huge estate developer. I work really hard to get to where I am and to buy this property and for someone to just abuse it that way was just it was a little gut-wrenching to me. I was in a lot of shock."
"One of the uninvited… lists herself as an ‘OnlyFans influencer’ on LinkedIn. The couple is now gone. They left behind clothes, a half-eaten cake, and… a stripper pole," KIRO outlet 7 reported.
FLORIDA POLICE DISMANTLE SQUATTERS' BOOBY-TRAPPED 'METH ISLAND'
"I don’t know if she was planning on creating content here or what she was doing, but it’s just scary to think that that’s what they were going to use the unit for," the landlord said.
The whole ordeal will set her back around $30,000, she said.
"So just the junk removal for this property is about $2,000, and then changing the carpets, repainting, and adding new kitchen cabinets because they broke our cabinets and all of that I think is about 10 or 12 grand," she said. "We're now waiting for contractors to come in and do the work, which could take about a month. So that means we won't be able to rent it out till January 1st or so. That's about three months' loss of rent. It's about $30,000 total."
Devatha said she recommends landlords install security cameras and take immediate action if they identify squatters on their property. Hire good attorneys, she adds, even if they can be expensive. Devatha worked with Synthia A. Melton, from Dimension Law Group, who was able to get the eviction in three weeks.
"I wasn't one to just sit back and say, okay, someone's in my house unlawfully, and I'm going to let that work itself out. I was going to get involved," Devatha said.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
As for the stress of the ordeal, Devatha said she "takes things in stride."
"In the line of work that I do, I buy distressed properties and I fix them up. There's a lot of challenges… Every day work is so stressful. But I've done this for so long. I own my company for ten years. That you just kind of take everything in stride. And what you have to do is be a master of solving problems," she said.
