When Squatters Think They Can Live In A House Rent-Free | Criminal Lawyer Reacts 

You gotta applaud the home owner trying to get into real estate. And it is sad these people can ruin his property and probably set him back thousands of dollars

I am blown away with the audacity of these people to actually move furniture in, and mounting TVs. Just craziness. I feel so bad for the homeowner. Even after this gets cleared out, he will have to deal with the stress of it happening again as the property will just continue to be at risk

Everytime Bruce points out how someone doesn’t have to live in a mess, I feel like I need to pick up my room lol

True story: I’ve been in property management for 20+ years and the stories us PM’s have, will blow your mind! 😂 Here’s 1: I’m touring my model apartment home with a prospective resident. We walk in thru the back door of the model thru the bedroom that has a bathroom right outside its hallway and what do I see? A SQUATTER who not ONLY ate all the snacks in my WOW fridge, but was BUTT BOTTY HOLE ASS NAKED, IN THE SHOWER! Scared the shit outta me and was super embarrassing because again, I had a prospect with me! When I yelled for her to leave, she got mad at ME, because I wasn’t giving her privacy! As I dialed 911 she jumped out the shower, grabbed her clothes and backpack and RAN out the unit dripping wet and naked. You guessed it, I did NOT, get that lease! 😂

I’m an 81-year-old woman who loves watching Bruce’s channel, like the almost 80-year-old woman who wrote him. I enjoy true crime and court cases and Bruce’s commentary from a criminal defense attorney’s perspective is so interesting. And his wit is delightful. Who would ever think that a criminal defense attorney could be so funny? 😂 In addition to being entertaining, he gives such great advice. Thank you Bruce and Michael. I once briefly worked as a paralegal when I was in my thirties, but it was for an attorney on a products liability case, and it was so boring sifting through all the discovery material. I wish I could have worked for an attorney like Bruce.

My favorite landlord horror story was an older lady who showed up in a U Haul van to look at the place, as soon as we opened the door, she started hauling her stuff inside. It turned out the U Haul was stolen and she'd been living in it. Two months later we had her in court for the eviction and we were awarded damages and she was ordered out. She went straight from the hearing to Walmart, where she was cited for shoplifting. She seemed to think that if she gave us a partial payment that she could stay and asked if my friend could give her a ride to the bank to get the money, she told him to come on in when he was ready to go. Myfriend cheerfully took the money and told her she still owed money and had to leave. She retaliated by reporting him for tresspassing on the property and getting him cited, we had to stay an extra month for the court date in a broken down motor home (I'd hit an elk on the way to the apartments) and we were reliant on a space heater to keep us warm in the sub zero temperatures. The court date arrived and we found out that the prosecutors office had declined to pursue the charge. My friend later received a bill from the evicted deadbeat for the money she gave to him.

It’s great to see how much you appreciate the letters from viewers

That drawing from the boy in Finland was amazing!! He did a great job. 💕

Awwww that drawing ❤️That is sooooo sweet. Great artwork! Wholesome to think about the time and work taken to appreciate Bruce ❤️

One time while visiting Vancouver Canada, this lady asked me to help her move stuff in her apartment, so me, and a friend started lifting all this stuff, carrying it up the stairs and into an apartment, and then the police showed up and said she’s a homeless lady and that’s not her stuff that’s junk that was thrown on the road.

If you’re going to leave a property for an amount of time you should put anti squat bars on doors and secure all windows, take pictures of all rooms before leaving, if squatters take over they can be charged for criminal damage. If they lose or use your stuff that’s theft. If they have no receipts for stuff under your roof it’s automatically yours. If it’s unpaid tenancy under contract that’s different rules already in lace.

Thank goodness the owner cared and called the police. It's an absolute nightmare situation for the neighbors if there are squatters, doing drugs and violence, and the owner is completely absent.

Unfortunately I guess I was a squatter once… a long time ago I had an apartment in these projects and I got raided one day while I wasn’t home over some bad information. The property manager HATED me after that though… a few years later my grandmother was living in the same projects and during the week I’d come by and help around the apartment, but if the property manager saw me she’d always try and tell me to leave. Then my grandmother fell in the bathroom one day and when she did it caused a very small blood clot to travel to her brain and she had a stroke. She passed away in the hospital a couple weeks later. But there was no family members around and whoever handles social security never stopped paying her rent, so I just stayed there. I had a friend come by one day, and instead of walking down 2 flights of stairs to open the outside door I threw the building key down to him from my window. Well, that property manager saw this and called the cops trying to say she told me I’m not allowed there. Thankfully my mother who was living in Florida sent me a letter to that address so she looked dumb in front of the cops… I went to work one day, when I came back the apartment was empty and the lock was changed. Well, all my clothes were in the apartment along with my ID and some papers and the lady wouldn’t return my calls. The building had these little storage areas in the basement for each apartment. I found an empty one and stayed there for a month until I could get another place. But it was shitty always worrying if someone was going to find me one night and I’d be out in the snow. Especially because I was only there because I had no clothes and all my identification. It’s obviously different than this situation, but that’s still a pretty rough way to live.

I saw this not too long ago. Great breakdown. It's crazy how they just moved in. They seem to have " acquired" quite a bit of nice things. If only they put that effort into getting off drugs and working a real job.

I was being stalked by a neighbor after he did something unforgivable & the cops refused to investigate. He started stalking us; when i finally called, the cop told me 'our entire department's been briefed on you, in case you started making calls like this." 😳 I showed the cop what I believed to be his footprints in the pinestraw outside my window from repeated visits; as he jiggled my door handle almost every night btwn 11p & 4am. The cop said 'those aren't footprints... if they were footprints, they'd be perpendicular to the window, not parallel' 😳 Needless to say, the cop refused to take a statement again that night. I was sleeping about 2hrs/day bc he was at work so my little ones & I were safe and felt like my only choice was to buy a gun & 'accidentally forget' to lock my door so when he came around for his nightly visit, i could end it once and for all. I talked to a friend about helping me get a gun (legally, I was just clueless and not thinking straight) Thankfully he talked me out of it by saying my kids would have to deal w everything that has happened and would happen if I shot him; without me. Would that have been premeditated murder if I'd killed him?

I've represented some building owners in situations like this. Quite often, the police will tell you there's nothing they can do and that you have to go to court. From the cop's perspective, if the people living there *are* legitimate tenants, the cop is opening himself to a 1983 claim, because tenancy is a property right under the 5th amendment. I've known landlords who will falsely tell the police their tenants are squatters to try to bypass the eviction process, so it's not for nothin' that cops are wary about these situations. SO if it's *obvious* like in this case that the people are squatters, that's one thing. But if the cops can't tell, or if one of the people claims to have a lease and paid rent (and professional squatters will do this) then there is nothing cops can do. "It's a civil matter", they'll say. And much as it sucks, the cops are right. Hire a lawyer. Give each person living there notice to appear in court to defend their rights as tenants. Usually, none of them will show up. You leave with a writ of execution that you can use to get the Sheriff's office to come -- with as many people as needed -- to sweep the place clear of people. It sucks the entire sweaty ass to have to do this. But DO NOT attempt a DIY eviction. You can make yourself the "bad guy" really easy. Let the pros handle it. That said, I'd let the person with meningitis stay until some kind of arrangement could be made to move them somewhere else.

If the owner has electric turned on in that place, it would be wise to put in some kind of security, so the next time people are moving in a dining room set he'll know. If you leave it unattended in that neighborhood this will happen every week. It's pretty obvious that the premises had been left unchecked for some time. The property owner needs a real caretaker. He should hire that dog.

I'm actually surprised they didn't empty the clips into him when he said he had a gun on 'em.

It's so sweet that you keep all of your cards and letters. I love when you read them, as it's what I would say as well. There's a couple other channels, but they drink quite heavily. I don't think it's necessary to broadcast a video. You can make us laugh and learn without a bottle in front of you. Thanks Michael and Bruce. ❤😊

3:17 this woman, Janice, made MY day. Oh and omg Rita’s son drawing is something else. He is extremely talented /gifted. My favorite medium in artwork (I find, I can’t draw) is usually in pencil and/or charcoal so these mailings shared are cool af

I've had this exact experience. Unfortunately, the police did nothing, saying it's "a civil matter" & "squatters rights". They said nobody could remove them, but if they all left & place was empty I could run in and lock them out, then change locks. Naturally, they guarded the door in shifts. This went on for weeks. One day they were on a particularly bender and left the door ajar. I yelled in to the doorway, no answer (they usually cussed & threatened me) called cops & told them I think they might be dead. They went in, roused them, they all went outside. I went inside and shut the door. One chick was saying "she can't go in our house!" Cop laughed. After EMT checked them out they came back saying "were all really sorry for taking over your house and threatening your family, can we get our stuff?" I gave them their stuff because I knew they would just come break in windows if anything of theirs was left in there. Total nightmare.

I love you guys so much! I saw this the other day and hoped you would break it down. Mr Bruce and Michael, you are hands down my guilty pleasure on RU-vid!! May God bless and keep you always! ❤

I love your grandmother. She has such an adventurous life. She is proof positive that you are never too old to live life on the edge. Go gram!

We had empty apartments in my apartment building after Covid. They were so bold as to pull a Uhaul up like they fricken lived here. We had no idea until my nosey neighbor figured it out. Saw them sneaking in and out of the back window. 😬😬

Purchased a home right before COVID and the one night it was empty someone (or multiple people) squatted overnight. They left blood, needles and shit smeared everywhere even though there were working toilets. When we called the cops to report it they just told us that we had to handle it and get home security. Apparently it’s very common where I live. Luckily they left after their one night rave

There have been videos where owners of properties have called the police and was told that it wasn’t anything they could do about.

My scumbag uncle was a squatter for a while there was a whole news story and everything. They were much more unpleasant to deal with than the actual homeless people I would talk to. They were the type of people to look down on people on the street. it was a really gross situation entirely. Nothin but sympathy for the home owner lol

Pacific Heights. Old movie with the guy from Mr Mom. I forgot his name. Good movie though. He was the tenant from Hell.. Micheal Keaton. Took a few. 😅

The female cop's screaming was like nails down a blackboard. She needs to work on that. She only added to the craziness of the whole situation.

I'm in Detroit. Not only do we have a squatter on our street, he's begun dumping abandoned boats. He is scrapping them. He has turned our street into a city dump. There are at least six boats now. So there's that. 😡

Bruce you make this 73 year old lady laugh every day I thank you 😅😅😅😅😅😅

It’s ridiculous the % of our incomes we are spending on housing. Now you live below the poverty line if you are single Unless your parents have left you money, house etc. of course this is different here. but we are going to see more and more of these. The people that can do anything about the housing crisis will never be homeless nor will their momma. So they don’t care.

25:17 👍A NICE tv while squatting! EXACTLY. I’ve never owned a nice tv OR a large tv, even before I retired. I wanted one, but …

The fact that things happen like this is a testament to the housing laws in this country. If every person did the right thing, you’d still have homelessness. And that’s the gap that the law doesn’t address at all.

Much respect to taking the time to show his appreciation to his fans.

I remember that case of that man killing those kids. The fact he recorded it was insane to me. The male use to do work for the man they robbed. The kids family tried to say they were great kids and never did any wrong and it was proven they were the ppl who had been burglarizing that entire town and they were druggies and they were actually cousins. Their family tried to say that they weren’t addicts or thieves.

The house makes me think of the house from the Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

He obviously started with the inside, and judging by the paint job he did on the stairwell and door frames, he can come paint my house anyday. I Hope he gets help with the cleaning. ❤

I remember when I was a caretaker, I always hid under stuff, it didn't matter, a matress, a pile of clothes, a haystack, as long as I was hiding

The use of force continuum is no longer a thing, at least with the agencies I have worked at, because it can go from 0 to 100 quick, fast and in a hurry and sometimes you don't have the luxury to use each level of the continuum before any damage is done, sometimes you have to meet force with force.

Not only is it interesting they can "acquire" wide screen TVs, but how exactly did they get electricity? Everywhere I've ever lived you had to be the property owner or authorized tenant to get power hooked up.

I haven't gotten to the end but I'm guessing that someone posed as the owner, collected 1st, last, security and moved these ppl in here.

This makes me so conflicted. On the one hand, you've got to feel for the owner and the cops. On the other hand, it's also so sad when you witness what drugs and then addiction can do to someone. And let's not forget that these folks come from all walks of life, have families probably, and they are dealing with their own issues that landed them where they are now!!

Came for the Johnny Depp trial breakdowns and stayed for the laughs, and grandmas sketchy shenanigans 😊

I love this channel. Rivers of information and entertainment.

I remember a guy who bought a commercial building and one of the requirements were to also purchase the house across the street - the person who owned the commercial property also owned the house.. So he closed - only to find that the house across the street had squatters living in it.. The local cops wouldn't do anything, so the dude (as legal homeowner) turned off the natural gas in January in Minnesota. The squatters were gone in a couple weeks. When it's 20 below zero, trying living with no natural gas.

I've been to dayton pretty much the factories that made that down like the glass one all moved out and its just been on a decline

Hahah with the sound of the tasers and him being under that bed frame it looked and sounded like he was a mosquito, or Junebug getting fried in the light bug zapper

This bruce guy is on another level of layering stuff

My son went all the way through training then changed his mind and went on the mines. I really didn't want him to go into the force and spend my life hoping his next day at work wasn't going to be his last. The lack of respect for police these days is insane. Drug fcked and angry believing the world owes them.

So I am a housing specialist, if you are squatting because you dont have a place to live and the cops come to remove you; go with them ask about any homeless shelters, hotel programs resources, housing specalists, in your county that will help. I understand the police are scary, but they are also a community resource. They know these resources or know someone who can get you the information. Doing this worsens your housing situation by tenfold. Now this person will be MORE at risk for homelessness with this on his record. The amount of people who will house him/accept his application for housing is a million to one.

Man Mike must love looking at content for Bruce. Must be time where you say I can’t wait to see my Dad react to this. Best you tube channel.

Lol. "You know that sound?" "That's the sound of muscles siezing up." 😅😂😅

First time here, I watch similar content from other lawtubers. Love the beginning already 😂

Love Bruce's little chortles.

I sometimes think about if theres someone living in my attic but that's after watching the creepy squatter videos where people live inside the walls or basement or a secret room while the new owner goes through their lives without noticing 😂

Bruce, you're a hoot!! I listen to your show, via one ear bud all day. I work at University of Michigan in Building Services. People around me look at me as I'm cracking up, they have no idea what I'm laughing at. If they ask, i just tell them, "Bruce Rivers". They would probably think that I'm some kind of nut if i told them the main content, lol!! Yes, these stories aren't funny. However, your additional humor and sarcastic comments regarding how incredibly moronic some criminals are, have me roaring!! ("Then there's some fu"#er hiding in the closet!". "Hey, Dummy your bus is here!"), 🎉🎉etc... lmao😂😅

35:50 that sounds really elite n better than thou of you to say that, being in survival mode is a struggle I've been there and it ain't easy diggin your way up outta that hole 😢

I have family that live near the 5 oaks area that say the young man has listed the house for sale.

Love the commentary on this one. Is it a gun or a sandwich? 😂

Some squatter shot and killed two people who were coming to work on the house before the sale closed. One was shot on the porch and the other in the street 😢 he was apprehended quickly.

Bruce, omg I can’t stop laughing. You have the funniest sense of humor. Clean up your stolen shit. Hilarious 🤣

I hate screaming women too. It always rings stupidity to me. In this case even worse: it’s the police woman screaming like a completely hysterical schoolgirl. I would not feel safe with someone like that with a gun in her hands. Totally unprofessional.

Good ol Dayton, my hometown 🤗💎

I fell asleep at the beginning and when I woke up I automatically assumed the black guy in The Lakers jersey was the squatter 😂

That drawing tho!!! 😍 Kid's got a career ahead of him.

Was that the ponytail police screeming? Geez....where's a sock!!😮

Wasn't that Finlayson where the guy shot the 2 young people coming down the stairs?

33:57 Yeah that luttle girl screaming was almost as bad as the lady cop screaming too

Grandma flopping at a trap house 😂😂

No way one guy can rehab that place alone. That place is huge. Those people just moved in and made themselves comfortable 😂. That stuff didn’t get there overnight either, it had to be awhile they were in there.

28:06. I agree, I’ve seen homeless people keep an impeccable area living outside! I am messy and disorganized lol BUT, my house is clean and Lee my floors picked up, dishes done , point being, you’re absolutely correct !! Have some pride FFS!

Hey the 1930s gangster era called and they want their suit back!😂😂😂😂😂😂❤

36:22...oh I dunno, that black guy in "Blazing Saddles" did alright with his "finger gun" lol....

I once had to clean out an unit that squatters had took over. Dirty clothes, moldy food, little zip lock baggies. Real gross.

Bro her yelling noooo when he said 1 was chilling

These cops are scared shitless! Why don’t they tell that woman to get the hell out of there? They tell her she”s not in any trouble? Damn. This is insane and outrageous.

"Can't you squat neatl!" 😂I'm howling

I remember a Japanese squatting case where a woman hid and lived in the closet of a guy for months without being realized except for occasional missing food. She kept the place clean and tidy and put everything back to their original places.

Oh my gosh, how scary! The property owner is so naive and hard working. He actually thought the guy who was squatting was someone who was working because he had tools and was “working” on the place. This is what happens when you actually live a pretty honest life, I wish the very best for this gentleman and genuinely honest guy.

I feel so bad for the guy who owns that house. It will cost so much money just to clear out all that crap.

The squatters have TVs mounted and me and my husband have been in our house 14 months, still on the to do list 😂

I love that an 80 year old lady from Seattle is watching your channel. I think that’s wonderful. Bruce reading her letter made me smile.

Love your videos, Bruce. Wanted to share something from years ago that was happening in Detroit. A homeless man, not on drugs nor a drunk, squatted in an abandoned house in a bad part of Detroit. He had a job and he spent his money fixing up the place, including heating and plumbing issues. He was there for over a year until the city showed up. Because of what he did to the place, the city sold him that house for $1.00.

Kudos to that officer for knowing that if she did the typical aggressive cop shouting tactic the dog would attack, so she keeps her voice friendly and gets control. Hard situation to be in.

"If you're gonna squat, can't you squat neat?"! You read my mind Bruce. 😆 🤣 😂

Man squatters are annoying. What gives you the right to just go in someone's property without permission?

I’m surprised the cops even bothered to get involved. 99% of the time when someone claims there’s “squatters” inside the house, cops will refuse to get involved and claim it’s a “civil” issue. I’ve seen multiple videos on this before of cops refusing to get involved.

"I hate the sound of a woman screaming" I thought the EXACT same thing. To me a guy yelling, while its not calming or anything, it doesn't escalate nearly as much as a woman screaming. There's just something about it that screams emergency and puts me on edge.

I’ve been through a similar situation. Took 6 months to get them out. Lost $15,000 and they left the house completely hoarded. Months to clean and so many thousands to repair everything. The psycho lady had kids so it made it harder to get rid of them. When she left she abandoned some of her kids and the dad had to come save them from her neglect. People SUCK!!

He went from a tough guy with a gun to a man child with a girly scream after the tazers got whipped out. 😂

This has quickly become my favorite lawyer channel. Thanks for the great entertainment and knowledge fellas.

I feel terrible for that guy. You can tell there was tons of work done on the inside. Looking past all the junk these people left around, everything is brand new and lord knows what damage is left from them now.

I feel so silly, for thinking these past years that I needed to pay a mortgage when I just needed to find a vacant building.

I know that building, and its a huge building I used to live behind it...the neighborhood is historic (Paul Lawrence Dunbar's home is two doors down) and run down, about in the middle of gentrification...and a huge homeless population because the area was once blighted...I hope he can make his dream work, that building has huge potential and good bones.

I was a homeless drug addict for years and stayed in places like this. Been sober almost 7 years and I don't miss it.

"Tidy up your stolen shit." I'm dying. 😂😂😂

I love how these cops handled the dog 🥺 Could've gone bad so so quickly

I bought a rowhouse in Baltimore about 10 years ago for $30k. It was actually a fairly nice place right across from a police station but we constantly had a problem with the mail. The house was vacant for a few years before I moved in and I kept getting mail for literally hundreds of people. Packages would show up, and be gone within a few minutes (none of my actual packages were stolen). I don’t know how many times the police showed up looking for people who never lived there, a few times they would show up 10 deep with guns out. In Baltimore, there’s a ton of police and sometimes the precincts don’t communicate well so whenever they showed up the police across the street would come over and explain to the out-of-jurisdiction police how that address was used the way it was. Eventually the police stopped coming thanks to the police across the street. I was smoking a cigarette one night on the porch at 4am and swat showed up. They were going to bust in the door looking for a guy who murdered 3 people a few days before. Lucky I was out there. Jeez I don’t miss that place but I did have some wonderful conversations with the officers and being shithole Baltimore, I always watched their personal cars and called their desk officer whenever someone was breaking into their cars. We had a great relationship for the time I was there.

Bruce is a silver fox like this comment if you have a crush on Bruce.