Squatters who moved into a Texas-area home and changed the locks on the property’s owners have been evicted following investigations by local media and police.
Houston’s Linda Giang contacted ABC 13 after squatters who had lived in her home for almost a month refused to leave, even faking a lease on the residence.
One of the brazen squatters, identified as Tamisha Holmes-Bey, was confronted by the outlet and said she had moved to Texas from California to start a new life.
“No, I’m not entering a house,” said Holmes-Bey. “I got a lease and paid $6,000.”
However, public records show that the woman has lived in Texas for decades and that she has been evicted from homes in the state three times since 2019.
Police originally told Giang there was nothing they could do but give the group a deadline to move out after discovering they had forged a lease.
Houston’s Linda Giang contacted ABC 13 after squatters who had lived in her home for almost a month refused to leave, even faking a lease on the residence
One of the brazen squatters, identified as Tamisha Holmes-Bey, was confronted by the outlet and said she had moved to Texas from California to start a new life
Giang officially contacted the news channel on March 23 after showing up at the house to do garden maintenance.
After entering the house with her own key, she found the group inside.
“I had the keys with me and went inside and discovered a family of five living there. And she says she has a lease and actually emailed me the lease,” Giang said.
She asked them to leave but only came back to find they had swapped the locks.
“They locked me out of my own property,” Giang said. ‘That’s crazy!’
The so-called “contract” did not list Giang or her husband as landlords, but did name all four people found in the home, including Holmes-Bey.
She called the police to report the incident but they told her they couldn’t help her as it was a civil matter. No tickets or arrests were made.
“They broke into my house. They commit trespassing. That should be a criminal offense. You are invading my privacy. This is my property,” said Giang.
In Texas, squatters can purchase a property but must meet a very specific set of guidelines, which include having no prior knowledge of a pre-existing owner and acting in “good faith.”
Surveillance footage shared with ABC showed a locksmith arriving at the home to change the owner’s and her husband’s locks.
“I had the keys with me and went inside and discovered a family of five living there. And she says she has a lease and actually emailed me the lease,” Giang said
“They locked me out of my own property,” Giang said. ‘That’s crazy!’
The so-called “contract” did not list Giang or her husband as landlords, but did name all four people found in the home, including Holmes-Bey
This is the house that the group of squatters moved into and changed the locks
In a live broadcast outside the home last week, Holmes-Bey left the home and told the TV station she didn’t know “what’s going on”.
“I do not know what’s going on; All I know is that my kids and I moved here to start a new life from California,” the woman said at the time.
The local news reporter confronted the woman, saying the “rental agreement” included her name, her husband’s name and the names of their two children.
After Holmes-Bey mentions the document, the reporter comes back and says, “I think your husband just got a warrant out for his arrest, doesn’t he?”
The stunned woman is silent for a few seconds before responding, “Um, that’s none of their business and I don’t know.”
She then says she knows the reporter is “violating her rights” and that she will contact the United Nations for “violation of her privacy.”
The two then go back and forth arguing about the legitimacy of the lease with Holmes-Bey, explaining that she filed a police report and that the police are on her side.
However, that situation changed after police were allegedly presented with evidence that the document had been forged.
Police officers came and told the family they had until Monday to move out or they would all be charged with trespassing, ABC 13 reported.
Channel records show the woman was involved in numerous civil and criminal cases in Bell, Travis and Fort Bend counties.
Police originally told Giang there was nothing they could do but give the group a deadline to move out after discovering they had forged a lease
Station records show that Holmes-Bey was involved in numerous civil and criminal cases in Bell, Travis and Fort Bend counties
This was the inside of the house after the squatters moved out over the weekend
On Monday morning, Giang arrived to find the doors unlocked and the house empty.
“I thought we had to go through the eviction procedure. Now they’re gone, gone completely,” the real homeowner said graciously.
Eviction Attorney Brian Cweren said such situations had increased in recent years.
“We are seeing an increase in this type of fraudulent documents, people breaking into beautiful homes and trying to crouch there. We’re seeing an increase,” he said.
“I’ve been doing this for 25 years. I can’t say that I’ve seen as much as in previous years,’ said Cweren.
“It was very frustrating to deal with, but now I’m glad she’s gone and I hope lawmakers take action and change the law and protect the homeowners and not the squatters,” Giang said.
The woman told the local outlet that she and her husband have now taken the home off the rental market and put up no trespassing signs on the property.
Giang said she is considering selling the house and not being a landlord for a while.
“It was very frustrating to deal with, but now I’m glad she’s gone and I hope lawmakers take action and change the law and protect the homeowners and not the squatters,” Giang said
“We are seeing an increase in this type of fraudulent documents, people breaking into beautiful homes and trying to crouch there. We’re seeing an increase,” said attorney Brian Cweren
Giang said she is considering selling the house and not being a landlord for a while
Just last week, told the story of a man who turned the tables on squatters at his mother’s home in Northern California.
Flash Shelton posted a video of his success removing squatters from his mother’s home in less than a day.
“If they could take a house, I could take a house,” Shelton, a member of the United Handyman Association, said in the video.
“They are the squatters and they have rights. So if I become squatter after squatter, then I should have rights, right?’ he said.
Shelton watched and waited for the squatters to vacate the property, then moved in with himself and some of his own belongings, telling the others to move out immediately.