Kenneth Robinson, an American hero who found a loophole in the system to buy a $US330,000 house for 16 bucks, has sadly been evicted from his “house” because Bank of America claimed ownership of the property. Dammit. Does that mean there really aren’t any shortcuts in life?
Kenneth Robinson lived in the house for only (only?) seven months before the courts came a knocking telling him to leave. Robinson, to his credit, understands that the law isn’t with him in this situation so he’ll leave without incident, telling the Dallas Observer:
“I’m just thankful for Flower Mound and Denton County for following the proper lawful procedures,” Robinson says. “I went in doing this strictly by following a lawful process.” And now that the process has played itself out, he says, “I’m neither happy nor disappointed.”
Remember, Robinson took advantage of the little known law known as “adverse possession” where one can move into an abandoned home and have exclusive negotiating rights with the original owner. If the original owner wanted the ‘squatter’ to leave, the owner would have to pay off his mortgage and the bank would have to file a lawsuit against the squatter to get him evicted. If that doesn’t happen, under Texas occupancy laws, Robinson would have had the house if he stayed there for three years.
Well, Bank of America stepped up and claimed ownership of the house and wants it back so now Robinson is out. I guess we all still have to work hard to buy a house now. Boo. [Statesman, Dallas Observer via Consumerist]
Antonia
Thursday, February 9, 2012 at 11:41 AMSo what’s BA going to do with it now, when they haven’t done anything with it for who knows how long? Can’t have an ordinary person “win”. I guess they’ll let it go derelict and then claim it as a tax loss.
vin
Thursday, February 9, 2012 at 11:46 AMLooks like a niceee house for 330K :S
oldmate
Thursday, February 9, 2012 at 4:02 PMIts ok, where i live a house like this would cost $500k+AUS.
Adam
Thursday, February 9, 2012 at 8:50 PMHouses in America are unbelievably cheap compared to Australia.
Matt
Friday, February 10, 2012 at 12:00 AMNo, Australia is unbelievably expensive…for now.
Virus__
Thursday, February 9, 2012 at 11:55 AMI remember this story, it was an amazing loophole this man found. Can’t believe it has taken them this long to take it from him. No one can have anything nice if they go ahead and obtain it honestly.
spanner
Thursday, February 9, 2012 at 5:35 PMAdverse possession isn’t a loophole. It’s used reasonably frequently to resolve situations such as fencelines not being built in absolutely the proper position.
The essence of it: if you take possession of some land without the owner’s permission BUT without the owner noticing, and hold possession for some certain amount of time, in Texas’ case 3 years, then you can have title to that land. It’s basically the legal equivalent of let me hide here and hope noone will notice.
Saying you intend to claim adverse possession before the time limit is out is just about the most stupid thing you can do.
chugs
Thursday, February 9, 2012 at 11:58 AMi bet the bank did that just to **** his shit up.
system will never let anyone snooker it like that it without retaliation.
Abe
Thursday, February 9, 2012 at 11:59 AM$16 for 7 months!! not bad…
Corteks
Thursday, February 9, 2012 at 12:36 PM~$2 a month aint a bad rental rate :P
wsDK_II
Thursday, February 9, 2012 at 12:03 PMracist!
david
Thursday, February 9, 2012 at 1:01 PMIf only he had of rented it out for 6 months. Could have made some cash.
He will probably do the same thing in another house.
Womp
Thursday, February 9, 2012 at 3:39 PMGood luck to him, hopefully next time he will hit the magic 3 year mark.
entilzha
Thursday, February 9, 2012 at 11:24 PMcould bank of america actually provide proof of a mortgage ?
I’m surprise they know what they have on the books with all the credit default swapping.
confused
Friday, February 10, 2012 at 1:43 PMSo, how can the Bank of America claim this property? in the article it states that the ‘mortgage company closed shop’ this would mean nobody owns the house unless there is a squatter ofc. The owner didnt pay off his mortgage, lender closed down, means it should be free ($16), right? nothing to do with bank of america…