Financially Strapped Condo Owner Walks Away From Home, Loan Payments; Returns To 'Un-Foreclosed' Apartment Three Years Later To Find A Foreclosed Neighbor Squatting Comfortably On Premises; Complaints To Cops Fall On Deaf Ears

In Little Tokyo, Los Angeles, KABC-TV Channel 7 reports:

• What would you do if you left your home only to return to find a stranger moved in, changed the locks and won't leave?
  
  In 2007, Jeff Cote bought a condo in the Little Tokyo Lofts in downtown Los Angeles, Two years later, he lost his job and could no longer make the payments on his loft. Thinking it would go into foreclosure, he packed up and moved out. Cote left it locked and empty.
  
  But a few months ago, Cote found out his loft, which did not go into foreclosure, is not empty. A stranger is living in his home and has been for three years. "Memorial Day weekend, I found out a squatter was living in my loft," Cote said.
  
  Cote said the alleged squatter is Johnathan Glover, who Cote said changed the locks, painted a wall and won't leave.
  
  Court records obtained by Eyewitness News indicate Glover was evicted from his last two residences. One of those residences is the loft right next door to Cote's.
  
  "He was evicted from 311 and he moved right into my loft, which is 312," Cote said.
  
  When Cote found out about Glover, he asked him to leave. Glover said he would and even signed an agreement to move out in August. Cote thought the matter was closed and listed his loft as a short sale. That was several months ago. Since then, the squatter has refused to leave, Cote said.
  
  Cote filed a police report claiming Glover is a trespasser, but was told there was no evidence a crime had been committed, so there was nothing law enforcement could do.
  
  Dennis Block, an attorney who specializes in evictions, said by law the rightful owner cannot remove a squatter by force. In most cases, the homeowner has to file a civil action in court, prove it's their property and evict the squatter. That process can take months or even more than a year.
  
  "I think they're tantamount to being thieves, it's as simple as that," Block said. "Somehow the law doesn't look at them like that, they deem this to be a civil dispute and make a landlord file a civil lawsuit. But it's clean and simple, they're stealing."
  
  Adding to Cote's problems, no one has been paying the homeowner association dues on his loft and he recently received a bill from the association. The bill is nearly $36,000.

***

• Glover denies he is a squatter because he claims he makes monthly rent payments of $2,150 to another landlord. When asked for some proof of the payments, Glover said he always pays with cash or a money order, not checks. He also said the rent was last paid in June.
  
  [Glover's rental] agreement states the payments are to be made to a Thomas Marx with Countrywide Property Management in Citrus Heights near Sacramento. But when Eyewitness News tried to contact Marx, his cellphone number didn't work and his email came back unanswered.

***

• "The squatter claims he is going to be out about mid month," Coter said. "He told me that via text, although he has told me a lot of lies."
  
  Over this past weekend, an Eyewitness News producer spotted Glover outside the loft and asked who he was. He denied he was Glover, but later confessed to his identity. Eyewitness News followed him into the loft. He said he was in the process of moving out after three years of living there.
  
  This week, Cote finally got his loft back and his first task was to get the locks changed.

For the story, see Squatter refuses to leave LA loft for 3 years.