photo courtesy of Patti Peeples
Two Florida rental homeowners shockingly learned that two women and their pit bulls were squatting in their Jacksonville home without their knowledge. Patti Peeples and Dawn Tiura learned that the squatters had caused thousands in damages. According to an April 11 Fox News report, they severely damaged the Jacksonville rental home and attacked the landlords by throwing feces and bricks at them.
The pair only just got their rental home back after a handyman went to the site to make repairs before a sale and found the squatters living there. Further investigation revealed that they illegally stayed in the home for over 30 days and left behind almost $40,000 in damages behind.
Peeples and Tiura recalled, “We had an interested buyer, but the repairman we sent ahead of an inspection said that when he arrived, there was a pitbull with puppies on the sun porch. This was only 48 hours after showing it to the interested buyer.”
Peeples said that she was devastated at the damage causing the sale of the rental home to fall through because the revenue is helping to fund her retirement. Further than that, the squatters attacked her and Tiura. Peeples explained to the outlet,
“We were driving by at night, and they threw a brick at my car and damaged it, and we had the window part way down, and they threw human feces into the car.”It took $5,000 in court fees for Peeples and Tiura to get the squatters out. The damages to the rental home included holes in the wall, dog feces on the carpet, torn-out cabinets, and stolen appliances.
According to Jacksonville police, the squatters attempted to claim that they were actually the victims and were subject to a Zillow rental scam. They told authorities that they had signed a lease and paid rent and a security deposit to a supposed landlord. However, further investigations swayed court decisions in favor of Peeples and Tiura.