Leka Devatha, a Seattle property landlord, gave an interview to Fox News Digital on Wednesday about a distressing situation when she discovered her home had been severely damaged by squatters.
“With every passing day, like, okay, what are they doing inside my house?” Devatha said. She managed to evict the squatters in a record three weeks, a process that could have taken months or even years.
The issue began when Devatha received complaints about “new tenants” taking parking spots, which was puzzling as there were no new tenants. Upon investigation, it was found that the squatters had changed the locks and claimed to have a lease. Devatha confronted them and saw the damage firsthand. The squatters had left the property in a deplorable state.
“When I walked into the house, it was quite the shocker because there was food everywhere,” Devatha said. “There was dogs running around. There was trash everywhere. They hadn’t bothered to dispose of the carpet that they had removed. So there was like pieces of carpet [around the house]. The bathrooms were filthy. They even had beds in there. Like, it was crazy shocking to me. They had started to really bring their stuff and start living in there.”
A particularly shocking discovery was a stripper pole installed in the living room.
“How could someone come in to one of my properties? I worked hard. I’m not a huge estate developer. I work really hard to get to where I am and to buy this property and for someone to just abuse it that way was just it was a little gut-wrenching to me. I was in a lot of shock,” Devatha remarked.
The squatters, including one who identified as an “OnlyFans influencer” on LinkedIn, left behind various items, including the stripper pole. The total cost of the damage and cleanup is estimated to be around $30,000.
“So just the junk removal for this property is about $2,000, and then changing the carpets, repainting, and adding new kitchen cabinets because they broke our cabinets and all of that I think is about 10 or 12 grand. We’re now waiting for contractors to come in and do the work, which could take about a month. So that means we won’t be able to rent it out till January 1st or so. That’s about three months’ loss of rent. It’s about $30,000 total.”
Devatha advises other landlords to install security cameras and act swiftly if they suspect squatters. She worked with attorney Synthia A. Melton from Dimension Law Group for the eviction. Reflecting on the stress, Devatha said she “takes things in stride” and views problem-solving as a key aspect of her work.
“In the line of work that I do, I buy distressed properties and I fix them up. There’s a lot of challenges. … Every day work is so stressful. But I’ve done this for so long. I own my company for ten years. That you just kind of take everything in stride. And what you have to do is be a master of solving problems,” she said.
