A young U.S. Army Reservist in Houston is battling a Mercedes-driving squatter who stopped paying rent after the first lieutenant was called up for active duty in Florida, and it’s costing her a small fortune to fight it.
“One person has cost me over $50,000,” 26-year-old Mikiya Barber told ABC 13. “It’s been emotionally draining to the point where I’ve had therapy. I wouldn’t wish this on anyone.”
(Video: ABC 13)
Barber proudly purchased her modest townhome last fall and chose to put it up for rent when she was called to active duty.
Enter Natasha Timmons, who, after passing Barber’s background check, signed a lease.
“The rent on the three-bedroom, two-bathroom home was $2,000 a month,” ABC 13 reported. “Timmons paid for two months, but that’s it.”
“Two months of rent, then, it started going downhill,” Barber told the news outlet. “I tried to make a payment plan for her. Then, she started threatening me with going to file bankruptcy and making sure I go through this process.”
Court records reveal that Timmons has filed “four identical bankruptcy cases” in the last two years, according to ABC 13, and, in 2003, she was convicted of theft.
Two of Timmons’ bankruptcies were filed after she took up residence in Barber’s home.
Despite crying poor, neighbors caught on video Timmons and others who are in the home behind the wheels of luxury cars and brazenly washing them in the driveway. One clip appears to show Timmons giving a white late-model Mercedes SUV a bath in front of the townhome.
On Monday, Timmons appeared via Zoom for a hearing at Harris County Court in downtown Houston and told the judge she no longer had any bankruptcy cases.
Barber was there in person when the judge ordered that Timmons begin repaying the rent at once. The squatter faces an eviction hearing on Sept. 18.
“She is living in the house and making it known she’s not leaving my house, but I’m excited for (Monday’s hearing), and she’ll be out soon,” Barber said.
“I don’t know why she doesn’t want to let go of my home,” Barber said. “I have even tried to do agreements with her, where I’m saying, ‘Hey, you don’t have to pay anything, just get out.'”
“It’s taken a toll because I love my home,” she added, vowing that she was “not going to let this deter me.”
When asked by ABC 13 for a comment, Timmons slammed the door in the reporter’s face. Barber, meanwhile, is set to return to Florida on Army duties in just a few days.
As BizPac Review has reported, squatters are causing issues for homeowners across the nation.
In Louisiana, “serial squatter” Joseph Guerin has turned the lives of homeowners Richard Craven and his wife Kristen into a nightmare. Guerin, who was evicted from the Craven’s Baton Rouge home, returned to the house on September 5, just one day after he was released from jail.
Serial squatter who tried to sell property out from under homeowner RETURNS to try again! Cops not helpful. https://t.co/Q6YxY6osHe via @BIZPACReview
— BPR based (@DumpstrFireNews) September 13, 2023
Craven changed the locks, but Guerin still “got in there” and attempted to sell the property.
“He saw it was empty, and he decided he’s going to sell it for cash money,” Craven told WBRZ 2. “And he’s just about accomplished that.”
Guerin somehow obtained documents supporting his own claim to the property — documents that the police have not allowed Craven to see.
“I’ve told them whatever he has, has got to be forged,” he said.
Documents be damned, Craven vowed that Guerin is “gonna go.”
“I’m not gonna allow a criminal to bust in the house and take control. It’s just as simple as that,” he stated. “So, it’s more than gettin’ control. He’s goin’, he’s gonna go.”
Writers and editors can be contacted at [email protected] with feedback, tips, or corrections.
Melissa Fine is the former executive editor of Casino Player, Strictly Slots, and Poker
Digest magazines. She is a UCLA graduate, news junkie, and dedicated Stargate SG-
1 fan. Melissa currently lives with her dog and two cats in a tiny town in the Sierra
Nevada foothills.
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