A squatter who has lived in a dead man’s house for almost a decade has let his former landlord’s daughter in to reclaim family treasures.
Donna Kent, the rightful owner of the house, inherited the property from her father who died in 2012, but is only now gaining access to her father’s treasure trove of once-beloved relics. NewsNation reports this.
Kyle, the squatter who lives in Kent’s house, told the network’s Morning In America team that he had been waiting for her visit for a long time.
He has lived in the New York home for six years without paying rent, but says he was happy to let Donna in to organize her father’s old belongings – and revealed why he never threw them away.
A New York home that has been occupied by a squatter for six years has finally been visited by its rightful owner
Donna Kent reflects on finally having access to her father’s belongings fourteen years after his death
When Donna finally reached her father’s old attic, she said, “There’s so much stuff everywhere.”
Boxes containing her father’s earthly belongings were scattered across the dusty attic, which, like the rest of the house, was in a state of semi-derelict.
Kent sorted through piles of old family photos, baseball cards, bindings with frayed edges and yellowed pages, and other trinkets from decades past.
“Right now, I’m honestly a little overwhelmed,” Kent said, after nervously climbing a narrow staircase to the attic.
In a shocking moment, Kent picks up what appears to be a barrel filled with ash.
“We think we have found some people’s ashes in containers, but we don’t know who they are,” she said.
Donna Kent was finally able to search her father’s attic, fourteen years after his death
Kyle, last name unknown, identifies himself as a squatter only on technical grounds
For a moment she wonders if it might be the remains of her father or other relatives.
But shortly after that eyebrow-raising moment, she reveals that the cans are likely filled with pets.
“It makes me feel better that these are pets here and not people,” she said.
The nature of Kent’s relationship with her father is not entirely clear, but she said she had hoped to gain some closure from the excavation around the attic.
‘I always felt there was something in there that gave me some information, a glimpse into my father’s life. “It’s nice that I was able to enter the house and see it with my own eyes,” she said.
Kent’s father died in 2012 – for reasons unclear, she is only now trying to gain access to what is rightfully hers
Kent said she was looking for some level of insight into her father’s life, which she thought she might find in his old belongings.
Kyle told the news crew that despite living in a house that wasn’t his, he felt a sense of duty to preserve what wasn’t his.
“I thought someone would show up eventually, but no one showed up,” the benevolent squatter said.
“I clearly understood the situation that someone was coming back,” he said.
“And how would they feel if I told them I threw away their parents’ belongings?”
For his part, Kyle claims he’s a good cracker – not the kind to cause trouble or operate with malicious intent.
“Technically,” he admitted he was a squatter, “but I didn’t break in, and I didn’t come in illegally,” he noted.
“It’s just that they stopped coming to collect the rent.”
Several high-profile cases have highlighted the legally difficult situation landlords find themselves in when one-time tenants, or those who have never paid rent at all, refuse to vacate a property.
Luckily, it was just the remains of a long-dead pet, hidden among other memorabilia, including decades of family photos
In recent months it has become clear how big the problem of the squatter epidemic is in New York.
Several high-profile cases have highlighted the legally difficult situation landlords find themselves in when one-time tenants, or those who have never paid rent at all, refuse to vacate a property.
One cracker who spoke to the NewsNation team defended his behavior, saying his occupation of several structures is preferable to the “crackheads” who might be inside.
“There’s some houses I’ve gone into and there’s crackheads in there, the walls, they’re trying to steal the pipes. You wouldn’t imagine what they do. So we are actually a blessing,” he argued.