A kindhearted Kentucky homeowner claims he was left homeless after a judge sided with his friends-turned-squatters who stayed in his garage for months and obtained a court order to force him off the property.
Daniel Toma offered to help his friend, Amy Davis, and her boyfriend, Tyler Sencuk, stay in the garage of his Valley Station home in Louisville over the summer when the couple’s car broke down, according to WAVE.
Toma said Sencuk was in his driveway “working on the car for days,” seemingly to no avail.
“I didn’t want to throw them out on the street, I was just trying to be kind,” Toma told the outlet.
Toma then noticed the couple had laid out a mattress in his garage and were quickly making themselves at home.
The couple allegedly changed the garage lock, had Spectrum install cable, and started getting mail sent to his address, all while living rent-free.
With no lease agreement and overstaying their welcome, Toma said he enlisted the help of his roommates to get them out of his house, but “they wouldn’t leave.”
“We tried to tell them to leave. He started saying (they) had squatters rights,” Toma shared.
Toma said he was through with their shenanigans around Labor Day and posted a 30-day eviction notice, hoping to scare them off.
The suspected squatting couple, however, fired back even harder.
Sencuk had allegedly gotten into an altercation with Toma’s roommate soon after the notice was posted, which escalated into blows between the two.
Sencuk filed an emergency protective order against Toma, according to the outlet.
The order claimed Toma was Sencuk’s roommate, and the judge granted it, seemingly unaware that Toma owned the home.
A judge granted the order to keep Toma from coming within 500 feet of the couple or his house.
“I just want this nightmare to end. I’ve been homeless the last few days,” he told the outlet. “I feel like I have no power. I feel like I have no rights.”
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Sencuk wrote in an email to WAVE that he allegedly had an agreement with Toma to perform maintenance around the home, and in return, he and Davis would be allowed to stay at the home for his services.
Toma denies ever coming to such an agreement with his “friend” and her boyfriend.
“The bills are in my name. I need to take care of things, and I want to sleep in my own bed too,” Toma told the outlet.
It’s legal for squatters to stay on the property as long as the owner has not expressed that the individuals are not welcome, according to Kentucky Revised Statutes Chapter 383.560.
To get rid of squatters, the property owner must file a formal eviction with the court.
Fortunately for Toma, Sencuk has since moved out. It’s unclear if Davis has moved out with him.
However, Toma is left dealing with the protective order against him.
He is due in court this week to challenge the order, WAVE reported.
