- American Express Doling Out Millions To Help Save 37 Historic Sites, Including the Astrodome [KHOU; previously on Swamplot]
- Aldi Opening Store in Kemah on Oct. 24 [Prime Property]
- Pair of Squatters Trying To Claim Legal Ownership of Deceased Woman’s Heights Bungalow [KHOU]
- Zeapod Cakery Owner/Driver Developing Food Truck Park on 3 Acres on Highway 6 for Energy Corridor Workers [Culturemap]
- The Strand One of Country’s 10 Great Streets, Says American Planning Association [Houston Chronicle ($)]
- Slideshow: The Weirdness You Can Find in Houston Only on Your Bicycle [Houstonia Magazine]
- TxDOT Says Prada Marfa Installation, Like Playboy Bunny Sign, Is Illegal Roadside Advertisement [A/N Blog]
Photo of JPMorgan Chase Tower Downtown: elnina999 via Swamplot Flickr Pool
Congrats to The Strand on the APA great streets designation! I have visited both Corpus Christi and Galveston and I can say I actually preferred Galveston because of The Strand. Here’s to hoping it can build upon its success!
Wasn’t yesterday’s Headlines about squatting in Piney Point?
About those squatters on 17th in the Heights, we had a home in our neighborhood that had many thousands owed in back taxes as a result of the owner’s death years ago.
The yard was overgrown too and neighbors kept calling 311. Something worked because the city/county finally woke up and took bids on it. Sold, problem solved.
I’m sure there are a lot of hoops to jump through and papers to file but it can be be resolved. Those two women are crooks and should be treated as such.
@#2—Too funny
You cannot trespass on or steal property that has been abandoned. So no crime has taken place yet. Adverse possession is a both a legal statute and a long-held, well-recognized precept in common law. If the legal holders to the title of the home (and car probably) do not enforce it (because they are dead or in jail as in this case, or just don’t care in many others) then an outside party can legally obtain title without compensation. The “squatters” will have to come up with the back taxes though. My friend adversely possessed a small amount of property outside of town a few years ago – very interesting process.
you either have to be extremely ignorant or just have completely missed out on the past 50yrs of culture to think the prada marfa store is an advertisement just because of the presence of a brand logo.
seems to me they could easily read between the lines and let this one go rather than apply a literal meaning to it, but i guess art history doesn’t have much of a judicial precedence to back up any such decisions.
KC, your comment was genious!
Since Real Estate is about the biggest scam ever perpetrated on mankind, why shouldn’t squatters be allowed work their angle?
ahem, I got a bunch of extra o’s on sale and need to use them up.
“Squatters (thieves)”:
Hopefully they find a relative to prosecute these trespassing thieves ASAP.
So, technically speaking, whoever is the heir of the Heights property or a new owner, can go in (can’t break and enter your own property) and then act surprised as to the intruders, and exercise their right under the Castle Doctrine. Problem solved.
Those long-lost relatives better be prepared to pay three years of back property-tax, or I don’t believe those charges will stand.
Adverse possession was never intended to be a proprietary tool for people who find abandoned property that cannot be easily disposed due to probate issues or other title problems. Adverse possession is supposed to be a statute of limitations on title disputes to provide a cut off for rival claims to property. If you put down a fence on your ranch and have your cows frolic on the range for ten years, your neighbor cannot show up and tell you that your fence is 500 yards into their property. Or if you inherit property from Aunt Martha and live there for ten years, Cousin Lenny cannot show up and claim that there was a rival will that gives him the property.
The taxes wouldn’t have anything to do with the criminal case. The house does not belong to the trespassers occupying it, period. You know the ones who broke the law by breaking into it? The one who broke the law by driving a car that does not belong to them? Don’t be so quick to give them a free pass.
The squatting situation is as bad as grave digging and pissing on it at the same time. Imagine these losers sifting through all of the possessions and personal documents of the deceased. AND at the same time marking their territory like an animal. If they are willing to squat they are likely willing to expand into identity theft.