“When I turn up the pressure it’s pretty easy to get [squatters] out,” Flash Shelton tells Inside Edition.
As the country is seeing a rise in the number of squatting cases, it has also given rise to a new kind of business: squatter hunters.
Squatters can be a nightmare for property owners. Some property owners tell Inside Edition squatters moved into their properties, caused, mayhem, and refused to leave.
There's been an explosion of squatting cases. In Atlanta alone, 1,200 homes are said to be illegally occupied.
Sheriff’s deputies raided a woman’s home outside Atlanta and took into custody a man she says was a squatter.
“He had no intention of leaving,” the homeowner says.
Once she entered her home, the homeowner found the squatter’s junk everywhere.
In Riverside County, California, a woman fought to get inside the home that she and her husband had just bought. They say the previous owner refused to leave, citing COVID eviction protections. It took a 14-month legal battle before the new owners were allowed to claim their property.
In Beverly Hills, a realtor for a mansion says squatters had moved in, changed the locks, and turned the $4.5 million property into a raging party house.
A nationally prominent restaurateur, Adam Fleischman, who founded The Umami Burger restaurant chain in 2009, was recently accused of squatting at a Hollywood Hills home.
The 62-year-old Hollywood Hills homeowner reached out to someone she hoped could help. A self-taught expert on dealing with unwanted tenants.
Flash Shelton calls himself the squatter hunter.
Shelton says he is on a mission to take back properties after alleged squatters move in. Video shows him confronting Fleishman.
The confrontation continued inside the home where the squatter hunter turned the tables on the alleged squatter.
“I’m taking over this property. I am leasing this property. And I am moving my crew in and put cameras up everywhere,” Shelton told Fleishman.
“Whatever you put up, no one is going to give a ****. I’ve gotten bad publicity before,” Fleishman said.
The restaurateur denies being a squatter, claiming he had the right to live there. He moved out a week later.
“When I turn up the pressure it’s pretty easy to get them out,” Shelton tells Inside Edition.
