Posted on 06/26/2014 7:22:57 AM PDT by BenLurkin
UPLAND (CBSLA.com) — A couple in Upland says their live-in nanny refuses to leave their home.
It’s a story Only On 2.
Amy Johnson spoke to the couple who have tried everything, including legal measures, to get the nanny out.
Johnson was there when the woman was served legal papers in the home in the 1200 block of North Vallejo Way.
The couple, Marcel and Ralph Bracamonte, told Johnson the first couple of months with the nanny “were good,” but she soon stopped working and complained of health issues.
At this point, they said they asked the 64-year-old nanny to leave, but Diane Stretton refused to go. They said they served her with legal papers, but they turned out to be the wrong legal papers.
For the time being, officials told the couple the nanny can come and go as she pleases.
Police told Bracamonte there was nothing they could do.
“They told me it was now a civil matter,” Bracamonte said, “and I have to [legally] evict her. So this lady is welcome inside my house, anytime she wants, to eat my food anytime she wants and harass me basically. I’m now a victim in my home and it’s completely legal.”
A judge also ruled in the nanny’s favor because he said Bracamonte did not fill out a three-day quit notice correctly. He also said they would have to fill out the legal paperwork again.
Stretton did not want to answer Amy Johnson’s question. The reporter asked her, repeatedly, “Why won’t you leave?”
She never spoke.
Ralph Bracamonte says it’s all a nanny nightmare.
“Now, this person is in our house,” he said, “and I have to go to work. My kids are still here, my wife is still here. She towers over my wife, my kids. And I know there is nothing I can do about it.”
Marcela, a mother of three, found Stretton on Craigslist in March.
The couple agreed Stretton would live in their home, for free, in exchange of taking care of the children and some housecleaning.
“And then she wouldn’t do anything,” said Marcela. “She would stay in her room 90 percent of the day. I really did try to work with her. She would just sit in her room all day. So I told her, you either have to perform or you gotta leave.”
Stretton has three days to respond to the legal notice she got Wednesday evening.
The Bracamontes know the eviction process can take a while but they wanted to speak out to warn other families and to advise them to always use an attorney is such matters.
I wouldn’t have filed any legal papers. just wait until she leaves and change the locks. If she calls the cops, just tell them she was a “babysitter” for a week and never lived there. her job was over, and she left on her own, but they caught this criminal woman illegally trying break in & trying to burglarize their home. It’s their word against hers.
Change the locks. Let HER pay out for the legal costs to get access.
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Hippie squatter. Possibly pulled this stunt her whole adult life.
Yeah, that works too. Basically that is what I was doing. Guaranteeing the tenant their deposit back if they got out. The $1000 was really their money.
People that hired the nanny though probably did not get a deposit.
Yes, I sort of left out the details but as you have stated it, is exactly how I would do it.
I found that the shock value of an even $1000 really got the tenant’s attention.
$300, No go.
$500, I’ll think about it.
$1000, I’m outta here.
And in the larger picture, $1000 was cheap as a last resort to get a problem to move on. I was sort of a win-win.
You are exactly right. Time is money. If you do not know the process, hire a lawyer.
Judges have no patience for forms that are not filled exactly perfectly. If it is not perfect, you do not pass GO and you start over.
Constructive eviction.... big trouble..... don't do it.
Even as tempting as it might be.
Yeah, probably a good idea.
This approach can work but is dangerous.
If you end up in court, which you may, it is all about who has the most plausible story. The nanny might make a pretty good case.
Plus it's not a good strategy to commit perjury in court. People try and do it all the time, but the judge has usually heard it all before. He will see it for what it is.
;o) Very tempting. But if I promised a tenant $1000 to get out and they get out, they get the $1000. That way I don't have to look over my shoulder.
indeed... i work for a couple of lawyers, and people hire them to do proceedings like this all the time... sometimes we get clients who first tried on their own, but kept messing up along the way...
when it comes to these things, that is playing with fire... they already messed up big... now they need to get a lawyer to do their paperwork... enough of this Craig's List-trying-to-save-a-few-bucks-and-trying-to-do-our-own-paperwork shenanigans...
“But if I promised a tenant $1000 to get out”
I’m guessing you had them sign a piece of paper as well?
Oh yeah.
My mom had a renter run out on her. An older gal, never did find out what happened to her (or the two months back rent). She left her nightgown, toothbrush, luggage - everything (a house rental).
My mom had to store everything for many months as I recall in case the lady showed up again. She may have even had to place ads in the newspaper (this was 25 years ago). “Well, I didn’t store EVERYTHING. That would have needed two more lockers. I gave the firewood away, threw out six big piles of old newspapers and magazines, some broken chairs, a moldy mattress......”
Being a landlord is not for the faint of heart. I know exactly what you are talking about. There good tenants and bad tenants.
I had a tenant disappear, left mostly junk that I could legally throw away (value less than $250) but in the back shed he left a Harley. I had to store it for 6 months. After that I could legally sell it. Any excess over the storage fees I would have to give to the tenant if they ever showed up. Guy has never showed up (25 years ago).
Two main things I learned:
1) It is a business, treat it like any other business. Every tenant has a sob story, but that does not relieve them of having to pay rent and taking care of MY house.
2) It is better to lose a month’s rent letting a house stay vacant at the beginning, to find the right tenant than it is to lose 6 month’s rent at the back end because you put the wrong person in there. (I got pretty good a picking good tenants.)
A similar situation:
My neighbor let a woman stay at his home because she had nowhere to go. She moved in and stayed. After a few months he could not take it any more and told her to leave. A big argument ensued so the cops were called.
They told him that as long as her driver’s license had that address on it, and it did, and she received mail there, and she did, she could not be thrown out.
She eventually found another sucker to put her up and moved out...................
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