HOUSTON — A Houston family and their roommate said a man showed up to their home claiming it is now his.
They said he damaged their home and threatened to evict them. Now, Houston police are investigating the allegations.
The big question we set to answer from the beginning is why someone would think they own a home not in their name.
"Have you ever seen something like this," reporter Amanda Henderson asked.
"I've seen crazy stuff but nothing exactly like this," Thomas Perry said.
"This house is very precious to us," Aisha Martowidjojo said.
Much like any family home Aisha said it holds memories, some she will never forget.
"This is the last place that we saw our parents. Our father died of a sudden heart attack and then our mother had a stroke," Martowidjojo said.
This is why it’s difficult for Aisha to comprehend what’s happening to her family’s home.
"Everything has changed. Everything is upside down," Martowidjojo said.
Martowidjojo shares this home with her brother Hafiz and their roommate Jarrod Deverney.
On Oct. 18, 2024, Jarrod said he got a panicked message from Hafiz.
"When he told me the severity that his sister who was blind was messaging him about someone being in the house, I immediately jumped to action," Deverney said.
Martowidjojo said on that day, a man came inside the home telling her to vacate and said he was the new owner. KHOU 11 News is not naming the man as he has not been charged with a crime.
"He said that he had been in a legal dispute with my brother Hafiz and that he won the rights to the property and to renovate it," Martowidjojo said.
Deverney walked us through the home explaining the damage you see to the doors, walls and floor.
"He ripped up the carpet here. (He) ripped through the walls in an attempt I guess to fix it," Deverney said.
The three said they had to fix locks and were also missing several electronics, including Hafiz’s teletype machines. Hafiz, who is deaf, uses the machines to help communicate and was out of town when it happened.
If you would like to help the family financially recover from the damages, click here.
Jarrod said he called the police but the dispute didn’t end Friday night. The man returned the following day.
"He was like, 'I'm the owner. I can come and do what I want to as well.' So, I'm like, all right, bro, you can go in, but I just called the police again," Jarrod said.
Before police got to the home for the second time, real estate investor Thomas Perry arrived.
"I buy fix and flip a lot of houses and sometimes the properties that I buy are behind in taxes," Perry said.
This is the case for the house Aisha, Hafiz and Jarrod live in, and per their most recent property tax statement in May 2024, the siblings owed nearly $19,000.
The Harris County Tax Office said the home is in pending property litigation. A suit has been filed by the county against the deceased parents to pay property taxes as their names are still on the deed of the house.
Harris County officials said the suit is in its early stages and the house is not set to be sold by them.
Perry said homes like these end up in his database. He showed up to ask the siblings if they were interested in selling before speaking with the man who claimed to be the new owner.
"Outside of meeting him on that Saturday afternoon, I've, I've never seen him before. He claimed that he did that three years ago, he had paid off the taxes. And I said, well, how could you have paid off the taxes if it's $18,000 behind in taxes," Perry asked.
Hafiz said he has been making payments. We are working to confirm if anyone else has. We spoke with local real estate attorney Richard Weaver about property tax payments. Weaver is not working on the current suit that’s been filed.
"In Texas, if someone pays your property taxes for you, tell them thank you. Just because they pay your property taxes for one, two, three years does not give them ownership rights," Weaver said.
We did reach the man claiming to be the new homeowner. In a text message, he said he was trying to take over the house through adverse possession and believed it to be unoccupied.
Adverse possession is the legal process of taking ownership of an unoccupied property that you are not the original owner of by occupying it for some time set by law.
While the man admits to placing locks on gates and doors he denies remodeling or renovating the home. This is different than what he told Jarrod in texts provided to us on Oct. 18, 2024.
"It was just like we're pretty much on our own to deal with it," Jarrod said.
The Harris County Constable’s Office is who serves a citation alerting the defendants they’re facing property tax litigation.
The home is located in located in Precinct Five. A representative said there’s nothing civil or patrol-related for the house right now. Harris County’s Tax Office said they have been unable to reach the defendants, who would in this case be the parents, as they died a few years back. Now the suit moves to an appointment with an ad-litem attorney.
If you ever find yourself in a situation like this you are encouraged to call the police, which is exactly what happened in this case. Houston police said their Property and Financial Crimes Division is investigating what happened.
After receiving the text from the man who claimed to be the new homeowner we offered a chance at an on-camera interview. We explained we would like him to further explain why he was trying to focus on this home for adverse possession and answer additional questions we have. At this time, he has not responded.