Squatters’ rights? Homeowner forced out of home in dispute with unwanted guests

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE/Gray News) - A Kentucky homeowner says he has been forced out of his own home after letting some guests stay in his garage while they fixed their car.

Daniel Toma says the guests ended up staying three months and a court order has now taken him out of his house.

“I just want this nightmare to end. I’ve been homeless the last few days,” he said.

Toma said he wished he never invited his friend, Amy Davis, and her boyfriend, Tyler Sencuk, to his house over the summer.

According to Toma, he let them stay at his home until their car could be fixed.

“[They] were working on the car for days in the driveway, I didn’t want to throw them out on the street. I was just trying to be kind,” he said.

However, the guests put a mattress in the garage in mid-July and ended up never leaving.

Toma said they started getting mail, had Spectrum cable installed and even changed the lock on his garage without any type of rental agreement between them.

“I asked them to go, my roommates asked them to go, but they wouldn’t leave. We tried to tell them to leave. He [Sencuk] started saying [they] had squatters’ rights,” Toma said.

Sencuk declined to speak on camera about the situation but said he was doing maintenance around the house in exchange for rent – something Toma denies. He also called Toma’s claims baseless and threatened to file a lawsuit.

Toma said he put up a 30-day eviction notice around Labor Day and the situation got worse between everyone at the home.

Sencuk and one of Toma’s roommates got into a fight. Sencuk then filed an emergency protective order against Toma, which a judge granted, forcing him to stay 500 feet away from them or his house.

“I feel like I have no power. I feel like I have no rights,” Toma said.

Retired Judge McKay Chauvin said forcing an owner out of their home is not unusual. He said messy divorces could force a husband or wife out if their spouse was granted a similar order.

An eviction expert said by letting the guests stay so long, the law allows them to claim possession and Toma would have had to fight the wanted eviction in court.

Toma has a court date next week to challenge the protective order and Sencuk has appeared to move out amid the dispute.

“I need to take care of things and I want to sleep in my own bed,” Toma said.

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