Squatters forced out of family's home

SOUTHWEST MIAMI-DADE, Fla. (WSVN) -- Authorities have forced out a family found occupying a homeowner's residence.

Juan Luis Quinones owns a 5 bedroom, 3 bathroom home along Southwest 110th Avenue in Southwest Miami-Dade.

Quinones is going through a short sale and has not lived in the home for three months. "We came to check the property, and they took the gates off, clear off the rest of the property, and we came here, and we were surprised there was a family here. A lady came around back, and we were like, 'What's going on?'" said John Sierra, Quinones' broker. "It's a surprise. We've heard about it before, but it's kinda different when it happens to you."

The homeowner found a man, his wife and their young son living in his home. The woman told him the family moved into the house on Sunday.

According to Quinones, he had never seen or talked to the woman before he discovered the family occupying his home.

Miami-Dade Police showed up at the home, and the couple hand officers what they said was a lease. "He recently arrived here from Cuba," the resident's sister, Maria Gracielle-Castro, said in Spanish. "He wanted to rent a house near here. They said they were going to rent it for $1,500. He said, 'OK, fine.'"

What remains unclear is the person from whom the current residents rented the house.

Squatter situations have been on the rise recently because of the foreclosure crisis. It involves people moving into empty homes. In April, Help Me Howard with Patrick Fraser featured a story similar to that of Quinones.

In Quinones' case, authorities spent more than an hour with the Quinones family, and Sierra said, "They proved ownership with the owner and the documents, and that was enough information."

Authorities asked the family to leave, which they did.

Miami-Dade Police will continue to investigate who rented the home to the family.

The residents have been given a few days to remove their belongings from the home, with a police escort.

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