Nearly 20 people have been evicted from a Milnerton house they’ve been occupying illegally for eight months.
On Tuesday May 9, the sheriff of the court put the squatters in the Redlands Road house out on the street along with their belongings.
They had first been spotted in September moving their belongings into the house which had stood empty at the time (“Milnerton tenants scammed”, Tabletalk, October 19).
The owner, John Sabio, said the court had ordered the squatters to clear out by Monday May 1, but they had failed to do so.
He claimed two of the squatters had assaulted him when he had visited the house in December to investigate what was happening.
“When we went to court, they said I instigated it because I broke a glass window to see what was going on inside,” said Mr Sabio.
The squatters had changed all the locks to the doors and Mr Sabio had to break into his own house to find out what was going on.
He said the dining room, once empty, had had between three to four beds in it when he had entered the property.
He said more than one family – at least 14 to 20 people – had been staying in the house.
In October, two of the illegal occupants who did not want to be named told Tabletalk they had signed a lease with one of the owners of the property. They claimed to have the documents to prove it, but they failed to produce them.
They claimed to have paid the owner R25 000 when signing the lease, and were upset about accusations that they were squatting on the property.
But Mr Sabio denied reaching any agreement with the squatters or taking money from them.
He said he and his wife were the sole owners of the property and he did not know who the “other owner” could be.
Since the squatters’ departure, Mr Sabio has hired two security guards to monitor the property around the clock.
“I am having the place painted and plan to rent it out,” he said.
