California has a squatting problem and now Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James is growing “concerned” about alleged squatters who have moved in to a $4.3-million mansion near his home.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, several states updated their rules to allow renters more leniency if they were unable to make their monthly payments. However, in states like California and Washington, this has given rise to unforeseen problems in which squatters stay on property they don’t own permanently, and the homeowners lose thousands of dollars in the process.
Unfortunately for James, this is exactly what appears to be happening two doors down from his Beverly Hills property. In September 2020 he purchased the lavish $36.8 million mansion previously owned by the legendary Katharine Hepburn.
He immediately knocked it down, but due to a 2-year legal battle, it took years for him to receive planning permission to begin work on his dream home. In October 2023, the NBA player finally got the green light to begin work on the plot of land
Four months later, the work was completed, but now James has another problem to deal with. Squatters have moved in to a nearby property and are throwing regular parties that have resulted in assaults, fires, and arrests, per The Daily Mail.
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Newsweek emailed a spokesperson for James for comment Friday.
According to an article on the Curbed website, residents in the area are stressed about how to handle the situation.
“Cut off their water,” one person suggested. “They’re possibly Mafia so wouldn’t want to try that,” another replied. “They are not Mafia,” someone else said. “Who said that? Cut the water,” comments on a related article read.
“One of the neighbors got in touch with LeBron James’ house manager. They were told James was very concerned.”
This isn’t the first time that James’ concern has been shared with the media.
In January, James’ house manager, who asked not to be named, told The Daily Mail that he had to keep security guards at the property 24/7 while it was being built.
“I’ve heard from my security team up there about all the crazy cars, crazy parties at night, how we’re not able to get into our property sometimes because they’re blocking the street with their cars, and just the nuisance at night with the loud music and people floating out to the streets,” he said.
“It’s one of the reasons we have security 24/7. Otherwise, there’s no need for me to have security there 24/7 because it’s just a construction site.”
Among the residents of the affluent neighborhood are singer John Legend and model Chrissy Teigen, Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane, and Stephen Levinson, the film and television producer behind Entourage and Ballers. Within a half-mile of the house reside billionaires Ron Burkle, Steve Wynn, and Jeff Bezos.
The squatters staying at the Beverly Hills property have claimed they are valid tenants, though the homeowner and property agent deny any rental agreements exist.
Squatters are becoming such a problem that a group of Californians has taken the squatting situation in the state into their own hands and created a business in which you can hire someone to get rid of illegal tenants on your property.
Lando Thomas, one of the business owners behind Southern California-based Squatter Squad, has been removing squatters since 2018. In 2023, though, he decided to team up with a few others and start a branded company that removes unruly and illegal tenants from homeowners’ properties.
“Because squatting seems to be on the rise, the courts are backed up from months to years, police can’t or won’t help, property owners feel helpless and are told taking the squatters to court is the only path to getting their property back,” Thomas previously told Newsweek.
“Even the neighbors can be victims because where there’s squatters, there’s usually bad activities going on such as drug dealing and other crimes.”
Alan Chang, the founder and president of Vested Title & Escrow, previously told Newsweek that stories like this have become more common in recent years.
“The pandemic and social media seemed to have triggered a broader awareness of eviction prevention in many metros and there will always be bad actors to take advantage of the system,” he said.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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