Chicago Woman Planned To Sell Her Vacant House — But A Stranger Moved In And Won't Leave

CHICAGO, IL — A Chicago woman hoping to sell her newly renovated Chatham home recently discovered a stranger had already moved in, according to WLS.

In May, a contractor for Danielle Cruz told her there was someone inside her vacant house and all the locks had been changed, WLS reported. Cruz called police, but the woman living in the home showed officers a lease, telling them she saw an advertisement for the house online and had already paid $8,000 to a person who said they were the landlord, according to WLS.

While Cruz is adamant she doesn’t know the woman and hasn’t leased her home, she now must either take her case to the backlogged eviction courts of Cook County or pay the unwelcome tenant to get out, WLS reported.

Mo Dadkhah, a real estate attorney in Chicago, told WLS such situations are not as uncommon as people might think. It is possible the woman living in the house moved in and created a fake lease, or that a different person broke in and claimed to be the landlord, according to WLS.

If the listing information is any indication, there have been significant upgrades to Cruz's property since it was last purchased for $58,000 in 2017. The house was most recently priced at nearly $170,000 before being de-listed last week, according to Realtor.com.

Read more from WLS.