Maryland property owners are so fed up with squatters that they’re paying a self-styled “Squatter King” thousands of dollars to do what the courts and police won’t.
Story Snapshot
- Maryland enacted two new laws in 2026 targeting fake leases and slow wrongful-detainer cases.
- A Baltimore-area contractor named DeAndre Lewis runs a business removing squatters, charging a base fee of $2,000.
- Lewis says police often tell owners they “cannot legally remove squatters” and simply leave.
- Maryland law still forces owners to go through court, get a hearing, and wait for a sheriff’s warrant.
- The new laws show state leaders finally admitting a real enforcement problem exists.
A Private Fixer Steps In Where Government Failed
Property owners across Maryland have found a new way to fight back against squatters: hire a private contractor. DeAndre Lewis built a business doing exactly that. He told WBFF/WJLA that police often “cannot legally remove squatters” and typically “just leave” the problem for the owner to solve alone.
That gap between what owners expect from law enforcement and what actually happens is the whole reason Lewis has customers. He charges a base fee of $2,000 and scales up for bigger jobs, handling what he calls “level six” removals involving as many as 50 people. That is not a hobby. That is a real business built on government’s failure to act fast.
Fake Leases Turned A Housing Problem Into A Fraud Problem
Part of what fuels this crisis is fraud. Squatters increasingly show up with fake paperwork designed to look like real leases, confusing owners and property managers who don’t know the documents are forged. Governor Wes Moore signed a law in May 2026 making it a crime to create, help create, or even possess a counterfeit real-estate lease meant to defraud someone.
Lawmakers also passed a second bill to speed up certain wrongful-detainer cases. Once an owner wins in a qualifying case, courts must now issue a removal warrant within 24 hours. That is a meaningful improvement, but it still requires owners to win in court first. Nothing about it lets an owner simply take back their own property the day a squatter moves in.
The Legal Process Still Locks Owners Out Of Their Own Homes
Maryland law never let owners handle this themselves, even before the reforms. An owner must file a wrongful-detainer complaint in District Court, wait for service and a hearing, then wait again for a judge to issue a warrant of restitution before a sheriff can remove anyone. One legal summary states plainly that landowners cannot evict squatters on their own and must go through the courts.
That process might sound reasonable on paper. But for an owner watching strangers live in their property, every extra week feels like theft with government approval. The new 24-hour warrant rule helps after a case is won, but it does nothing to speed up the weeks or months it can take just to get a hearing date in the first place.
Why This Story Matters Beyond Maryland
This is not just a Maryland problem. It is a preview of what happens anywhere government tilts the legal system so far toward “process” that owners lose practical control of their own property. When courts move slowly and police decline to act, private citizens will always step in to fill the gap, whether through contractors, self-help, or worse.
The state deserves credit for finally acting on fake leases and slow warrants. But the deeper question remains unanswered: why did it take a public “Squatter King” and national headlines before lawmakers moved at all? Property rights should not require hiring a private enforcer just to get what belongs to you back.
When property owners call Sanchez Deandre Lewis, they are often already locked out.
The Maryland contractor, known as “Mikey,” says unauthorized occupants have halted renovation projects, presented leases that owners and property managers do not recognize, and prevented his… pic.twitter.com/gQxhQJMT0N
— The Baltimore Sun (@baltimoresun) July 23, 2026
Owners in Maryland now have slightly faster tools thanks to the 2026 reforms. But until police and courts treat squatting with the urgency they treat other property crimes, businesses like Lewis’s will keep growing, and honest property owners will keep paying the price for a system too slow to protect what is theirs.
Sources:
zerohedge.com, innago.com, foxbaltimore.com, dklawmd.com, doorloop.com
