Callum Jones
A squatter residing in a dead man's house for the past six years has agreed to move out on one very strange condition.
Donna Kent's father passed away in 2021, and she ultimately inherited his home in New York.
It's believed the property was unoccupied for a period of time, but a squatter - who only gave the name Kyle - has been living at the home for the past six years.
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Kyle hadn't paid a single cent in rent while at the house, so he had a feeling someone would turn up one day, but it took Donna six years to do so.
So when Donna finally decided to check out the house, she was welcomed in by the squatter.
“I figured eventually somebody would show up, but nobody showed up,” Kyle told NewsNation. "I understood the situation clearly that somebody would come back and how would it make them feel if I told them I threw away their parents’ property."
Kyle also maintains he has done nothing illegal.
"I am [a squatter]. Technically that is what it is, but I didn’t break in, and I didn’t come in illegally," he told NewsNation. "It’s just, they stopped coming and collecting rent."
All of Donna's late father's items remain in good condition, with the squatter storing them in the attic of the home.
It's unclear exactly what kind of relationship Donna had with her father, but she said she hoped that finally retrieving the memorabilia would give 'a glimpse into my dad’s life'.
In a feature for NewsNation, Donna sifted through her dad's belongings, reminiscing about past times.
"At this point, I’m just sort of overwhelmed to be honest," Donna said upon seeing the piles of things," she said.
As for the property, Kyle will vacate it if the late owner's family pays for his moving costs.
“It’s a really weird story," Donna told the New York Post.
"He wants us to pay his moving expenses when he leaves, which is kinda crazy. But I guess it’s cheaper than going the legal route."
For now, Donna is settling for looking through her father's belongings, though one discovery was a little unexpected.
At one stage, she found boxes of ashes which she feared might have been her father's or a different person's.
But after seeing the address that they were delivered from, Donna came to the conclusion that the remains were likely from deceased pets.
"Makes me feel a little better that it’s pets and not people up here," she added.