A decades-old family home is now the center of a high-stakes legal showdown after a Houston woman says a man squatting on the property filed an adverse possession lawsuit, essentially claiming it as his own.
Glory Gendrett says her family’s roots run deep in the Sunnyside neighborhood, where her father built the home on Clover Street nearly 70 years ago. Now, she’s fighting tooth and nail to keep what’s hers.
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“It’s a huge part of my family because my father built that house,” Gendrett shared with KPRC 2.
But what was once a symbol of generational legacy is now tangled up in unpaid taxes and a legal quagmire that’s pushed Gendrett, 73, to the edge.
Gendrett said she moved out in 2014 after a break-in left her shaken. Making matters worse, she found that she was unable to keep up with the rising property taxes. And while the deed to the property was later transferred to her and one of her sisters, the unpaid taxes ballooned into the tens of thousands, which opened the door for trouble.
Gendrett’s efforts prove to be futile
Gendrett claims a neighbor informed her that a man had broken into the home and was living on her property. She says calls to the police went nowhere — the issue, she was told, was a "civil matter." But the system didn’t make it easy for her to fight back.
“I went to different places trying to get somebody to help me get this taken care of,” Gendrett recalled. “What do I need to do, who do I need to talk to, this group, that group, you know, legal aid, a lot of different people, and I’ve had no help.”
Her son, Lloyd Hudson Jr., tried to confront the man living inside the home but, according to Hudson, the man claimed his mother had given him the keys.
“I said, ‘well, my mother has two kids, two grandkids, why would she just give you the keys?’” said Hudson.
But the man, identified in court documents as Marquise Busby, wouldn’t leave. Busby then went a step further and filed an adverse possession lawsuit, asserting that since he’s been living in and maintaining the home since 2014, it now legally belongs to him.
The lawsuit states Busby’s been handling the upkeep, paying utilities, mowing the lawn and raising horses on the property. But when KPRC 2 reporter Robert Arnold visited the home, he found boarded-up windows, trees and vines choking the structure of the house, and no horses in sight. One piece of siding reportedly dangled loose, a symbol of a house in complete disrepair.
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Neighbor attempts to save the day
Court records reveal that Harris County first moved to collect back taxes in 2017. The legal drama stretched on until 2019 when the county initially won a judgment, but that ruling was tossed when it was discovered that one of the heirs to the property was never properly notified.
Fast forward to 2024 and a final judgment hit Gendrett and her now-deceased sister’s estate for nearly $30,000 in taxes, fees, penalties and interest.
Hudson found a company to help the family set up a payment plan, preventing the property from going up for auction. That’s when neighbor Jerome Harris stepped in, offering to buy and fix up the home.
"It’s destroying the neighborhood, it’s an eyesore,” Harris said. But his attempt to buy the house was blocked by the squatter who refused to vacate. Now, with the taxes resolved, Gendrett thought they’d finally reclaim the home. But instead, Gendrett and her family were blindsided by Busby’s adverse possession lawsuit.
Dana Karni, director of litigation services for Lone Star Legal Aid, said these types of cases are rare and hard to prove.
“One of the elements that’s more challenging is that the person living there needs to have been there in a way that’s, quote, ‘open and hostile,’” Karni explained. “That means they’re not hiding the fact that they are possessing the property, and in fact, they do not have the owner’s permission.”
Gendrett and Hudson are still searching for an attorney. In the mean time, their formal response to the lawsuit was a handwritten letter to the judge that Gendrett filed herself.
If you snooze on your property, you could lose it
In U.S. real estate, there’s a legal backdoor that can hand your property to someone else without a sale, will or a single dollar exchanged. According to Cornell Law School, adverse possession is “a doctrine under which a trespasser, in physical possession of land owned by someone else, may acquire valid title to the property.”
Under the right circumstances, a person can take over land they don’t own and eventually become the legal owner. All it takes is time, persistence and a few strategic moves.
The idea behind adverse possession is rooted in practicality: if you abandon your property long enough and someone else takes care of it like it’s theirs, the law might just reward them for doing so. Think of it as the legal system’s way of saying “use it or lose it.”
But adverse possession is not a free-for-all squatters’ paradise. The bar is set quite high — in order to win an adverse possession case, the claimant has to check off some very specific boxes:
- Actual: The squatter is living on and in possession of property that doesn’t belong to them.
- Open and Notorious: The squatter’s possession of the property is obvious to anyone paying attention. An adverse possession claim cannot succeed if posession of the property is a secret.
- Exclusive: The squatter cannot share control of the property with someone else.
- Hostile: Not in the angry sense, but legally speaking, it means the squatter is using the property without the true owner’s permission.
- Continuous: The squatter must occupy the property openly and continuously. Depending on the state, that can be anywhere from five to 20 years.
The financial consequences of this situation could be huge for Gendrett and her family. A vacant lot in a growing city like Houston could be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. If you forget about your unused property, someone else could walk in, clean it up and eventually walk away with the deed, all without paying you a cent.
Gendrett’s story should serve as a warning to homeowners, landlords and heirs throughout the country. Keep an eye on your property, pay those taxes and don’t let it sit idle for too long, because in the eyes of the law, possession really can be nine-tenths of ownership.
“At this time of my life, 73 years old, I have exhausted all I can do,” Gendrett wrote to the judge. “I don’t know where else to turn.”
The court battle is set to go to trial in 2026. Until then, the fight for the Clover Street home and the legacy it holds rages on.
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This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind.
