'Getting ridiculous': Man kicked out of home by squatters

A man claims he has been forced from his home by 'squatters'.

A good Samaritan who opened up his house to a homeless family claims his "friends" locked him out and began squatting in his property.

Delton Anderson says it's now him who is homeless.

"I'm absolutely devastated," the 60-year-old told the Basildon Canvey Southend Echo News, who lives an hour east of London in Basildon.

"It's a couple with three kids who are now living in my house."

Mr Anderson said he let the family come and stay, who has known for five or six years, to help them save enough money to buy their own home when they were evicted from their old place, news.com.au reports.

"After a couple of months I started to ask them if they'd built up enough money," he said.

"They kept saying soon. They then just locked me out. They're literally squatting in my house."

The alleged good Samaritan has been living with his daughters since February and said his appeals for help have been ignored.

"The police and the council were working together to remove them until the police cancelled it. The police have told me I can change the locks but that won't get rid of them," Mr Anderson said.

"I'm so stressed. It is getting ridiculous."

A spokesperson from the Basildon Council said because the issue is a civil matter it does not have the authority to intervene and take action.

"However, as a gesture of goodwill we have put the owner of the property in contact with the Citizen's Advice Bureau to begin the legal process, which we understand is ongoing.

"The police have also been to the property several times to assist."

SQUATTER GETS TO KEEP $1.7 MILLION HOUSE

In Sydney last year, a squatter won the right to keep a $1.7 million home after an appeal to a Supreme Court decision was withdrawn in June.

Bill Gertos attracted national attention when he took ownership of the home in Sydney's inner west and was awarded the title deed after a court ruled he had "squatter's rights".

The unusual squatter's rights or "adverse possession" laws were used to rule in the favour of Mr Gertos, a property developer who had claimed he'd come across the Ashbury property in 1998, when it was neglected, abandoned and derelict.

Long-term tenant Phyllis Grimes had died the previous year.

Mr Gertos had been visiting a client on the same street. He said the house wasn't locked, and the backdoor had been taken off its hinges and placed to the side of the door.

He claimed he changed the locks and replaced the rear door and went on to renovate the home and began leasing it. He spent $35,000 on the home in 1998 and a further $108,000 in 2014, according to the ABC.

According to Nine, the outcome of the appeal was due to be heard tomorrow, however the family has withdrawn its appeal against the decision, which awarded ownership to Mr Gertos last year.

The last owner of the home was Henry Downie who purchased the property in 1927 and died in 1947, according to Nine.

His family previously claimed he passed away in 1947 and didn't leave a will and they were unaware of the property until they were contacted by police.

This was in 2017 when Mr Gertos applied to be made the owner of the land using squatters' rights, under the Real Property Act. He was challenged by the last owner's family at that stage, but was ultimately awarded the deed to the Ashbury home.