‘You Literally Have No Protection:’ Philadelphia Squatters Take Over Woman’s House

A Philadelphia landlord is fighting to evict squatters who broke into her rental property and have been living there for over two months.

Naydia Smith tells The Daily Wire that a couple with five young children broke into the house in April or May, at which point they began trashing the home. She was first made aware of the squatters in June, when her business partner Richard Watson’s parents received an anonymous call about the intruders.

On June 7, Watson’s parents confronted and filmed a man in the house. The man — whose documents found in the house appear to identify him as Antonio Stewart — said he had rented the property and gained entrance through the back. He had one page of a fake lease, dated April 1, 2025.

Smith and Watson rented out the house almost continuously until their most recent tenant moved out in January 2025, leaving it vacant while they considered selling or finding a new renter. They called the police but were unable to file a report, since they weren’t the legal homeowners.

On June 13, Smith visited the home with her fiancé and cousin, finding it neglected and damaged.

“We go inside the home, and we find that the home is in squalor, meaning that there were beds on the floor, clothes on the floor,” Smith said. “There were a lot of vermin — there were roaches outside and everything, and they weren’t there before, so clearly it’s unkempt and unclean.”

Smith said they also discovered five unsupervised children inside, ranging in age from 2 to 14.

A video provided to The Daily Wire shows children sitting on two couches while Smith and her family examine the house.

Squatters continue to be a problem across the U.S.

Meet Naydia Smith, who has been trying for over two months to remove a family of squatters in Philadelphia—two adults and five children—who forcibly broke into her house.

Full report: https://t.co/whXpoYTjDo pic.twitter.com/uweCHAM06V

— Kassy Akiva (@KassyAkiva) July 28, 2025

“There were no adults there, no supervision,” Smith said. “The house was in disarray.”

Smith says she filed a report with the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services about the unsupervised children.

Neither the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services nor the Philadelphia Department of Human Services replied to requests for comment.

As they explored the house, they found the back door severely splintered and damaged, with a new lock.

Alarmed by the condition of the home, Smith called the police, hoping they would arrest the squatters for breaking and entering.

“The police wanted to turn it into a squatting situation instead of a breaking and entering situation, which is exactly what it is,” Smith said. “I have illegal trespassers in the home who are squatting, who broke through the back door.”

The alleged squatters — Stewart and a woman — arrived with several friends or family members around the same time as police. Stewart presented a fake lease and a gas bill to law enforcement, but could not provide a water bill or an electric bill, according to Smith.

The electric company stated that the squatters had contacted them to restore power to the house, according to Smith. Smith asked the company not to restore power.

Squatters often use fake leases to delay removal by police, knowing that only a judge can determine their validity. As a result, police are often required to let them remain in the home until the matter is settled in court.

While in the home, Smith said she found a second fake lease with the couple’s name for a different property in Elmwood Park, dated March 15, 2025.

“One of the documents on the other fake lease was a signed document by the landlord, who was the rightful owner of the property, and Antonio, saying that they planned to leave the property on Tuesday, April 15,” Smith said. “That was sketchy, because that shows that they did not actually legally rent the place.”

Another document showed that the couple was bribed by the rightful landlord to vacate the property, according to Smith.

“He actually paid them $1,500 to actually leave the property, to get them out,” Smith said.

Both leases named the landlord as Bryan Pulliam, but the documents showed two different rental companies.

“The person who is on these rental companies, the Bryan Pulliam guy, uses different, fake real estate companies to generate these leases for them,” Smith said.

Smith said she does not feel safe interacting with the squatters. She believes they are “career squatters.”

“The woman who was there, who would not give her name, also said, ‘You know what you have to do. You have to go downtown and evict us,’” Smith said. “So she knows the process, and they know how to do this, and they know what they can and can’t do as a part of this process.”

The rampant squatter crisis has captured the nation’s attention in recent years, with states such as Florida and Georgia passing laws to crack down on the issue and A&E launching the new TV show “Squatters,” featuring a former handyman who became a “squatter hunter” after squatters took over his mother’s home.

A squatting map published by Newsweek showed Atlanta, Dallas, and Orlando as the cities with the most homes taken over by squatters. The survey, conducted by the National Rental Home Council in 2024, found 1,200 homes in Atlanta, 475 in Dallas, and 125 in Orlando that had been taken over by squatters.

Under Philadelphia law, Smith must let the legal process play out, which gets complicated in the case of fake leases. Homeowners are not permitted to forcibly evict squatters by changing locks or removing belongings.

Smith filed ejectment paperwork with the sheriff’s office on June 13, but says serving the paperwork can take up to 30 days. Once served, the squatters have up to 20 days to file a response. If the squatters do not respond, they must be given a 10-day notice. At that point, Smith said, either the squatters will be ejected or a court date will be set.

“Where is the arrest warrant for the people who broke into the home? Arrest them for breaking and entering,” Smith said. “It’s very unfair that people break the law, and then they have rights and are protected for breaking the law. That’s absolutely ridiculous.”

Neither the city councilwoman for the district of Smith’s property, the mayor of Philadelphia, nor the governor of Pennsylvania responded to requests for comment.

The squatters, Smith said, have caused significant financial harm, since she’s losing rental income while still covering the mortgage.

“Once they leave the property, we’re going to have to do repairs,” Smith said. “We’re going to have to deep-clean and replace things in the home. On top of that, we’re also going to have to exterminate the heck out of that place.”

Smith said it is hard to find a lawyer willing to take ejectment cases.

“The fees for a lawyer to take an ejection case are $5,000,” Smith said. “Now you tell me why I have to spend all of that money to get somebody out of a property that they do not rightfully belong in.”

Now, she fears a lengthy battle to reclaim her property.

“I am the rightful owner, and I can’t understand why it’s so hard to eject someone who has no right to your place, your home, and something that you’ve worked so hard for,” Smith said.

The squatters have not responded to attempts to negotiate. Smith said she wishes she could speed up the ejection process.

“I wish the City of Philadelphia would really help,” Smith said.

Stewart did not return a request for comment.