A grandfather’s kindhearted deed came back to haunt him after he took pity on a family struggling to find a place to rent and let them live with him. 

Trevor lives alone in a big house north of Brisbane, so when work colleague Katie said her family desperately needed a place to stay, he welcomed them into his home.

But 10 months on, it had become a nightmare – Katie, her husband Matt and their three children were still there and refused to leave. 

‘I’m a prisoner in my own home,’ Trevor told A Current Affair in tears. ‘I want these people thrown out of my house.’

He had bent over backwards to accommodate the family, even moving into the granny flat downstairs so they could have the run of the house.

Trevor claimed the family had overstayed their welcome and left him distraught at what his life had become. 

‘I believe they’re squatters in my home,’ Trevor said. ‘I have no legal right in my own home? No, sorry I do. This is my house, my land, I pay the rates, I pay the bills.’

Neither the police nor lawyers were able to shift the family, prompting Trevor to turn to the media for help and the family finally moving out.

Trevor (pictured) lives alone in a big house north of Brisbane, so when work colleague Katie said her family desperately needed a place to stay, he welcomed them into his home

Trevor said the family had been paying $400 a week in rent, but claimed they stopped paying weeks ago.

‘I feel bad for them. I feel bad that I’ve had to go to these extremes… I don’t want to hurt anybody,’ he said.

As a last resort, he turned the power and water off in the house. 

‘What’s a desperate person do?’ he said.

Katie and her husband denied squatting in the home and argued they would move ‘when we can find a place’.

‘I don’t like you people,’ Trevor said.

The couple said the reason they refused to leave was over a dispute about Trevor’s car, which they had been using for six months and wanted to buy. 

They paid him $6,000 of the $12,000 agreed price, but then decided they didn’t want it after all.

Trevor said he’d keep the $6,000 as a bond until the family moved out.

Katie (left), her husband Matt (right) and their three children outstayed their welcome

Antonia Mercorella of the Real Estate Institute of Queensland said the situation was ‘disappointing’.

‘Someone who has tried to be a good Samaritan has ended up in this unfortunate set of circumstances,’ she said.

‘You do need to make sure that you document the nature of the relationship so that everybody goes in eyes wide open understanding what their rights and obligations are.’

Trevor offered to ‘halve’ the $6,000 and be done with the matter – with the couple accepting the compromise and eventually moving out. 

‘They’ve just gone and left a mess but that’s fine I’ll clean it up,’ Trevor said.