Imagine that you and your spouse gathered your life savings (and then some) to buy your dream home, excited that you were getting the property you wanted and at a great price. You do everything right, and the closing date comes. The papers are signed, and all that’s left is to get the keys and move in. It’s a quintessential American pursuit.

But something goes wrong. The owner takes your money, safely in his account, and then decides he’s just not going to move out. The police tell you there’s nothing they can do because there’s an “eviction moratorium” due to COVID. The courts refuse to step in and adjudicate anything as well.

That’s exactly what’s happened to a couple in California, and it’s absolutely infuriating.

(Hat tip to Greg Pollowitz of The Daily Caller for pointing this story out.)

California is so brokenhttps://t.co/p0Us2qOZ7x

— Greg Pollowitz (@GPollowitz) March 20, 2021

“It’s just draining, emotionally and financially,” says Tracie.  On January 31, 2020, the couple purchased the home. More than a year later, they still haven’t been able get inside their property. Chris Taylor is the Real Estate Agent who sold the house to the Alberts from a man who wanted to sell immediately…

…”We own the house, outright. That’s our house and it’s all in a contract, written, legal, done. He’s been paid the money in his account. How could we have no rights to go into our home,” asked Myles…

…Taylor says, “It’s genuinely unfathomable to me that we live in a state where something like this is even possible. They closed escrow on this home January 31, 2020.”  The Alberts and Taylor have contacted authorities and tried to get the seller evicted but because of the pandemic, they’ve gotten nowhere.

This is pure theft, yet it’s being sanctioned by the government of California, including Gavin Newsom, who is facing a strong recall effort right now. Given the ineptitude of his leadership, who knows when this moratorium will even be lifted. None of that should matter, though. This should not fall under the category of eviction because this man sold his house and took the money. Further, the man has been belligerent, destroying the property and refusing to even let the couple come water the plants. Even then, the police are not allowed to get involved.

This is one of the purest examples I’ve ever seen of how big government fails its citizens. There’s so much red-tape and so many quickly signed orders that no one even stopped to think of the unintended consequences, nor do they care now that they’ve become a problem.

Regardless, these moratoriums are evil on their face even if this is one of the more extreme examples and is considered a “loophole.” If this story were about a renter unable to pay their rent squatting, it would still be completely unacceptable to essentially seize someone’s property without due process and payment. Private property is private property, and it’s the very basis of our society. If the government can literally steal your property from you through an arbitrary eviction moratorium, what freedoms do you really have?

I sincerely hope this couple has the right to sue the state and this thief who took their house when this is all over. I suspect, though, that California’s government will pay no price at all. Our systems have gotten so big that they simply crush the little guy anytime they act fussy.

What’s happening here is wrong, and it deserves recourse. Lastly, it should be yet another lesson to people that you can’t simply vote out of a shallow sense of “compassion.” Policies must be thought through, and California doesn’t do much of that these days.