Texas Airbnb owner finds 'tiny home' on property with a man living inside
AUSTIN (KXAN) — A Texas property owner was shocked when he found a random shed on his property.
"When we look out of this window, we see what appears to be a tiny home or storage unit," said Nima Amini, who manages the east Austin property. "That was delivered and we didn't order it."
Amini said the actual home is usually rented to Airbnb guests, but he realized someone else was living inside the shed when his cameras picked up a person going in and out during the night.
Amini called the police but said that because of the cold weather, they held off on kicking the person out of the shed at the time.
After doing some digging, Amini found the shed was delivered by Lone Star Portables, but the man they delivered it to was not the owner of the property.
"I think a simple search on the Travis County Appraisal district search would have showed that he was not the property owner," said Amini.
Amini said they called the company to try to figure out what happened, as did Nexstar's KXAN. The company said a man bought the building and provided an address for delivery.
"The building went out as normal. He [the man who ordered the shed] told us he owned the property. We took the building over there, we set the building, then we left," said John Coleman, owner of Lone Star Portables. "Then I get a call from someone else."
Coleman said it takes time to remove a portable like this, but he started making calls immediately to get it removed.
"It is not likely that someone comes and gives you a deposit on a building. It is not a small amount of money to deliver," Coleman said.
Lone Star Portables told KXAN they were just as shocked to find out they delivered to someone else's property.
"We are going to change some internal things to make sure this does not happen again," Coleman said.
The man who apparently ordered the shed told KXAN — who has decided to keep his identity anonymous — that his family owned the property a long time ago and that now he's struggling to keep a roof over his head.
Why he had the building delivered to the property is still unknown. Nevertheless, Amini offered to help the man.
Amini even told the man he could sleep in the shed Thursday night if he didn't have anywhere else to go.
"I just want to get you the help you need, my friend," Amini said.
Lone Star Portables said it planned to remove the shed Friday, and that they found another place for the man to place the tiny home and stay inside.