The Landlord Lens - Phrogging

Episode Date: January 13, 2024

Phrogging is a terrifying new crime trend in which a stranger secretly lives in someone else's home without the homeowner's knowledge or consent. Phroggers often enter homes through unlocked doors or windows, and they may stay for days or even weeks without being discovered.In this episode of Be A Better Landlord, Jonathan and Krista discuss phrogging, how it happens, and what landlords can do to protect themselves. We also share real-life stories of people who have been phrogged along with tips to help you spot signs of a phrogger.

I'm Jonathan and this is Krista and today we are here to help you be a better landlock. All right Krista, last time we were here at this very table, we were talking about squatters in squatters rights. This time we're going to talk about frogging, which is a ridiculous term, but it means when people live in your walls. Yes, it does. It is definitely a horror movie trope that unfortunately bleeds into real life. And it's really hard to track because it's folks who are living in your unit without your tenants knowing. So they are not in cahoots. They are not friends. In fact, your tenant would likely be horrified if they knew that someone was also living beside them in the walls, in the ceiling, in the crawl space. But unfortunately, it happens. So frogging sounds crazy. This sounds like

something that doesn't actually happen. But it does. There have been some recent examples in the news where this has actually happened to some people, right? Absolutely. It sounds like the plot of a horror movie, but it's rooted in reality. It's happened quite a bit. It's hard to track, but there's a case in 2019 where a man found half-naked intruders in his crawl space cooking drugs. He literally moved something from against the wall and saw an eye looking through a hole back at him. So very scary situation with obviously volatile ingredients in that crawl space, something that he had to act on quickly. On the other hand, there have been people who break into residences and stay in the walls simply to be in close proximity with the residents themselves.

There was one man in Michigan who broke in and he would stay in the walls and then watch pornography on the family computer when the residents were sleeping. So it sounds like something straight out of Hollywood, but it is rooted in reality, and the unfortunate part is that it's very hard to track. Supposedly, there are online communities of froggers who share locations and who share other information with their fellow frogs to maximize their, criminal activities, but it's so hard to trace, which is why landlords need to be aware and really

keeping up on their inspections. That's insane. It's really scary. Far more horrifying, even than squatters' rights. But let's back up and explain the term. Why is it called frogging? Yes, besides just being fun to say, this actually comes from the childhood game of leapfrog. The idea is that this person is leapfrogging from property to property to property living a rent-free lice. And it's not all sunshine and lily pads. In fact, oftentimes, you know, these are folks who are either struggling with mental health issues or they might be targeting your tenant specifically. That could be because they have a personal relationship with the tenant or a perceived personal relationship with the tenant. It could also be that they are a major fan of the tenant. We see this pop up with celebrities often

where someone will just be living in their walls because they see themselves as a devoted fan and want to be as close as possible and break some laws to do it. It is scary, though very hard to try. track, given the hidden nature of the crime. Okay, so in the pantheon of things to worry about with people taking your unit from you, we have froggers, we have squatters. How are they different? Okay, so there are three main differences. First, what they're targeting is very different.

So squatters are looking for an unoccupied property that they can take over through adverse possession. Froggers are looking for an occupied property that they can just kind of lurk in and hide in the walls or in the ceiling. and then they'll move on. That, of course, brings us to our second difference, which is really the amount of time they're looking to dedicate to this crime. Squatters usually have to get in for years on end to actually take possession of a property. Froggers are just there for a quick hop.

So froggers and squatters, their goal, both of them, is to not have to pay to live anywhere. But the squatters are really trying to take possession of your house. They're trying to become the owner of the house. And froggers are just being creepy. Yes, definitely there for a shorter amount of time and a lot harder to catch as a result. Because again, they're moving stealthily. They don't want your tenants to know. And I can't stress this enough.

I've said it at the jump, but your tenants don't know. In fact, in order for this to be a case of frogging, your tenants have to be unaware of the fact that there is this person. Now, they might start to suspect that something's happening. That's often how these cases are caught, whether that's food going missing or things being rearranged. Usually that's the first sign where people start trying to monitor the situation more closely and catch evidence. In fact, sometimes people will actually think it's a ghost or something supernatural going on. So to that end, I urge you if your tenant comes to you with something that sounds really out of the realm, and they're talking about my things are being moved, my food's being eaten.

There are a couple steps you want to take. Even if they think it's ghosts from the jump, I need you as a landlord to get in and put on your investigative hat and start to do a couple things. One, you want to make sure that there is not a gas leak. It sounds kind of funny, but most times when people think that there's a ghost, it's actually carbon monoxide. And that could be really deadly because it causes hallucinations. It can cause them to move things around their apartment or unit and not know that they've done it. So check your carbon monoxide detector. If there's nothing going on with that, it's working, it's all good. At that point, you might want to start really investigating and considering that there's

could be a person living in the walls. So with their explicit consent, can't stress that enough, your tenants must know that you're doing this. You could set up security cameras or otherwise try and capture proof of someone coming down from the attic, from the crawl space,

from the walls, and moving about the property. If you do get that proof, I need you to not confront the person in the walls. You don't need to jump in and be an action hero. Like really, you should be calling the police. You need to get the tenants out of there and you need to let professionals deal with this situation.

This is a very kind of intimate crime, and it has great possibility for violence. So do not confront them yourself. Do not tell your tenants to confront them. Bring in a professional. You're likely going to need to issue something like a notice to vacate, or they might just be arrested outright for the trespassing and stalking depending on the greater context of the situation.

But bring someone in for sure. Absolutely. Don't tackle it yourself. No. So for landlords who may not have known froggers were even a thing, and are now terrified. Are there any steps they can take right now, maybe in their lease agreement,

to help avoid this? Sure. I wish it was as clean as having a clause that said, no froggers. That would be great. Unfortunately, froggers don't usually abide by leases. That's their whole schick. So what I would recommend instead is making sure that you have language

that is compliant with your state and local laws that outlines when a guest becomes a tenant. Because that way at least there is a clear expectation for your tenants to understand. If they have someone staying for, let's say, seven nights in a row, at that point, that person is going to be considered a tenant and they will have additional fees and responsibilities. I would also just let your tenant know that if they do see anything weird, you want them to communicate with you. So really emphasizing that Laylor tenant relationship here and letting them know that you have an open door for concerns

could help you catch a frogger before they really get nested in your property. It is going to be tricky though. So the main piece of advice I have for landlords is to make sure that you are conducting regular inspections. That's going to help you determine, you know, if there are any signs of frogging going on, you can have conversations with your tenant on the go. They can let you know, hey, I didn't break open this lockbox. I didn't open this shed. Who's this man cooking drugs in here? So that's something that you can come to together because, again, they don't know the frogger in this case. So they're going to be just as scared, if not more scared than you are. Okay, Krista. Well, thank you for walking us through frogging, which is a crazy concept and one that actually happens.

Not super common, but still something for landlords to be aware of. Absolutely. Yeah, you're more likely to encounter a squatter than a frogger, but you need to know about both. Yeah, absolutely. Okay, if you out there have had any experiences with froggers, please leave them below in the comments and subscribe to catch the next episode. TurboTenant is the all-in-one platform for landlords to manage their rental properties. From vacancy to tenancy, we have you covered with industry leading tools and expert advice.

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