East Austin Airbnb owner finds tiny home on property with a man living inside

KXAN
by: Nabil Remadna
Posted: Jan 18, 2024 / 08:59 PM CST
Updated: Jan 18, 2024 / 10:16 PM CST

AUSTIN (KXAN) — An east Austin 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 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 someone going in and out during the night.

Amini called police but said because of the cold weather they held off on kicking the person out at the time.

After doing some digging he 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.

KXAN reached out to Lone Star Portables to find out what happened as well.

“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 then I get a call from someone else,” said John Coleman, Lone Star Portables Owner.

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 tells 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 ordered the shed did walk up and talk with KXAN, but we’ve decided to keep his identity anonymous.

He tells KXAN his family used to own the property a long time ago and now he’s struggling to keep a roof over his head.

Why he thought it would be the right move to have the building delivered to the property is still unknown.

“Nabil’s got your phone number and I am going to get it from him and we are going to try to get you some resources and some help,” said Amini as he talked with 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 will be removing the shed on Friday, but they have found a place that will allow the man to put the tiny home and stay inside.

KXAN’s Nabil Remadna also reached out to Integral Care and passed along the man’s number. They tell us they will be reaching out to the man.

To learn more about Integral Care and their services click here.