MUNCIE, Ind. — A renter in Muncie says she is being asked to leave her home after putting up a "Black Lives Matter" sign in her yard.
Carrie asked us not to include her last name. She has lived in the house for nearly two years and has had perfect rental history.
But when she and her boyfriend, who is Black, put out the sign, she says her landlord told them it had to go.
“He said 'that’s a terrorist group. If you don’t take that down immediately some changes are going to be made,'” Carrie said.
She says she took down the sign, but a week later the property owner came back and said they’d have to leave.
“We work for everything we have, we’re honest people and he’s just booting us out,” Carrie said.
Jim King owns the house and lives down the street.
“I want it down. I’m white and it’s disrespectful to me and you’re not going to be disrespectful to me living in my house,” King said.
However, he says he isn’t asking them to leave because of the sign. King claims he is in the process of trying to sell all of his properties.
“I said we are going to put the house up for sale, so you might think about finding another place to live,” King said.
Carrie says at this point, she’s not interested in trying to stay.
“He’s just bullying us. And that’s just not OK. And why would I want to pay money to someone like that? It’s just not OK,” Carrie said.
We did talk to an attorney who tells 13News generally, you cannot be evicted for matters of speech.
But since there is no lease here, the property owner is within his rights to sell the home as long as he provides 30 days notice.