How can we tell that it's not "il ne voulait pas quitter ma maison"?
wouldn't this be better as " Ils ne voulaient pas quitter chez moi ? " I've never heard a French person say " ma maison " if they could help it; always " chez moi. "
"quitter" would not work with "chez moi". if you want to use "chez moi", you have to change the verb: