One of the most pernicious insults to the concept of property rights is that so-called “squatters” (trespassers) are accorded “rights” to occupy a vacant building, simply because… well, I can’t actually think of any reason why this should be tolerated.
Which makes FuturePOTUS Ron DeSantis’s action even more praiseworthy:
DeSantis signed into law a unanimously-passed bill designed to combat so-called “squatters’ rights” and which puts the power back into the hands of law-abiding property owners and local law enforcement.
Compare and contrast this with the attitude of Commie states like California, New York and, for that matter, Britishland, where not only are squatters tolerated, but the actual property owners can get into deep legal doo-doo if they attempt to forcibly evict these trespassers — or worse:
Two squatters are being sought over the gruesome murder of a 52-year-old woman whose body was found stuffed in a duffel bag inside her late mother’s upscale Manhattan apartment last week, police said Thursday.
The victim, Nadia Vitel, was savagely beaten by the two perps when she discovered them holed up inside the 19th-floor apartment on East 31st Street last week.
Update: two “teenagers” have been arrested after they fled NYFC for Pennsylvania.
Fucking animals. And no prizes for guessing that various scumbag New York lawyers will be getting into fistfights over who can defend them in court.
Don’t understand the concept.
Hello 911? My alarm system is telling me my house has been broken into and the burglars are still in the house. Do you need a link to the video feed?
The typical beat cop, arriving at a scene, will within seconds decide that the matter is a “civil law issue” and not criminal. Because of that, he can politely do nothing, wash his hands ala Pontius Pilate, and walk away. If you insist he do something, anything, he’ll threaten to arrest you. Cause that’s an easier charge – by being upset and yelling at him you can be charged with interfering with a law officer. Ask me how I know.
All a squatter has to do is wave around a fake lease contract and it goes from criminal to civil in a heartbeat, and cops won’t do anything. The days of people my age blindly backing the blue are gone. I’m had too many negative interactions to ever truly support cops unless I know them personally.
Small Town…… I upgraded the Departments Servers and workstations so I do know most of the officers and they also know most of the other long time home owners in town, but I see how this might play out in a city where the force is stretched thinner. In our small town, the police also know which houses are vacant or where the owners who are out of town for a few weeks. They run daily property checks on all the even temporarily vacant properties. I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t buy the bogus Lease story without a confirmation.
I have been seeing more of this in the news or online reports of squatters getting into various homes and causing problems. I think this started to happen in the great meltdown of 2008/2009 when homeowners filed bankruptcy. The banks then foreclosed on the houses that sat dormant for months. No one was checking the property so squatters moved in. I’m surprised they got utilities connected without a problem.
West Virginia’s deadbeat governor just signed an anti-squatter law into law this week.
Squatters are not considered tenants.
“No Court of this state shall require the utilization of eviction, or a similar procedure such as those found under the provisions of this chapter, by an owner in any instance involving the removal of a squatter from possession of a property, and such removal shall not be unduly hindered.”
I hope b) defines squatter well enough to shut the ambulance chasers up.
Just as a doctor in the sixties could find a heart murmur in a statue, a “Barracks Lawyer” with access to the internet can find the similarities between a squatter and a month to month tenancy behind on his rent.
“For purposes of this Article, “squatter” means a person occupying a dwelling unit who is not so entitled under a rental agreement or who is not authorized by the tenant to occupy that dwelling unit. “Squatter” does not include a tenant who holds over in a periodic tenancy as described in §37-6-5 of this code.”