“Squatting is not a particularly difficult problem to solve. It simply requires police and prosecutors to enforce existing laws.”
A lot of these cities have laws that enable the squatters and make rather difficult to get rid of them. It is a politician problem not law enforcement problem
“A lot of these cities have laws that enable the squatters and make rather difficult to get rid of them. It is a politician problem not law enforcement problem.”
This could so easily hopelessly spin out of control. If one can “squat” in someone else’s home against the owners wishes effectively safe from eviction rent free why stop there? Sooner or later the 10’s of millions of folks living in apartments will decide, “why should I pay my rent anymore? They can’t evict me anymore so I will just “squat” in my apartment rent free…”
That’s what a lot of renters did during the Covid period. Landlords were prohibited from evicting tenants, so people stopped paying rent. The ones most seriously damaged by the government edict were small landlords who depended on the rent for their living.
Other Peoples Property™…. “You didn’t build that!” “The Insurance will cover it so why are you worrying about it?”
The problem is that the Action is Wrong and should be punished for that alone. There are ‘Justifiable Trespass’ in many localities allowing temporary shelter to save ones life in a blizzard or other lethal weather …but not in cases like this where there are alternatives.
You will own nothing and be happy with what they allow you to use. The whole idea seems to be to delegitimize the idea that you actually own your home and preperty
Totalitarians don’t believe that you own yourself. Not owning private property is just the first step.
I asked someone who loved Socialism “If the State decides how much everything costs, owns all the banks, and owns all the business that employ people — then what does it matter that they say that you own private property when the State owns everything else?”
“Totalitarians don’t believe that you own yourself. Not owning private property is just the first step.
Yes. it’s also a way of addressing the largely state created problem of homelessness; simple move the homeless into other people’s homes and make it impossible for them to be evicted. From there point of view problem solve you take care of them. If they crap all over your carpet or soil themselves on a regular basis you have to clean up after them, you have to pay for it so deal with it.
I believe they would actually be flirting with a violation of the Third Amendment there.
“I believe they would actually be flirting with a violation of the Third Amendment there.”
Well I said “move the homeless” perhaps I should amend that to facilitate (by inaction) the homeless “squatting” in people’s home. Officially the government would have deniability; “..its not our fault homeless people are squatting in peoples’ yard/homes”.
Bold of you to assume that they’d give any more thought to the Third Amendment than they have to the First or Second.
….So in other words meet your new inhouse “relatives”; uncle pees in his pants and aunt never learned how to wipe her own arse; learn to love it.
So what would happen if the owners had returned to their houses from vacation or whatever and personally physically evicted the people squatting there by force? Would they have been arrested and charged?
In all too many jurisdictions, yes.
In fact, many jurisdictions make it illegal to even just make a squatter miserable enough to leave voluntarily. It’s considered “self-help eviction,” and illegal. But going through the courts take weeks or even months, in which the squatters are often destroying the value of your property and making you miserable (especially if they’re in your home, not a rental property).
“In all too many jurisdictions, yes.
In fact, many jurisdictions make it illegal to even just make a squatter miserable enough to leave voluntarily.”
Would that include hiring bonded private security to evict them for you? At some point there would end up being private security companies that specialize in dealing with cases like this. You hire them when you leave your property for any extended period of time to “secure” it.
It sounds like a range of behaviors being lumped under squatting. The example of someone breaking into the house and selling everything but the bed they slept in is a straight-forward case of burglary. And I don’t see any evidence that police were treating that otherwise though I wouldn’t be surprised if they weren’t pursuing it very hard.
On the other extreme is the person who was in default on their mortgage for 25 years and used the courts (and terrible NY law) to evade eviction over that period. That is utterly ridiculous.
And then there’s this:
The resulting lack of deterrence is evident in the brazen attitude of these criminals. A retiree friend of mine was away from her home in Sarasota, Florida, when a squatter moved in and refused to leave. The woman falsely claimed that she had a lease and trashed the home. Eventually, she was arrested but promptly released. She then returned and stole my friend’s car. The police said there was likely little that would happen to the squatter.
and
In a recent case in Houston, a teacher, Amberlyn Prather, reportedly squatted in a luxury home for months with her family. The property owner said she repeatedly changed the locks only to have the squatters gain entry by climbing on the roof and entering through upper windows. In this case, authorities have a person accused of forging a lease. That should not be difficult to prosecute.
It’s not hard at all to prosecute these sorts of crimes.
Don’t live in a Blue State or Blue City.
My state is a firm supporter of the castle doctrine.
Wood chippers and backhoes come to mind…
We live in a vast, deep woodland, on a lot of property no one ever
traverses. When one of our chickens dies, we take her up to the meadow, where the foxes and badgers make her disappear. They never leave any trace.
“Squatting is not a particularly difficult problem to solve. It simply requires police and prosecutors to enforce existing laws.”
A lot of these cities have laws that enable the squatters and make rather difficult to get rid of them. It is a politician problem not law enforcement problem
“A lot of these cities have laws that enable the squatters and make rather difficult to get rid of them. It is a politician problem not law enforcement problem.”
This could so easily hopelessly spin out of control. If one can “squat” in someone else’s home against the owners wishes effectively safe from eviction rent free why stop there? Sooner or later the 10’s of millions of folks living in apartments will decide, “why should I pay my rent anymore? They can’t evict me anymore so I will just “squat” in my apartment rent free…”
That’s what a lot of renters did during the Covid period. Landlords were prohibited from evicting tenants, so people stopped paying rent. The ones most seriously damaged by the government edict were small landlords who depended on the rent for their living.
Other Peoples Property™…. “You didn’t build that!” “The Insurance will cover it so why are you worrying about it?”
The problem is that the Action is Wrong and should be punished for that alone. There are ‘Justifiable Trespass’ in many localities allowing temporary shelter to save ones life in a blizzard or other lethal weather …but not in cases like this where there are alternatives.
You will own nothing and be happy with what they allow you to use. The whole idea seems to be to delegitimize the idea that you actually own your home and preperty
Totalitarians don’t believe that you own yourself. Not owning private property is just the first step.
I asked someone who loved Socialism “If the State decides how much everything costs, owns all the banks, and owns all the business that employ people — then what does it matter that they say that you own private property when the State owns everything else?”
“Totalitarians don’t believe that you own yourself. Not owning private property is just the first step.
Yes. it’s also a way of addressing the largely state created problem of homelessness; simple move the homeless into other people’s homes and make it impossible for them to be evicted. From there point of view problem solve you take care of them. If they crap all over your carpet or soil themselves on a regular basis you have to clean up after them, you have to pay for it so deal with it.
I believe they would actually be flirting with a violation of the Third Amendment there.
“I believe they would actually be flirting with a violation of the Third Amendment there.”
Well I said “move the homeless” perhaps I should amend that to facilitate (by inaction) the homeless “squatting” in people’s home. Officially the government would have deniability; “..its not our fault homeless people are squatting in peoples’ yard/homes”.
Bold of you to assume that they’d give any more thought to the Third Amendment than they have to the First or Second.
….So in other words meet your new inhouse “relatives”; uncle pees in his pants and aunt never learned how to wipe her own arse; learn to love it.
So what would happen if the owners had returned to their houses from vacation or whatever and personally physically evicted the people squatting there by force? Would they have been arrested and charged?
In all too many jurisdictions, yes.
In fact, many jurisdictions make it illegal to even just make a squatter miserable enough to leave voluntarily. It’s considered “self-help eviction,” and illegal. But going through the courts take weeks or even months, in which the squatters are often destroying the value of your property and making you miserable (especially if they’re in your home, not a rental property).
“In all too many jurisdictions, yes.
In fact, many jurisdictions make it illegal to even just make a squatter miserable enough to leave voluntarily.”
Would that include hiring bonded private security to evict them for you? At some point there would end up being private security companies that specialize in dealing with cases like this. You hire them when you leave your property for any extended period of time to “secure” it.
It sounds like a range of behaviors being lumped under squatting. The example of someone breaking into the house and selling everything but the bed they slept in is a straight-forward case of burglary. And I don’t see any evidence that police were treating that otherwise though I wouldn’t be surprised if they weren’t pursuing it very hard.
On the other extreme is the person who was in default on their mortgage for 25 years and used the courts (and terrible NY law) to evade eviction over that period. That is utterly ridiculous.
And then there’s this:
and
It’s not hard at all to prosecute these sorts of crimes.
Don’t live in a Blue State or Blue City.
My state is a firm supporter of the castle doctrine.
Wood chippers and backhoes come to mind…
We live in a vast, deep woodland, on a lot of property no one ever
traverses. When one of our chickens dies, we take her up to the meadow, where the foxes and badgers make her disappear. They never leave any trace.