Dealing with Squatters

Hard to believe people can actually get away with that crap.

 

What's the point of private property if some freeloader can just start living there for free and the owner can't do jack? Screw that.

 

I don’t understand how this is an issue. What’s behind the thinking to give squatters any rights at all?

 

"Don't take the law into your own hands."

Also, The police...

"There is nothing we can do about your squatter problem."

 

Seems like they are exploiting loopholes in eviction law. It isn’t necessarily the cops job to come in and evict people, and there is due process for disputes. So a landlord in normal circumstances can’t just enter and put a persons furniture out on the street. I think most places require by law at least 30 days or some such to settle tenant disputes and “order” evictions. So the squatter is taking advantage of that and then somehow dragging out the court process.

However the people with “fake leases” are committing fraud. Seems to me the cops should be able to get to the bottom of that more quickly and get them out of there if not charge them with fraud. Most of the time you’d think the squatters “story” would fall apart pretty quickly, esp when they move in right after someone dies.

 

What’s even more scary and confusing….even the libbies can’t figure out how squatting is a real thing.
Squatting has liberalism written all over it too.

 

When you stub your toe do you go find a liberal to blame?

 

I never stub my toe.

 

But watch how the libbies will take this and run with it.
As long as it’s a white persons house…you can squat.
After all, squatting helps the poor and less fortunate.
California will do it first and all the libbies will clamor in agreement.

 

This is why many Airbnbs in California wont allow guests longer than 29 days.

We have the same policy on ours here in NC (although NC has a 20 year threshold for squatting). The other issue is the laws are vague on evictions after 30 days.
...so we keep rentals short term.

 

There was an AirBNB guest in California that refused to leave for 500 days. This stuff can ruin a property owner with lost income and legal fees.

 

I read somewhere the best legal strategy is to sign someone else to a rental agreement and then take that to court to force the squatter out. Crazy that's the legal remedy

 

Legislatures can and should address the issue. There's a vast difference between an invited guest holding over and an uninvited one refusing to leave. There's due process for the former. There ought to be arrests and criminal process for the latter. It stumps me that there isn't.

 

Seems like it would at least be trespassing which is against the law. If I lived in NY or Cali I’d put up no trespassing signs until it’s time to show the property to prospective buyers. If that didn’t work, a cheap alarm system so I could respond immediately.

 

Trespassing laws do help here in NC. A simple sign posting is actually legally relevant here.

 

Posting a sign in Florida does also.

 

We deal with it at my office (behind my warehouse). The signs give the police legal grounds to trespass charge without my presence.

 

The problem is if it’s a rental property how do you know the person is “trespassing”? It goes the other way too, where landlords try to illegally break a lease or force a tenant out prematurely. That’s why tenant laws are there to begin with.

The police should definitely be inclined to side with the property owner if the claim is “squatters”. The crazy ones based on fake lease agreements seem to me it would go way beyond “trespassing” and into fraud, conspiracy, lying to police/courts if they keep telling their false story. It shouldn’t be that hard and trespassing should be the least of their crimes, if the allegation is “squatting” they should be asked to show proof or get out. If it turns out the landlord was lying to police then you can always flip it around on them with fines/lying to police charges, but I think most of the squatters would flea the scene if they believed they were about to be hit with criminal fraud charges.

 

Florida adopted an abbreviated procedure to deal with this along with non rent paying girlfriends, boyfriends, etc. It's quicker and easier than a regular eviction. For example, the defendant(s) only has 5 working days to respond to the complaint.

Unlawful Detainer Instructions