Current Events > Squatting on the Squatter

(+) Yeah! (+)

This never gets old lol

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wB_hjqZQ1UY

Holy shit I thought that was boogie for a second

Was this a skit or a real squat situation?

LeoRavus posted...

Was this a skit or a real squat situation?

No idea. It was hilarious though.

America sometimes feels like a parody show to me.

I don't understand how someone could claim "squatter's rights" after breaking into someone's home. Then it takes a long, drawn out process of going to court to evict someone. By then, they could have sold all your stuff.

I had a subletter squat in an apartment that I had a lease for, not paying rent for 2 years. He was a full-time worker for Con Edison, the power utility company for New York City. The eviction process took 2.5 years because a COVID moratorium delayed the process.

The building is owned by my extended family, and I do the day-to-day management of the building.

I finally got sick of his bullshit, and removed the toilet in the bathroom from my apartment. He was forced to use the bathroom at a local laundromat. He got mad and tried to report building code violations to the housing department.

We received some easily fixable violations when the inspector came by, but it also allowed us to claim that the apartment wasn't livable, and that we can kick any inhabitant out of it, so that we can make the necessary repairs. Since he didn't have a lease, he couldn't request that we pay for alternative living arrangements.

He moved out within 7-10 days of me removing that toilet. He found an apartment, literally two buildings down the street from us -- which showed that he straight up lied to me, and easily could've found another place that he could afford.

Ultima_Fury posted...

Then it takes a long, drawn out process of going to court to evict someone. By then, they could have sold all your stuff.

If they sell your stuff, you can make a criminal complaint, and force her out faster than an eviction. It's in the best interest of a squatter to do as little damage to the place as possible so that the only way the courts can remove a squatter is through eviction.

If a squatter doesn't have a lease, current or expired, then, as the owner, you are free to enter your own premises. If the squatter changes the locks, then the owner has a right to make a criminal complaint. So if you are trying to take back property inside the house, what you want to do is enter the place without breaking in.

Breaking in is considered an illegal action, even if you're the owner, because it's a form of disturbing the peace, etc.

Eviction takes the slowest. If you catch the squatter doing anything else, you can get them out faster.

lydiaquayle posted...

I finally got sick of his bullshit, and removed the toilet in the bathroom from my apartment. He was forced to use the bathroom at a local laundromat.

He had a full time job and couldn't afford to buy his own toilet paper?

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]


Oh shit my eyes must be buggin

Fuck squatters rights. If someone breaks into my house and locks me out, Im breaking back in and kicking them out and there will be hell to pay if they dont compensate for all damages

...Charming.

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]

Yeah, I was livid. He had a great deal at $2100/month WITH utilities. This is fucking Queens, New York City. 20 minutes train ride to Times Square.

The sublease expired, and he said he would only pay $1600/month INCLUDING utilities. I said, FUCK NO. I told him $2150 INCLUDING utilities. He refused. Didn't pay rent for a year -- he claimed that he had cancer, and that he was furloughed at half pay during the COVID pandemic.

I told him, please pay $1850/month at least, but with the understanding that you owe $300/month in backrent that we can claim from the government to pay for COVID pandemic reimbursement from the government. He refused.

I was seething after that, but I didn't show anger, because you don't want to cause scenes in landlord/tenant/sublease situations. So it was like that for a year, until I got sick and realized that the pipes underneath the toilet bathroom of the apartment were starting to rot, and needed repair -- which gave me the idea to remove the toilet as an excuse to claim that the entire apartment needed to be repaired.

How is squatting even legal?

Mr_Karate_II posted...

How is squatting even legal?

I think at a fundamental level it allows people to move into legitimately abandoned buildings which I dont have an issue with. But its easily exploitable to kick owners out of their own homes.

Mr_Karate_II posted...

How is squatting even legal?

It's not. The process to remove a squatter is a drawn out process and can take years or so. It's meant to protect:
a) renters from getting fucked over
b) people who take over abandoned buildings and put in their own time and resources to take care of the place without any action from the owner.

As someone whose family owns a building or two, I understand and am fine with that.
However, squatters have often exploited these protections.

Mr_Karate_II posted...

How is squatting even legal?

As BBT implied, what we call "squatter's rights" are actually two different things. The more common version that most people think of as "squatter's rights" isn't actually squatting at all, it's just abusing the generous protections renters have against landlords. I'm pretty sure removing the toilet would be illegal in Illinois, even if the tenant didn't have a lease. I know removing doors or changing locks is illegal.

Actual squatter's rights are much longer term, technically called "adverse possession". It can take the form of living in an abandoned building but more often applies to land itself. For example, if you have a pasture where you feed livestock but part of it extends onto a neighboring property, you can eventually file to have the property lines redrawn to give you formal title to that land. The biggest hurdles there are 1) the owner has to know you are using the land 2) the owner has not taken any steps to remove you from the land and 3) you've been using the land for a very long time, anywhere from 10-20 years depending on state.

willythemailboy posted...

I'm pretty sure removing the toilet would be illegal in Illinois, even if the tenant didn't have a lease. I know removing doors or changing locks is illegal.

I'm sure, technically, it's illegal, but I was basically calling on his bluff. It was gonna take 2-5 months to fix the bathroom, so I was betting that he wasn't gonna go through all of the trouble of civilly suing me, and living in a toilet-less apartment for 5 months, over something that didn't even belong to him in the first place.

Rika_Furude posted...

Fuck squatters rights. If someone breaks into my house and locks me out, Im breaking back in and kicking them out and there will be hell to pay if they dont compensate for all damages

Don't do that. You'll get charged for criminal mischief or disturbing the peace, etc. And during eviction proceedings, the break-in could be used against you as damages to the squatter, and cause further delay to the eviction.

All squatters are bad