Back in July, USA Today wrote that “Squatting is not a particularly difficult problem to solve. It simply requires police and prosecutors to enforce existing laws.” Now fast-forward to the end of March. Cops can’t do their jobs, squatters are having a field day, and the gravity of this issue is all too obvious.
According to Investopedia, “A squatter is a person who settles in or occupies a piece of property with no legal claim to it. They live on a property to which they have no title, right, or lease.”
This is not a new phenomenon, and it’s appeared over the years in various parts of the country and abroad. The urban omnibus website reports that in the 1980s and ‘90s, squatters on the Lower East Side of Manhattan claimed and occupied city-owned buildings. The city went to great lengths to get them out, even using tanks to block them – but the squatters managed to get around them and continued to occupy buildings.
From Coast To Coast
But now, squatting has reached new levels and is far beyond an occasional problem reported on the news. It has become a business. It is very costly, emotionally painful, and adds further delays to an already overburdened court system.
Fox News very recently ran a story about squatting that was absolutely shocking. Squatters turned a mansion into a party house; the police were called but were unable to shut it down. In another case presented in that story, squatters gained a toehold in a building and then proceeded to break into apartments. And this is happening all over – even in communities we call home.
Real estate litigation attorney Daniel Phillips told Fox that we are seeing squatting primarily in two situations. The first is in foreclosures or similar situations where the landlord has abandoned a property. They enter it illegally and take possession of it.
The second situation is stealthier, as it involves stealing someone’s identity and using that to lease an apartment or a home. The thieves generally pay the first month’s rent as well as a month security, but make no additional payments. So the landlord is stuck with someone who has taken possession of their property, but does not get the rental income needed to pay their own mortgage.
There are people who are actually professionals at finding foreclosed homes, acquiring them, gutting them, and then moving in. They then take advantage of the situation, demanding money, says Phillips. And because they are very familiar with these kinds of situations, they know exactly how to drag out the process; in the interim, they continue living there rent-free.
In a related situation, people enter into fraudulent lease agreements using other people’s names. At some point, the landlord opens a case against them. And then the person whose name was stolen, living somewhere else, will become aware of what’s happening and say, “I have nothing to do with that lease. I don’t know anything about it. But there’s a judgment on my record and I’m being sued.” By the time the landlord figures out what has really happened, it’s too late to do anything because there’s a lease agreement. The landlord has to go through the court process, which can be both very time consuming and very expensive.
According to Phillips, the typical cost and length of these procedures vary from state to state. In New York, the process can take several months, although in some situations it drags out for a year or more. And the cost of removing a squatter can range from $10,000 to $50,000 - and sometimes much more.
In situations like this, landlords often call the police and explain that an unauthorized person or people are living in their homes and that they want to get them out; the police, however, usually do not want to get involved.
A couple right here in Queens purchased a $2 million home to care for their disabled son - only to find a squatter living there. Flushing resident Ms. Adele Andaloro had an even more horrifying experience. She inherited a $1 million home from her parents and found the home full illegal squatters. She decided to change the locks, but found herself arrested and being led away in handcuffs. “It’s enraging,” she told The New York Post, “that I, as the homeowner, have to be going through this.”
Squatters in Atlanta took over an estimated 1,200 homes, opened illegal clubs, and terrorized neighbors. In Philadelphia, a homeowner paid a $1,200 ransom to squatters to vacate the premises after city officials told them it would take a year to evict them if the homeowner took the case to court.
Squatting Pays
The squatting nightmare is becoming worse all over the country, and The Economic Collapse Blog offers this explanation as to why this is so. “Thanks to online listings, it’s easier than ever to identify properties that are vacant… In some areas of the country, squatters are able to live rent-free in beautiful areas for months or even years.”
And as if that were not bad enough, some firms of questionable character are helping these encroachers out. “At least one local company has been running ads on social media offering to find a prime squatter home in Atlanta for a fee. One of their ads reads: ‘$1,400 will get you the keys to a squatter home so that you can ‘Stack money and turn ya life around.’”
An article in Los Angeles Magazine says that “a very sophisticated criminal ring of squatters is making a ton of money from the Beverly Hills mansion they have occupied.” And that “ton of money” is no exaggeration, as they are pulling in more than $30,000 a month renting rooms and hosting huge house parties with $100 entry fees. Unfortunately, taking advantage of laws intended to help people, easily accessible data, and a terrible shortage of properties with affordable rents are exacerbating this problem.
It’s possible that at some point, Congress will enact new laws to protect homeowners, but there’s just no telling when that might be or if police departments will enforce such laws if they are ever passed.
Unfortunately, the problem of squatters who refuse to leave could easily spiral out of control. Zero Hedge reports that two unidentified men driving a black pickup truck pulled into the driveway of Ms. Andaloro’s Flushing home in search of the squatters. “We are looking to get (them) out,” one of the men told the Daily Mail.
People are facing all kinds of pressures today. And squatting might just push some people over the edge. Just how close are we coming to that point?
Sources: foxnews.com; investopedia.com; nypostcom; theeconomiccollapseblog.com; urbanomnibus.net; zerohedge.com
Gerald Harris is a financial and feature writer. Gerald can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
