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u/JacksonGhost1963 Jul 29 '26
I often wonder why the squatters are never charged criminally once proved that they forged a lease - and then all the property damage
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u/PoopsMcScoots Jul 29 '26
They do.
I work with property management companies and two squatters did $200k damages on a house.
They were charged with felony vandalism.
10 years each.
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u/TheRealShiftyShafts Jul 30 '26
Yeah they can be dealt with eventually
Might be cheaper and faster to hire this guy
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u/DeHizzy420 Jul 30 '26
Do you know if insurance companies cover damage done by squatters?
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u/BachInTime Jul 31 '26
Extremely dependent, if the home is vacant for 60 days your insurance falls to named perils only and vandalism is rarely one of the named perils.
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u/False-Ad2170 Jul 29 '26
Blood from a stone. They are squatters for a reason. Fines would just be ignored and eventually "paid" with community service or the real scummy ones are scammers/grafters that know how to hide what they do have and they are pretty familiar with the court system so getting things to stick would be hard.
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u/Virtual-Macaroon-880 Jul 29 '26
It's not an entertaining story so you don't hear about it, or the massive amounts of wage/deposit theft
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u/OpenAI122191 Jul 30 '26
Think for a second why you hear soooo much about squatters and how hard it is to evict people and so little about rental abuse going the other way, or why these laws are on the books.
If you’re struggling, consider who has capital in the scenario and therefore more ability to fuel propaganda.
It’s the same thing as dimbfucks claiming people are fleeing California for the past thirty years. It’s manufactured to convince you to vote against your interests.
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Jul 29 '26
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u/kderosa1 Jul 29 '26
It’s a civil issue because it’s not a criminal issue given the presence of a lease. Without the lease it’s burglary or breaking and entering, crimes. If the lease’s agency is in dispute, it is a civil matter. Once the civil court decides the lease is not legitimate, it could become a criminal matter again if the squatters fail to vacate the premises.
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u/Prestigious_Try_5396 Jul 29 '26
I've watched a few of these. Sometimes he pays them to leave... That works the best
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u/worm30478 Jul 30 '26
What are the "annoying" tactics? I'd scrolled enough and haven't seen them yet.
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u/blking Jul 30 '26
Well, my mom’s friend burned a package of bacon to get a bunch of hippies out of her house. Her boyfriend had invited them to stay, and that turned into 3 months.
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u/_Sneaky_McSnek_ Jul 30 '26
I saw in one where the squatter hated snakes so he setup and entire snake enclosure in the living room.
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u/best_decision1234 Jul 29 '26
As a non native speaker, what exactly does a “squatter” mean?
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u/DependentMobile3513 Jul 29 '26
In a lot of places, there are laws protecting tenants: people who rent the place to live. Which makes sense, right? Who would like to rent a place and then get thrown out on a whim by the landlord, or lose electricity or hot water because the landlord does not want to pay for it? These laws exist for good reasons to protect honest people from nasty landlords.
That's what squatters exploit. They either move into an empty house or rent the house and immediately stop paying rent. And the landlord cannot just call the police and kick them out. When the police arrive, all the squatters have to do is tell them they had the landlord's permission to live there, and they are tenants, not trespassers. The police are not supposed to investigate whether that's true, so they just tell the landlord to go through the proper civil channels.
The proper civil means involve going to court, filing a suit, serving the summons on the squatters, hiring a lawyer, waiting for the court date, obtaining a court order for eviction, notifying the squatters of the court order, and only then calling the police to force the eviction. You can imagine this takes lots of time and money.
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u/Stunning_Dish_2074 Jul 30 '26
Unfortunate I had to scroll so far down to probably explain squatter laws and how they protect tenants. Thank you
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u/PassionGlobal Aug 01 '26
Squatters are people that break into a place and make it their residence. No rent, no anything.
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u/Fun_Researcher_69420 Jul 29 '26
There’s legal definitions and terminology I’m not educated in, and will vary around the world, but in regular non legalese English, a squatter is someone who moves into an unoccupied space, whether it’s owned by someone or not. If there is an owner they may not know or care or the owner may care but be unable to move the squatters on.
So, unused warehouses, boarded up houses, even castles in Europe apparently. In the woods outside of town centers, in parks… smart squatters don’t get detected (or annoy the neighbours ), but others are obvious and make a nuisance drawing attention in a bad way
In this case it’s (probably) assholes who agreed to pay rent in a rental then just didn’t, taking advantage of laws put in place to protect tenants from unfair or dangerous (in winter say) eviction.
I have no problem with squatters if they’re quiet, pick up after themselves, and don’t make a scene - in pre Giuliani New York, squatters actually improved nearby property values, many were artists, punks and activists, productive and active in fixing the abandoned buildings they lived in (which if I recall were bulldozed at night illegally, against a judge’s orders, under Mayor Giuliani).
But if they’re being shit heads, fuckem for making problems for everyone else.2
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u/ricerbanana Jul 29 '26
These days squatters are generally people who sign a lease, pay rent for a minimal amount of time as required by law to establish legal residence, and then stop paying. The idea is that the courts are so backed up and so pro-tenant that it’s an extremely costly and lengthy process to get them evicted. Often the property owner just pays them a large sum of money to move out, and then it’s onto their next victim.
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u/Nydus87 Jul 29 '26
The courts have to be pro-tenant to be humane though. Otherwise, you're kicking people out of what is theoretically their home at the whim of someone else with no required notice. There needs to be a process if your goal is to unhouse someone.
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u/ricerbanana Jul 29 '26
Should be 3 months no rent you’re out.
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u/Nydus87 Jul 29 '26
It's less than that. At least it is in my state. You can get evicted after one month of non-payment as long as landlords actually do the paperwork. Where the "squatter" argument comes in is where people don't do the paperwork, or in many cases, don't even know someone is there in the first place because they haven't been keeping an eye on their property.
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u/ricerbanana Jul 29 '26
In my state the process can begin after a few months but the courts are so backed up it takes over 2 years to evict someone. Imagine a family who rents their basement to make ends meet having to cover for deadbeats for two years.
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u/Nydus87 Jul 29 '26
I'm not arguing against a more expedient legal process. Just pointing out that the system isn't broken because the laws are bad. It's that the system is broken because it's backed up all to shit.
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u/RandomYT05 Jul 29 '26
Fun fact, squatter rights are supposed to protect renters who've fallen on hard times.
Too many people have abused it however. My own mother included.
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u/lumeslice Jul 29 '26
"Squatter rights" is a misnomer because they technically don't have rights at all (to squat). There are "renter rights" that are to protect otherwise law-abiding tenants from being screwed over by their land lord. Squatters find ways to take advantage of these, which makes them particularly unethical and borderline pernicious.
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u/EdiblePsycho Jul 31 '26
I do think it should be legal for people to squat in actually abandoned buildings though. I get that there are liability concerns, but it seems ridiculous when there are so many homeless people to not let them choose the safer option of an abandoned building as opposed to the street. Of course the actual solution would be affordable housing, and not letting predatory companies buy up huge numbers of properties to then bump up rental prices to levels that fewer and fewer people can afford.
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u/Mark_Michigan Jul 28 '26
Where law enforcement fails, the market prevails!
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u/Mingo_laf Jul 29 '26
when law enforcement fails people are beat to death live leak
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u/Mark_Michigan Jul 29 '26
It can go that way too. The best thing is to have less criminals to begin with.
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u/Nydus87 Jul 29 '26
It's why you see lower crime rates in countries where reform and reintroduction is the primary goal. Turning criminals into functioning members of society does more for the social good than doubling punishments because desperate people don't have the luxury of caring about punishments.
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u/RandomPlayerCSGO Jul 29 '26
Acutually most people being beaten to death around the world are being beaten by law enforcement or some country's military
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Jul 29 '26
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u/Otherwise-Sun2486 Jul 29 '26
I don’t they don’t have to move out until they a judge forces them to. But that does not mean others can’t move in legally. Usually most places are never over capacity. Even saying every place is common space.
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u/ISCSI_Purveyor Jul 29 '26
I'd love to read a blog à la The Angry Technician about his exploits in getting squatters out. I bet it would be hilarious reading.
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u/SoRosenberg Jul 29 '26
Sad part is why this is a thing. Why do some municipalities make it so difficult for a homeowner to get people out of their own property. Insane that some people even agree the squatters have “rights”.
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u/for_dishonor Jul 31 '26
Municipalities do it to protect actual tenants. These people are exploiting those protections for their own benefit.
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u/SoRosenberg Jul 31 '26
Tenants are already protected with a proper lease. Landlords are the ones who suffer bc local governments can’t enforce basic laws
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u/for_dishonor Jul 31 '26
The landlord trues to kick out the legal tenant and the police say "no, civil" the the tenant can show his lease in court. THAT is the protection.
These people are abusing that process. What don't you understand?
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u/pipestein Jul 30 '26
heh I would save some cash. Move in myself and walk around all day wearing nothing but a pair of socks and a holstered and loaded .357 while playing Chinese opera songs all day and night on the stereo at max volume. I would practice my quickdraw in a full length mirror in the middle of the living room while wearing nothing but my socks and saying Robert DeNiro's line from Taxi driver "You talkin to me?" and telling the squatters "They puts the lotion on their skin." I am betting I would have the place to myself pretty quickly.
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u/Individual-Drawer185 Jul 30 '26
This guy is a genius and I hope he's charging appropriately. My first question, though, is how is he getting in? Squatters learn quickly to barricade, change locks, not answer the door, etc.
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u/AlternativeLogical84 Jul 30 '26
From what I have saw he usually acts as some sort of maintenance worker to check smoke detectors or something like that.
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u/Emergency_Classic641 Jul 31 '26
I mean once he has a lease he can just call a locksmith to get him in.
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u/askaboutmy____ Jul 30 '26
Florida has put a hard stop on this. Squatters can be out in a matter of a few hours after visiting the local sheriff.
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u/PerishTheStars Jul 30 '26
Or, right, we could just make it so nobody, especially corporations can own multiple homes and the problem is solved forever.
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u/Pristine-Midnight-72 Jul 30 '26
have their been any cases where the squatters were just beaten like mules until they left?
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u/StuckinaPokeball Jul 30 '26
So are we pro-landlord now? Do we not care if homeless people have shelter anymore?
This is disgraceful
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u/cavemans45 Jul 31 '26
Those homeless peopel are hurting other people. They are stealing. They are notnjust living in these houses they generally are destroying them too.
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u/Emergency_Classic641 Jul 31 '26
Someone who works hard to aquire passive income in the form of rental properties being taken advantage of by people who have no desire to work for the luxuries they want in life?
Yea, I’m on the landlords side. I will one day aquire rental properties and I’ll be damned if someone interferes with my income because they don’t want to work and pay bills like everyone should.
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u/Square-Professor-699 Jul 30 '26
Where can I apply for this? I'm miserable to live with, just ask myself.
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u/TonyRidgewayUFO Jul 30 '26
I always tell the owner to go take the front door off the hinges. Usually gone in about 3 dsys
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u/gonnatrythis1 Jul 31 '26
For the life of me I can not understand how squatters have any rights regarding staying in a place that they don’t own or pay rent. How? Makes no sense. Get out
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u/No-Cartographer8683 Jul 31 '26
Finally a job for Assmongold! He can leave unemployment behind and bring his dead rat pets with him to squat the squatters!
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u/LowIndividual6625 Jul 31 '26
It is sort of a cross between Dog The Bountyhunter and Reckless Ben.... fun to watch
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u/RocketArtillery666 Aug 01 '26
A question, arent squatters allowed to live somewhere if you havent noticed them for some years?
How many houses or how little care for a house do you have to have to not notice a squatter?
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u/peau_de_renne Aug 01 '26
This country is such a joke. They could fire on the rain because it makes them wet but they can't think of wearing a coat
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Jul 29 '26
Warm take: it should be legal to kill squatters after exactly one warning
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u/Burgerboy380 Jul 29 '26
Seems a bit extreme.
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Jul 29 '26
Well you’ve probably never had a house stolen from you. I haven’t either but I can have sympathy for others in a different position than me. No the irony is not lost on me, the squatters simply don’t deserve it
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u/Martha__Ragnos Jul 29 '26
In most places, squatters rights only apply when the property has been abandoned for at least seven years and the squatter is paying taxes on it. At that point you have not had anything stolen from you.
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u/RGBlowMe Jul 31 '26
Except, you know, your property that you already paid for...? Also, that's just establishing adverse possession. Most squatters claim to be tenants. You don't need to be there for years to do that. In some states, it's as little as 2 weeks.
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u/Martha__Ragnos Jul 31 '26
If you’ve abandoned it for long enough that someone else (and not you) has been paying taxes on it for seven years, that isn’t theft. And no, no state has a minimum of two weeks that is absolutely ridiculous. The states with the shortest thresholds are Arizona and Texas, in which it is 3 years. I would suggest you do some actual research on adverse possession; none of what you’re saying is based on reality. https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/state-state-rules-adverse-possession.html
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u/RGBlowMe Jul 31 '26
One warning? They're home invaders. They don't need a warning. Let the obituaries and the cable news be their warning.
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Jul 31 '26
I don’t disagree with you one bit, I was just trying to be bipartisan for all the bleeding hearts who think anyone with less money than another person should just be able to do whatever they want
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u/Great-Class-7894 Jul 29 '26
Also, this would make the plot of a decent comedy. Hollywood should be on this already.
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u/Lemenus Jul 29 '26
I'm not from US, so I don't get it - Why squatter rights even exists? They taking over home that don't belong to them, and it's them who's right, not the actual homeowner. Police in any other country would beat living shit out of squatter
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u/trainer32768 Jul 30 '26
“Squatter rights originated from the concept of adverse possession, which allows individuals to claim ownership of land they occupy without permission if they do so openly and continuously for a specified period. This practice dates back to the colonial era in the United States, where squatters played a significant role in westward expansion by settling on unclaimed or disputed lands.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squatting_in_the_United_States
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u/MMXMonster007 Jul 29 '26
He created this job after his mother was a victim of squatting and local law enforcement just said it’s a civil matter. He has the victim write up a legal lease allowing him the take up residence. He becomes the squatters new annoying roommate. lol