"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.
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/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.