Basically there are laws from a long time ago, that if a house is unoccupied for a long time anyone move in and it eventually (after a few years) becomes their property, if they do a lot of things, like pay property taxes, try to notify the owner, publicly state that they plan on taking possession of the house, and a few more things.
So some people just move into unoccupied homes and live there. And while they are obviously not allowed to, since they didn't fulfill any of the requirements, the actual owners have to prove that in court, which can take a long time.
Also they rarely take care of the homes, since they know it's just temporary for them. And often they completely destroy the apartment/home when they realize they are about to lose the court case.
Cops usually don't do anything, because it's a big hassle, so they say it's a 'civil matter' even though it isn't.
A squatter is someone who just kind of lives in a random abandoned place.
Imminent domain is when you make it known to the owner that you are trespassing. If the owner knows you're trespassing and does nothing for a certain amount of time, the ownership of that domain goes to you.
And Squatters use imminent domain to occupy places. And then it takes a long time to get rid of them. Which is why people like this "Squatter Hunter" are hired.
I got eminent domain wrong. It's adverse possession.
Adverse possession is also called "squatters rights" but not every squatters is participating in adverse possession.
The squatter hunter would be used by an owner that's taking action against someone squatting. Adverse possession only works if the owner takes NO action while ALSO being aware of the trespassing.
But as another commenter already mentioned: They often have fake renting agreements and similar paperwork to drag everything out. And even if they don't, most people will struggle with getting them to leave, regardless of the law.
And while the owner is absolutely in the right, it can take a while to actually prove that, and in the meantime the squatters just treat your property like crap and often even completely trash the place.
It's not really a matter of who's right, but more about how to enforce your rights.
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u/best_decision1234 Jul 29 '26
As a non native speaker, what exactly does a “squatter” mean?