Friends —
This squatting situation looks insane.
It’s tough to watch news reports of bums taking over someone’s home, turning it into instant squalor, then waving a bogus lease at a police officer. It too often ends with the homeowner meekly retreating to go hire a lawyer, or worse.
In New York, a woman was recently arrested for the “unlawful eviction” of squatters who had taken over the $1 million home she inherited from her parents. In Seattle, a man got a court order to keep his landlord out of the home he hasn’t paid rent on for two years, and now has a legal non-profit helping him steal the home.
I’m lucky I haven't had to deal with squatters on my own turf or I'd likely end up as one of those "send him to jail" cases. And you know what? I might just deserve it.
A squatting primer
Are they really on the rise?
That’s the first question I ask, since I’ve been around the media long enough to know that media hysterias can be self-fulfilling. If an editor wants to read about a squatter, an ambitious reporter will find one.
Actual data is hard to find, allowing the powers-that-be to blame Fox News, but the trend looks all too real. Real estate lawyers cite an “explosion” of squatter cases, and a national trade association says 1,200 properties are being squatted in Atlanta alone.
The concept of adverse possession in America has some legal benefits. If you wrongly build something, encroaching on a neighbor’s land, after a few decades with no complaints, they’ve essentially abandoned that land. Adverse possession is rare, needs to meet strict criteria, and generally has to be both “open” and “hostile” (i.e. not by permission) for 10-30 years, depending on the jurisdiction.
None of these modern day squatters are doing any of that. They’re people who whip up a lease just fake enough so that the police decide not to get involved.
Why the current rise?
The trendy answer is that it’s unconsciously high housing costs combined with the end of COVID giveaways and eviction moratoriums. Some point to online support groups that offer advice and encouragement to would-be home thieves.
A better answer is that it’s another instance of society growing far too tolerant of people giving the middle finger to the rules. “The people doing this know there’s no legal consequences,” real estate attorney David Metzger says. “They’re not likely to be charged with anything.”
That sounds familiar, no?
National Review’s Judson Burger offers a twist: “It’s not so far-fetched to suspect that recent, brazen incidents of “squatters” taking over residences and refusing to leave connect in some way to a cultural shift in which paying bills on time — or paying them at all — has been downgraded in importance.”
If you look at the unacceptable behavior that’s accelerated in some of our major cities, the common denominator is always the same: bad behavior thrives when society allows it. We’ve seen this play out with homeless encampments, runaway shoplifting, illegal immigration, and more. Increased tolerance begets increased misbehavior.
The news stories have sparked some turnaround, though. In Florida, Georgia, and even New York, legislators are beginning to give homeowners more legal muscle to boot out these urban campers more quickly.
Hopefully this whole squatting circus will have a short run.
– Ken