OAN’s Taylor Tinsley
12:25 PM – Wednesday, March 27, 2024
Americans around the country are calling on local governments to eliminate “squatters rights.”
Thousands of homeowners who go on vacation or anywhere else, forcing them to leave their homes vacant, are returning to find that their property has been taken over by individuals invoking so-called squatters rights.
This has left property owners wondering how and why the law is stacked against them as law abiding citizens.
In New York, a woman named Adele Andaloro told reporters that squatters moved into her home back in February. She was in the process of selling her family’s million dollar home in Queens, New York, when one day, she came back to an entirely new front door and lock.
In the Big Apple, people are able to claim squatters rights after staying on a property for only 30-days.
“By the time that someone does their investigation and they do their work and their job, we’ll be well over the 30 days and this man will have stolen my home,” Andaloro told WABC.
Andaloro had the locks changed again, which police warned could land her in handcuffs for unlawful eviction. The man squatting at the home falsely claimed to be leasing the property. Under state law, it is illegal to change the locks, turn off power, or remove the belongings of someone claiming to be a tenant, even if they’re lying.
However, Andaloro, the homeowner, was arrested shortly after.
In a separate case, two squatters were also arrested in New York City last week, in connection with a woman whose body was found beaten to death and stuffed inside a duffel bag in her mother’s apartment.
Meanwhile in Georgia on Tuesday, the state senate unanimously passed a bill to fight against squatters in an effort to make sure they can at least be charged with trespassing.
Squatters have reportedly occupied over 1,000 homes in Atlanta, Georgia. Some have been offering properties for rent on social media and another pair of squatters were arrested in October for turning a home into an illegal strip club.
One Venezuelan national called the “Migrant Influencer,” with more than half a million followers on the social media app TikTok, went viral last week after offering tips for how to “invade” people’s homes.
On Wednesday, Governor Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) announced that the Sunshine State is putting an end to squatters rights.
“I’ll be signing HB621, which will give the homeowner the ability to quickly and legally remove a squatter from a property and which will increase criminal penalties for squatting,” DeSantis said.
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