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Actually, there are probably many definitions of squatting. In my city, it is a pretty broad notion: when someone takes up residence on a residential, commercial, or rental property without the legal consent of the property owners. It is a criminal offense. I watched police evict two men who occupied a house that had been vacant for years. They made no claims on the property, just "claimed" that it wasn't hurting anyone for them to be in an otherwise empty house. The owner and police disagreed.
So then we have morphed to the definition of squatting that anytime one occupies a property without permission of the owner, they are squatting?? That means anyone who burglarizes a property is squatting because the owner did not give them permission to be there. One could say that, but that is not what this squatting wave that the media is giving so much publicity to is about. It is where people are occupying properties, making legal claims (which may or may not hold up in court) that they have a right to be there, and refusing to move out.
So then we have morphed to the definition of squatting that anytime one occupies a property without permission of the owner, they are squatting?? That means anyone who burglarizes a property is squatting because the owner did not give them permission to be there. One could say that, but that is not what this squatting wave that the media is giving so much publicity to is about. It is where people are occupying properties, making legal claims (which may or may not hold up in court) that they have a right to be there, and refusing to move out.
A burglary implies break & entry for the purpose of theft. It does not typically mean "break into place and then live there". A burglar is seeking loot, a squatter is seeking an abode. I think that is the main distinction between burglary and squatting in how we use those terms even though of course a squatter may also steal items.
I don't think we 100% know the circumstances of the murder, but if the killers had been staying in that residence when the victim encountered them, I think they'd qualify as squatters, if she just happened to walk in on them robbing the place, then they'd be burglars.
I'm sure that the people who passed these laws giving squatters so many rights will pass even more laws to protect home owners. what ever would we do without these people protecting us.
The original squatter's rights laws here were part of the Homestead Act, signed into law by President Lincoln. They weren't written in modern times. They go back to medieval England.
So you think nothing should change, because you don't trust lawmakers? Just continue to allow homeowners to bankrupt themselves trying to evict?
This is not a squatting incident. Squatting is when a person or persons occupy a property for a period of time and claim that they have a legal claim to the property, generally through a lease, deed, inheritance, or life estate. They fight for their claim and refuse to move out of the property.
We do not know how long these people were in this property. They made no claims of ownership or tenancy and produced no paperwork, and they ran out on their own.
Apparently what we have here is a burglary gone wrong, resulting in a murder. Squatting is in style now so it sounds a lot better for the uninformed media to call it a squatting incident.
“Two suspected squatters have been taken into custody for questioning after they allegedly killed a woman who walked in on them living in her mother's New York City apartment, police sources told ABC News.”
It might be good advice not to engage with the squatters in a case like this. Call 9/11. If you end up getting the squatters rights speech from the police maybe devise a plan to take back the property when the squatters leave, change to locks etc.
Same deal if you catch someone trying to steal your car, assume they are armed and will shoot you. This happened Saturday night.
That is what I keep thinking. To start a business.
If squatters tried this with me, I would grab a baseball bat. Because look how the squatters KILLED the homeowner. Why did it happen? Because she did not have anybody with a bat to straighten the squatter out.
This stuff is plain insanity. You might say attacking them is wrong or whatever but look at the alternatives. The only real solution is to say “forget the law”. The legal system in NY is obviously high jacked. Why keep acting like this stuff can be solved by playing by the rules anymore?
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