squatters rights

does anyone know the specifics on squatters rights in the u.s.?

thanks!!

 

Actually the term is now "adverse possession" and it depends on what state you are in, AZ is 3 years and PA is 21. Basically you use someones land openly and if they don't object or agree, after said time it is yours. Such as a building on the wrong side of the property line and nothing is ever said, if even known, after the length of time that property it is on is yours. There are several other aspects of it but that is the jist of it from what I know.

 

What qualifies as a structure?

 

despite my newfound morality - i thought id share this with u - not exactly squatting, but it works - i used to be down out like everyone else, sometimes we had to make do - this is what we did - (we lived in ocean beach san diego ca when we pulled this)

1. Find a vacant place (apt, house, whatever)

2. Fill out completely all paperwork (lease, application, etc)

3. Write a reciept for a few months rent, we used 6 months prepaid in cash - make sure to sign it, even better if u can actually get a money order and make a copy, then go return the money order and get ur cash back

4. I alwyas used the name Mr. Harvey as the landlords name

5. Breakin to the house late afternoon.

6. Change locks (and fix whereever u broke in)

7. Hook up utlities asap (u may need a lease to do this, but u should have one by now), like the same day, electric is ussually enough

8. Start livin

9. When the real owner comes by, usually in a day or two, play dumb, do not leave - he will call the police

10. Explain to the POPO, that u met Mr. Harvey down the street ealier, interviewed and saw the house with him, gave him 6 months prepaid rent and a security dep (show the MAN ur copies of the lease and stuff)

11. Wait about 6 months for this error to be corrected - u will be hasseled many times, but they cant make u leave till the judge orders it, in most states, NOT florida, landlords are not favored by the courts, gennerally an eviction can take anywhere from 3-6 months, if u play ur cards right -

- know the law and how to make it work 4 U - peace to all my broke ass sistas and brothas -PL&P

 

in florida - squatters rights are non exsistent - im a landlord i know trust me - i deal with it regurally, it takes me about 15-30 days to remove a tenant, sometimes less/more - watch out though, in florida it is a landlord freindly state - PL&P

 

thanks everyone!

peace !

 

I'm afraid you are dead wrong about that. In a landlord/tenant dispute adverse possession will not work, but I have seen many cases where people have moved into a vacant home, and wound up owning it.

I also doubt you can get a tenant out in less than 90 days. First you have to give a 3 day notice, and allow for time to reply. Then you have to file suit, and wait for a court date. If the tenant shows up at the hearing with any reasonable defense it could/will take six months at least. I lived in a place without paying rent for over a year because the landlord kept screwing up. Turning off water, harassment, etc.

 

This is not a realistic view of how the eviction process works in the state of Florida.

First off, the 3 day notice includes the tenants time to respond. It does not start after the notice expires. They have 3 days from when you give them the notice, to either vacate the premises, or pay the rent.

2. When you file the complaint the tenant has 5 days to answer for the eviction proceeding. Courts have upheld the fact that the tenant has 5 days excluding weekends/holidays to file a response with the court, and that no extra time is alotted for a tenant to claim that the response was in the mail.

If they do not respond the landlord will request a motion for clerk's default and a final judgement signed by the judge. Get a writ of possession and the sheriff will serve the eviction... end of story. Including weekends the entire process takes about 2 weeks.

3. If however the tenant does respond, the state of Florida requires they post all rent owed to the court or they waive the right to a defense. Now, it may drag on at this point if the tenant is able to post the rent, but usually if the tenant could afford to pay the rent, they wouldn't be however many months behind. If they had the money, the rent would be paid.

For example... tenant owes 4 months rent at $1150 per month. If the tenant wishes to provide a defense, they must deposit to the court 4,600 dollars. Otherwise... game over.

If they do post the money, then yes, the proceeding could drag on for a little while. As well as if the landlord makes mistakes like trying self-help methods (Shutting off power, etc). But in reality, an eviction proceeds very quickly in the landlord friendly state of Florida.

 

Cool! Good info! I did a sociology paper on squatters in college.There was a big squatters movement in Louisville in the early 90's. City owned tax delinquent properties just sitting. People were fixing them up. Some ended up with nice properties for low cost.

 

I love how people talk about what your options 'under the law' are when breaking the law...

Keep in mind that every once and a while, you will come across a property owner who has as much respect for your rights, as you do for theirs...

 

So a property is just sitting there not being used and a homeless family/person needs shelter. They don't have a right to seek shelter?
What's the problem with squatting in a bank repossessed house that's not on the market because the bank doesn't want to flood the market with houses like whats going on now?
Whats the problem with squatting on a property that was taken in a tax sale by the city?
Marijuana was illegal and criminal in many places and people broke the law while trying to change the law. Some laws are not right. If everyone followed the law no change would have happened. There are many examples in history of breaking laws that are not acceptable or beneficial.

 

Go back and show me where on person said anything about checking to see if a house or a building was owned by a bank before squatting in it...

Show me where one person even suggested trying to find ANYTHING out about a place other then 'it's empty'...

One of the posts, the one I was responding too, even quite clearly states that they do this on places where they expect the owner to notice and show up in a day or two, and how to fuck them over and steal their house.

For all anyone knows, someone just spent every dime they could scrape in order to buy that empty house and for the first time in their life have a chance to build a home, and the first thing they have to do is deal with some asshole who squatted, lies and tries to steal it?

There are many many many miles of government land (public land), there are many many empty buildinds that are owned by banks and corporations where squatting isn't going to bother anyone...

Telling people to go into empty homes at random and steal them, is fucked up...

 

Well ok, thats different. Thats not 'squatting'. That's stealing. Squatting, in my mind, conjures the image of an abandoned structure not for sale or being remodeled. Which are usually city owned.

It's hard to tell which are foreclosures or tax lien houses. The banks are keeping them looking like someone may live there by not having for sale signs or notices on the door. They are purposely not trying to sell them. I have a house down the road thats just sitting empty and deteriorating.
If I hadn't had to buy a new pump ($700) a couple years ago I'd have been tempted to borrow that one. A friend at work is building a retirement house in the woods. Someone ripped out all the copper plumbing and wires. ouch!

 

I have no issues with squatting besides it being such a waste of time and resources when you get kicked out.

But when someone starts talking about claiming houses and makes no mention of doing anything to find out anything about it, it does set me off.

Truly abandoned buildings, or public land... squat all you want...

Although when you see those old boarded up houses, you would be better off finding out who owned it and making them an offer to take it off their hands... any place that is boarded up for a couple of months will likely be really easy to get.

Almost every place I bought was done just that way, find the owner of an old house that was empty for months and offered to buy it with no money down and a couple of hundred a month at 25% of the value of the house (once fixed up)...

Then, the work, time and money you put into it, comes out as pure profit when you sell it later... depending where you are, if you live in it for at least a year, (and its your only property), you don't pay capital gains on the profit.

The worse a place is, the less money it takes (and more effort) to increase it's value... assuming you make sure the places are structurally sound anyway.

Anyone can do it, even with the worst credit rating in the world. You aren't going to lenders who are going to evaluate your 'credit worthiness', you are going to owners who are paying taxes on that house and losing value by the minute. If they can see a way out of it without losing everything, they will take it... Well, some will... ask 10 and you will find 1...

 

That's an interesting point of view. It's like that tree falling in a forest thing - if someone breaks the law without anyone noticing or being affected, is it still breaking the law? That's how I see adverse possession anyway. It's only breaking the law when the owner wants you gone and you don't go.

 

Yeah, see... I don't have a problem with that... I totally agree that if you move into a place and nobody notices, there isn't a problem with it.

At least until there is... which is irrelevant really...

It was just the... "this is how you fuck the owner who shows up" part that really got me...

 

This is a kinda fucked up thread.

In my state you can shoot people illegally on your land. I always thought this was barbaric, but maybe I see why. If some diserspectful little shit broke into my property and forged the papers to say someone who didn't own it rented it to them, I'd be back with a shotgun, and watch them move their shit to the curb then and there.

However, getting a forclosed/seized house that belongs to a bank or government, I wouldn't feel too bad, in fact I'd feel pretty smug.

Also sounds like a nice option for someone getting forclosed on-move out for a weekend, walk back in, document well, go claim house.

 

100%

It's two things that really clash in my mind...

on one hand, if someone needs a roof and there is one available... go for it...

On the other, if it was my roof and they try to claim it as theirs... its going to make me twitchy... (especially seems I pretty freely offer to share my roof already)

 

I knew that eventually we might agree on something. Who would ever guess it would be something as basic as property rights.

Land owner are ye Chronic Tom??

 

I have friends who squat. They are staying in VERY abandoned buildings. They try to keep the house nice and quiet (so the neighbors don't mind them staying there). Many times they will try to find the owner and see if they can get permission to stay there.

I used to be involved in the squatter scene in NYC 15 years ago. These were squats that had electricity, running water, etc. I was in some art squats that could have charged people to live there they were so nice.

In big cities you read all the time about people (usually poorer) who have rented the place from someone who wasn't the owner. They usually paid a deposit and a months rent (a LOT of money to them). I'm not making an excuse-but it does suck for them and the owner-they are forced to move out.