It’s Time to End Squatter’s Rights
by Ryan McMaken
Last month, New York City homeowner Adele Andaloro was arrested after changing the locks on a house that had been seized by squatters. According to The New York Post:
“Andaloro was charged with unlawful eviction because she had changed
the locks and hadn’t provided a new key to the residents. The residents,
however, are squatters.
Fortunately, Andaloro’s arrest was filmed and went viral, reviving an
ongoing debate over squatters “rights,” under which trespassers can
take over an unoccupied house or piece of land and attempt to establish
legal ownership.
Not long after the Andaloro video surfaced, an immigrant TikToker with 500,000 followers posted a video encouraging other migrants to squat in
private residences in the United States. The immigrant, Leonel Moreno,
explained to potential squatters that under US law, “if a house is not
inhabited, we can seize it.”
These videos have fueled increasing concern among property owners who
have witnessed the explosion in the numbers of aggressive homeless
residents in both central cities and suburbs. This, coupled with millions of new foreign nationals flooding into US cities in
recent years, has further increased concerns about a sizable, rootless
and impoverished population searching for opportunities to seize
unoccupied homes.
These recent examples have prompted many Americans to wonder why
squatter’s rights exist at all. Historically, there have been some
arguably reasonable justifications for the practice, such as in times
past when real estate records were far less precise and well preserved.
In modern times, however, squatter’s rights have little purpose beyond
redistributing property to favored interest groups. Moreover, squatter’s
rights in modern settings bear less and less resemblance to the
squatter’s rights of history.
Thanks to all this, it is becoming increasingly clear that squatter’s
rights have outlived whatever usefulness they may once have had. The
time has come to end squatter’s rights altogether.
Source: https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/its-time-to-end-squatters-rights/
Libertarian Institute
npub1jj…39576
2024-04-02 19:10:28
Author Public Key
npub1jjn8f2qr0cc576c0qme737hgh0d8j3uyrugrehhyv4rh9dwy3kyqc39576Published at
2024-04-02 19:10:28Event JSON
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"content": "It’s Time to End Squatter’s Rights\n by Ryan McMaken\n\nLast month, New York City homeowner Adele Andaloro was arrested after changing the locks on a house that had been seized by squatters. According to The New York Post:\n “Andaloro was charged with unlawful eviction because she had changed \nthe locks and hadn’t provided a new key to the residents. The residents,\n however, are squatters.\nFortunately, Andaloro’s arrest was filmed and went viral, reviving an\n ongoing debate over squatters “rights,” under which trespassers can \ntake over an unoccupied house or piece of land and attempt to establish \nlegal ownership.\n\nNot long after the Andaloro video surfaced, an immigrant TikToker with 500,000 followers posted a video encouraging other migrants to squat in\n private residences in the United States. The immigrant, Leonel Moreno, \nexplained to potential squatters that under US law, “if a house is not \ninhabited, we can seize it.”\n\nThese videos have fueled increasing concern among property owners who\n have witnessed the explosion in the numbers of aggressive homeless \nresidents in both central cities and suburbs. This, coupled with millions of new foreign nationals flooding into US cities in\n recent years, has further increased concerns about a sizable, rootless \nand impoverished population searching for opportunities to seize \nunoccupied homes.\n\nThese recent examples have prompted many Americans to wonder why \nsquatter’s rights exist at all. Historically, there have been some \narguably reasonable justifications for the practice, such as in times \npast when real estate records were far less precise and well preserved. \nIn modern times, however, squatter’s rights have little purpose beyond \nredistributing property to favored interest groups. Moreover, squatter’s\n rights in modern settings bear less and less resemblance to the \nsquatter’s rights of history.\n\nThanks to all this, it is becoming increasingly clear that squatter’s\n rights have outlived whatever usefulness they may once have had. The \ntime has come to end squatter’s rights altogether.\nSource: https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/its-time-to-end-squatters-rights/",
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