>squatters of this type are taking advantage of laws intended to protect renters from predatory landlords.
what makes you think that’s the intention?
Being from California (and earlier from New York), that’s very much the intention. Both states (and municipal laws in places like LA, SF, and NYC) make the landlords have to jump through a lot of hoops before an eviction can take place, and the tenants can file for protection.
I know that things vary from state to state, but I’ve only been a renter in NY, NJ, and CA. I’ve also successfully sued a landlord for over $100k in damages and expenses.
squatters rights precede the founding of the United States and have nothing to do with renters rights. You’re just wrong about why these laws exist.
Precede
Bet… but the issue is the government who currently controls the land and enforces the laws.
You don’t go breaking Constantinople’s laws because they were once different in Istanbul.
You’re talking like a Sovereign Citizen.
I’m talking about the very specific laws that prevent people from being evicted if they’ve been residing on a property for N months without following a very deliberate and drawn out legal procedure so that landlords cannot evict a family from their home of many years because of some missed rent payments or because they want to upgrade the place so they can charge more to a new tenant. Those are the laws that keep the sheriffs from just kicking down doors, at least in some states.
I’m not taking a moral position on squatting. My friends and I squatted in an abandoned house while I was in high school, although most of us didn’t live there full time. If I noticed someone squatting tomorrow, especially in a corporate owned home, I would not have seen it. But the laws that I’m talking about were designed to protect tenants from having their lives unfairly disrupted, and I’m arguing that even if people are against squatters, we still need to protect tenants’ rights.
I would have thought that was abundantly clear.
