humansofnewyork:
“I help maintain properties for absentee landlords. I think most people imagine landlords to be rich guys on Long Island. But most of my clients only own one or two properties. A lot of times they were inherited. Part of my job is helping to get squatters out of the buildings. There are professional squatters out there. You can’t even call them criminals. They know the laws and they’re working within the system. If you catch somebody breaking into your house– that’s ‘breaking and entering.’ But if you happen to live out of state, and somebody breaks into your house and you don’t notice for six months, then that person becomes your tenant. It doesn’t matter if you gave them permission or not. If you want to evict them, you have to go through the legal system, which is very expensive. So it’s usually cheaper to pay the squatters off. The laws themselves aren’t bad. They were enacted to keep predatory landlords from evicting people without due process. But like all laws, there are people who have figured out how to abuse them. I have one squatter who has been living rent free in an old building for six years. He hasn’t paid a dime. He’s well dressed. He’s always very polite and professional when he answers the door. But we’re offering him $80,000 to leave and he’s asking for more.”
Published on April 26, 2016 12:00
