Ms. Adele Andaloro inherited a million dollar home in Queens, NY after her parent's death. When she went to prepare the house for sale, she was shocked to find the locks were changed and people were occupying (squatting) her house. When she showed up with a camera crew and her daughter, a lady unlocking the door walked away when she was questioned. Adele took the opportunity to enter, finding 2 squatters who had moved there 2 days prior, and she called the police. While another fella just walked out. NY laws protect squatters if they've been in the house for at least 30 days; these men were therefore removed. Like most property owners, Adele proceeded to have a locksmith change the locks, despite the police warning her not to change them. However one of the fellas removed was back with a Brian Rodriguez (the guy that left on his own) who proceeded to push his way in as if he was the owner, and said he had a lease. Although he never showed a lease nor give the alleged realtor's name that made the alleged lease, he showed the police receipts of repairs he made to the house, and claimed to have lived there for months. The police therefore said it was a civil matter and unfortunately deemed the owner's actions a violation of eviction laws and therefore arrested her.(3) Sympathizers have since disturbed the squatters and have got arrested also. If all the working people get arrested in NY, who will pay the taxes?
You don't have to go far to find bad tenants, one such story was here in Bellingham.
For 60 years Granny and her husband (who passed away before all this) rented a couple of units near their house without any problems from tenants. “The college students are great to rent to.”
In the fall of 2018, granny Wendy, who will be 90 in October, "rented knowingly to a clean former drug addict and his pregnant WWU student girlfriend. Granny wanted to give the guy a second chance."(8) The apt was for a low $600/month, and convenient to WWU.
Granny and the 2 got along well the first few months, but then the baby came and trouble started with the guy, who got injured on the job; so granny gave them a 1 month's free rent to help them out. Then the checks came every other month and within 6 months covid started and so did the moratorium on evictions; and knowing this, the guy got nasty. He got more government assistance but refused to pay. Opportunity council promised to pay whenever he didn't pay. Granny got along with the Mom, but she soon took the baby and left. He didn't like the baby crying. Seems like he got back under the influence about that time, and started verbally abusing the other tenants.
Getting the guy out was a 2 year nightmare for her, and the state (the taxpayer) paid for his attorney.
Granny hired a Lawyer who was told by the case mgr at the Opportunity Council they would have to go to mediation instead of the court. He started sending nasty texts about how rich she supposedly was and granny saved them for mediation. ***Remember that***. (Now while Granny Wendy is comfortable from a lifetime of hard work in real estate, and her husband's contracting, she is not rich by any means.)
Whoopee! At mediation granny won, and it was mostly due to his nasty texts. The mediation gave him 4 months to move.(9)
Damages: 4 months later
the guy left the place completely trashed. Garbage piled up to the ceiling. It took 3 people, 3 days to get all the trash out. "It needed a complete remodel: $15,000 was put into remodeling the dirty unit."(9) While the whole ordeal traumatized granny, she is still going strong, walking ½ way around Lake Padden the other day and even going on a sailing vacation last summer, feeling great – that's the spirit, way to go Granny Wendy!
Consider Patti Peeples in Jacksonville, putting her house for sale after a longtime renter moved; only to find squatters in the home. 2 ladies and pit bulls threatened Ms Peeples and even pushed her, claiming to have a lease but the phone number of the lessor was the wrong #. Research revealed the squatters have claimed this before. These people had just moved in after they were evicted from another property. After $5000 in lawyer fees, and free living, the squatters were evicted but they left $40,000 in damage to the home.(5)
Fortunately Ms. Peoples took it to the FL state legislature who proposed a bill allowing the local sheriff to relocate squatters without a valid lease to jail, allow for penalties for falsifying leases and for damages to the property. The bill passed recently. (11)Maybe more states can follow.
Here's another case in Nashville where the squatter moved into an expensive log home after the bank foreclosed on the previous owners, and a family, the Woodards, soon won the bid on the property, only to be cancelled by the bank without an explanation; and then they forgot about it. So a violent ax wielding squatter, Piskey lived in there for 2 years. During that time he committed crimes, e.g. domestic violence - battering his wife, and a stolen vehicle discovered on the property.(12)
And there are so many cases out there, just google or go to youtube and google “squatters”.
You won't believe this, a Venezuelan illegal alien squatter is instructing potential illegals from around the world on TikTok to come to the USA and take over someone's house by squatting. (6) This is definitely an example of how fast word is spreading all over the world, not just here in the USA, that you can move into someone's property, not pay them a dime, lie to the police that you have a lease, and get to live there a while, while the owner had better watch their ques lest they end up like poor Adele.
Update: Good news, this guy, promoting foreigners to come and squat at people's homes in the USA has suffered instant karma, and has been apprehended by Ice for skipping out in a 2022 court appearance. I'm still finding out more about this and I'll keep you all posted.
Nevertheless why would our politicians do this to owners, and even put them in harms way; as many squatters are often violent thug criminals? Why would they put owners in financial distress? After all is it not property owners and renters who pay taxes to pay the politicians' salaries or is it the squatters? What are they trying to accomplish? Are owners to sell their property and do the same? Should we all start squatting now? And who's going to buy all the properties with ulterior motives? Some people think this is done to consolidate properties in the hands of wealthy real estate companies. Most people whether owners or renters are hard working people that don't live like that. Many have a stable job, family, a reputation, and hate moving that's why they legally buy or rent property in the first place.
In conclusion, what kind of sick feeling do owners like Jaskaran, Adele, Granny Wendy, Peeples, etc feel after such an experience? Will they ever want to rent their property out to anyone again? What does this say for property supply? Will this cause a shortage in rentals and therefore prices increasing?
I'll close this article with a positive note of how one gentleman moved squatters out of his mothers house, would you believe of all places, in Northern California in just one day. He said his mother couldn't sell the house because the realtors said they couldn't list it if there was furniture and people in there. So he got a lease from his mom and became the new tenant / squatter. He then installed ring cameras, the squatters showed up, and he told them he's getting all their stuff moved out if they don't move it themselves that day before he leaves. (He had previously offered some tough guys their furniture, so long as they took it away. Also he had previously called the deputies and they wouldn't go in.(13) Finally this is so common, the realtors told him he could make a bunch of money getting rid of squatters for other owners around the area.(5) And that's what he did. He started a company, Squatter Hunters charging anywhere from $2,000-10,000 to go deal with squatters on the owner's behalf, and he has lots of interesting and informative videos on youtube.(10)And here is Flash praising FL Governor DeSantis for passing legislation to combat the 'Squatters Scam' today, 3-28-2024.(11)
(1) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRvo1PG4LxM
(2) https://www.newsweek.com/squatter-forces-landlord-out-home-washington-1882028
(3) https://youtu.be/GlKqGPG7KsE
(4) https://youtu.be/oITGzV2JOmo
(5) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5iG4nw5sDs
(6) https://twitter.com/CollinRugg/status/1770486545214251441?ref_twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1770604484126818506%7Ctwgr%5E84b63a6bcbae7a7c6f7154b2e9429c2ca43879ad%7Ctwcon%5Es2_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thegatewaypundit.com%2F2024%2F03%2Fbidens-america-venezuelan-tik-tok-influencer-coaches-illegal%2F
(7) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhz5r1JKwjs
(8) Granny's Friend Marta
(9) Mighty Granny Wendy – I used a fictitious name to protect the elderly citizen.
(10) https://youtu.be/ja7UEaD6Stk
(11) https://youtu.be/yD7MoUwXPmY
(12) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=keqIPNyJLM0
(13) https://youtu.be/-v2bIMU_RDM
[ ] Brackets are used to correct the spelling of a person's quote or add more descriptive words to avoid English and Literature Teachers from having a heart attack, LoL.
By Chief Editor Angelo-Lk-Whatcom-Rider-Writer,
About The writer: I've lived in Bellingham since February, 2011, and love the beautiful trees & greenery producing all that oxygen, and of course, the lake, bay, hills and mountains too. I've also been in the lovely Anacortes area for part of that time, going back and forth, since moving here.
Educational/Professional Background: Economics & Political Science Degrees at UCF. Attended Graduate School of Economics at FSU, and have worked for the FL Labor Dept as well as consulted for the FL Labor Dept on behalf of the US Labor Dept. I've been happily working in my own businesses since 1993.