The Erosion of Landlord Rights: Why Recent Instances of Squatting Should Worry You
Media portrayals tend to favor tenants over landlords in general; one exception was an episode of HBO’s Silicon Valley where Jared has struggled for months to evict a nonpaying “professional tenant,” subleasing through Airbnb in his unit because California landlord/tenant laws favor tenants so much that an eviction may take longer than expected.
At the same time, Erlich (who rents rooms to Jared and other characters trying to build the fictional tech company Pied Piper) demands one of his tenants and soon-to-be-supervillain Jian Yang leave (video contains NSFW language). Unfortunately this allows Jared’s situation to worsen further and leads him to opt against leaving as requested; rather than leave completely and cease paying rent altogether as requested by Erlich, Jian Yang decides he’ll stay and simply stop paying his rent altogether.
Though that episode was amusing, some municipalities appear to be moving beyond satire with their actions. New York recently arrested a woman for changing the locks on her $1 million home to rid it of squatters who were living illegally there.
According to an account in The New York Post of this incident:
Adele Andaloro claims her ordeal began last month when she discovered squatters had moved in and replaced all of the doors and locks on the home without permission.
“She was so frustrated she went back home on 160th Street on Feb. 29 accompanied by the local TV outlet and called a locksmith to change the locks for her.
An understandable but poor course of action was taken when two residents got into an argument and eventually called the police, according to The New York Post article. Under law, it is illegal for homeowners to change locks, turn off utilities or remove belongings of tenants from the property – though using “tenants” in this instance might seem generously generous euphemistic term for them – without first consulting legal assistance and receiving permission from both tenants first before making their actions known or engaging law enforcement authorities in this instance.
An additional factor complicating matters was that in New York City, someone can claim “squatters rights” after only 30 days in an occupied property; yet by the time an investigator completed their work and left, Andaloro still found herself faced with having someone living there illegally occupy her space despite legal efforts. That left Andaloro trapped between a rock and hard place: she wanted someone in but they wouldn’t leave without paying rent first!
“Andaloro was ultimately charged with unlawful eviction after she changed locks without providing new keys for those staying there, according to The Post’s reporting by NYPD. Additionally, Andaloro received a criminal court summons.”
This case may seem exceptional, but it is far from alone. A couple from New York purchased a $2 Million “dream home” to care for their son with disabilities but were prevented from moving in because a squatter beat them to it. Another instance occurred in Rockaways when an invading squatter destroyed an entire property filled with starving dogs and cats who were trapped within for days, before eventually perished due to lack of food and medical attention.
The New York Post quotes one attorney as noting a 40%-50% increase in such cases since COVID came into play.
New York is making matters even more frustrating by its apparent disinterest in prosecuting normal crimes. From 2022 and 2023, more than half of felonies were reduced to misdemeanors while misdemeanor conviction rates dropped significantly from 53% in 2019 to 29% by 2022.
