Squatters in California meet their match (Chico: real estate, rent, crime rate)

[Tulemutt]

Originally Posted by bad debt

California doesn't protect squatters. You are free to remove someone however you want. But if the person is simply sitting in your house and he's not doing anything to endanger you and you kill him. That's called murder. Even in Georgia.

Well true … but certainly not as much fun to post anonymously on an internet social forum as a ‘rootin’-‘tootin’ yee-haw ‘Murican Wild West bloviation!

[bad debt]

Originally Posted by JGC97

You were very fortunate that you had a rental agreement and had the law on your side, fluffy. It's a big fat headache to get those renters out but when someone just moves into a house without a legal agreement, it becomes a civil matter and police won't touch it.

Squatters can be very clever. They can manufacture a fake lease agreement, forge signatures and when LE shows up at their door, they whip that out and show it to the officer(s). Officers don't know for certain if the document is fake or real which is why they won't get involved. That's what happened with the subjects in the OP's video. Flash's mom owned the house so he had her permission to do what he could to remove them. Good thing the squatter wasn't the sharpest knife in the drawer and didn't resort to violence. Some of those legal evictions don't end so well.

One I remember well was a case where the locksmith and deputy showed up at the tenant's door with eviction papers but the guy inside was armed with an arsenal of weapons. When the officer knocked on the door, the guy opened fired, shooting and killing both the locksmith and the deputy. Knowing it wouldn't end well for the guy inside, he then held officers at bay for hours until he finally decided to end it. He set fire to the inside of the home then put a bullet in his head. The guy was mentally disturbed and while that's not how all tenants are, it's something that does happen.

In light of the recent increase of people who can't obtain housing they can afford, a lot of them will find an empty home and take possession of it. And when they do, it makes it difficult to get them out.

This has brought up the old adverse possession law that exists in all states. What surprises me is that the years differ. California's adverse possession law is five years. Other states are seven, ten, and a couple of them are 20 years. If interested in knowing how many years it takes for adverse possession, check this out. https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclope...ossession.html

I think CA needs to amend those years and, at the very least, bump it to ten years. Five years is nothing. 60 months. Some people finance a car for that length of time. And unless a property owner isn't diligent about regularly checking on a vacant property they own elsewhere, they could end up losing that property to a squatter.

Good for you that you weren't faced with a squatter and had the law on your side. It's also good that the tenant wasn't mentally disturbed and none of those officers were injured or worse.

Part of adverse possession is the new person has to pay property taxes for that period of time. If the current owner is so checked out that they don't notice they haven't paid property taxes for five years, that's on them.

[JGC97]

Originally Posted by bad debt

Part of adverse possession is the new person has to pay property taxes for that period of time. If the current owner is so checked out that they don't notice they haven't paid property taxes for five years, that's on them.

Not only taxes. They have to do improvements to the property, maintain landscape and show that it's being inhabited. It's not as easy as some think but it's still possible and it happens.

[Roboteer]

Originally Posted by Roboteer

Pay wall.

Here's a video the guy (Flash Shelton) made about how he dealt with the squatters. Peaceful, congenial... and it worked.

Good for him.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhz5r1JKwjs

[UniversalTraveler]

Sure glad where I live such "squatters" would be removed immediately. If someone is in a home they do NOT own or have not gotten permission from the owner to be there, they are removed pure and simple. I guess California is rather lenient. in this regard. Where I live if a person enters your home that doesn't belong there, and they are shot and killed, you aren't charged. This is the way it SHOULD be. If they enter and they are not the owner and take it over in your absence, they are removed pure and simple. How your laws got so screwed up is beyond me. It's both sad and ridiculous if I do say so.

[Tulemutt]

Originally Posted by UniversalTraveler

Sure glad where I live such "squatters" would be removed immediately. If someone is in a home they do NOT own or have not gotten permission from the owner to be there, they are removed pure and simple. I guess California is rather lenient. in this regard. Where I live if a person enters your home that doesn't belong there, and they are shot and killed, you aren't charged. This is the way it SHOULD be. If they enter and they are not the owner and take it over in your absence, they are removed pure and simple. How your laws got so screwed up is beyond me. It's both sad and ridiculous if I do say so.

It appears you haven’t read the preceding posts. (Or you are intentionally misrepresenting several points and claims?)

[UniversalTraveler]

I didn't miss anything. In California apparently you folks need to deal with putting such behaviors into the court system. Here it's a simple call to the authorities and it's DONE. Good luck with your liberal ways.

[Tulemutt]

Originally Posted by UniversalTraveler

I didn't miss anything. In California apparently you folks need to deal with putting such behaviors into the court system. Here it's a simple call to the authorities and it's DONE. Good luck with your liberal ways.

Ok. Intentionally false statements then.
One only need to read the preceding posts for corrections

[JGC97]

Originally Posted by UniversalTraveler

Sure glad where I live such "squatters" would be removed immediately. If someone is in a home they do NOT own or have not gotten permission from the owner to be there, they are removed pure and simple. I guess California is rather lenient. in this regard. Where I live if a person enters your home that doesn't belong there, and they are shot and killed, you aren't charged. This is the way it SHOULD be. If they enter and they are not the owner and take it over in your absence, they are removed pure and simple. How your laws got so screwed up is beyond me. It's both sad and ridiculous if I do say so.

Do you? Because according to laws in your state, squatters cause as much a problem as they do here in CA. Now, if you're talking about trespassing, that's a different matter. Here. Read this and see if it applies to your state and then come back and tell me that the laws in our state differ from yours.

https://rentalsinboise.com/property-...-rights-idaho/

A squatter is anyone that occupies property without lawful permission from the owner. A squatter doesn’t pay rent and usually occupy properties that have been abandoned, foreclosed, or left unoccupied.

What you're describing (as immediate removal by law enforcement)is trespassing and that's much different than squatting.

Squatting and trespassing are not the same things. Squatting is a civil issue, whereas trespassing is a criminal offense. However, squatting can become trespassing once the owner files an unlawful detainer lawsuit against the squatter.

[UniversalTraveler]

Sorry, but in my state if one shows lawful ownership of a property to the authorities, that is being squatted upon, indeed immediate removal by the authorities is totally warranted and executed by our officers. NO court date needed. It is virtually ALWAYS trespassing unless the property has been abandoned.