Imagine this for a moment…You inherit a family member’s house after they pass, and instead of moving in, you decide to sell it. Of course, that takes some time, as you must first get all of the legal requirements dealt with – the will must be probated, the paperwork must be properly executed and in good order, then you need to find a realtor you like, maybe repair a thing or two before placing the house on the market, and so on. After several weeks (or possibly months) of working to get all of this accomplished, you go by the house to start removing unwanted furniture, clothing, etc., but when you walk up to the front door and try to put the key into the lock, your key doesn’t work.

You say to yourself, I must have tried the wrong key. Let me try another. But it wasn’t the wrong key. No. Instead, you realize that someone changed the lock on the door! You cannot get into your house! So you knock on the door, and to your shock, the door opens and you are standing face to face with a complete stranger. You demand they leave, of course, but astonishingly, they refuse. They say it’s their house and has been for weeks now, even though they never asked your permission, or signed a lease, or paid a penny to live there.

The nightmare continues, when you call the police to report a trespassing, only to have the police tell you that they are powerless to do anything, since the “trespassers” have been there for more than 30 days. Thanks to New York State law, those occupants of your house are not trespassers, nor are they breaking the law. Nope. Just the opposite. They are now your tenants, and they possess all of the amazing “rights” that the lawmakers in Albany have bestowed upon tenants, to the severe detriment of landlords. …

What’s the underlying problem here, folks?

Well, for sure it’s the criminals who are breaking into other people’s homes and living there without permission, without compensation to the owners, and so on. But, the problem is equally (if not more so) due to the criminal politicians who are making the laws that allow this to happen! In Florida, where the state legislature is a supermajority Republican in both houses, and the Governor is Republican, as is the Attorney General, it is a crime to squat, and the procedures for removing squatters are simple and swift. However, here in New York state where the legislature is a supermajority Democrat in both houses, and the Governor is Democrat, as is the Attorney General, squatting is not only legal, the squatters get to live in your property for free, indefinitely, whilst you bust your rump to pay the bills on the place.

Elections have consequences. What do I mean? Well, there is a bill being proposed here in New York that would make squatting a crime, and make it more difficult for squatters to gain so many rights against the property owners. However, that bill is being introduced by Republicans, and the Democrats won’t touch it, which means it will never pass. Unless enough New Yorkers pressure their Democrat legislators to support that bill. Here is the information on the bill, and here is the link to look up who your legislators are. What will you do with this information?