Bill Filed in New York To Prevent Squatter From Having Rights

Becoming Squatters, How Life Can Suddenly Change — (Photo : Jasper Juinen/Getty Images) SEVILLE, SPAIN - JUNE 01: Thirty-three year old Vanessa Arias Fernandez (L), who were evicted from her home together with her family, sits in the living room with her children, seven-year-old Yeray and her five-year-old twins Kiomara and Tatiana, lit by the yellow street lights, at her apartment, which is part of a complex occupied by the Corrala Utopia community on June 1, 2013 in Seville, Spain.In 2010 Spanish banks foreclosed more than 100,000 households which contributed to the already large number of empty houses. With as many as one million properties unsold, victims of Spain's financial crisis, struggling to keep a roof over their head due to high levels of unemployment and severe cuts to social welfare, have turned to squatting in the empty buildings. The Corrala Utopia is a community, on a steadily growing list of communities all over Spain, living in squatted buildings. In this case the building stood empty for three years before the squatters moved in almost a year ago. The community houses a total of 36 families including almost 40 children. The families are cut off from water and electricity and live with an uncertain future and the fear of being evicted soon again. For the first time in history over 6 million Spaniards are jobless in Spain, the euro zone's fourth-biggest economy.

A state assemblyman from Long Island recently filed a bill that would prevent squatters from having rights and taking advantage of free housing.

The bill was filed by New York State Assemblyman Jake Blumencranz, a Republican representing District 15. The bill states that a tenant does not cover squatters. It would also extend the time needed to stay in a property from 30 to 45 days before they can claim rights, according to ABC News.

Additionally, the bill would allow police to intervene and make arrests in squatting incidents instead of forcing homeowners to go through a lengthy court process to evict squatters from their properties.

"People can stay in homes for years, years, without having justice brought to them for essentially staying for free and making homeowners pay the bill," Blumencranz said.

"We're making sure squatters can't take advantage of the law, that's all we're doing," he added.

Squatter Rights in New York

Blumencranz's bill comes after police arrested Adele Andaloro, a New York City homeowner, for changing the locks on men she said were squatting in a home she inherited from her parents. She is now being forced to start an eviction filing in court to remove the squatters from her home.

It also comes after another family in Douglaston had been unable to move into a $2 million retirement home they purchased due to a man who refused to leave and who claimed to have a "license" from the dead former owner to stay in the house.

Currently, law enforcement officers in New York cannot arrest an individual for trespassing if they claim to be a tenant of the property, even if they moved into the home without permission from the owner. This is called squatter's rights.

In addition, squatter's rights also forbid property owners from changing the locks, removing the squatter's belongings, or cutting off the utilities in the property. If they do, they can be arrested, as was the case with Andaloro.

Instead, the homeowner has to take them to court to evict them, a process that takes about 20 months to two years to complete.