• SatanicNotMessianic@lemmy.ml
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    11 months ago

    First, squatters of this type are taking advantage of laws intended to protect renters from predatory landlords. Wherever you stand on people appropriating unused property, these laws need to stay in place even if they’re made more specific.

    Second, news outlets like this will always quote a “guns and drugs” case and not the mom with three kids seeking employment or homeless vet cases.

    Third, with security cams and doorbells being so cheap, there’s no reason why this should be an issue, especially for a large real estate rental company. That alone puts me in “cry me a river” mode. Notice again that the article lists interviews with individual homeowners but is actually profiling the impact on a rental company.

    • kalkulat@lemmy.worldOP
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      11 months ago

      IMO owning an unoccupied house thats off-market, or prohibitively-priced is probably a gambling chip.

      IF there are ANY families in the same county that are homeless, it should begin being taxed as a gambling-chip. Sell-it very soon or it may used for a free shelter for however it remains unoccupied by the owner.

      • SatanicNotMessianic@lemmy.ml
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        11 months ago

        I have no issues with raising property taxes on non-owner occupied housing, and having them even higher on unoccupied housing.

    • HobbitFoot @thelemmy.club
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      11 months ago

      Hell, the basic idea behind squatter’s laws is that the squatter is actually doing something with the land instead of a derilect landlord.

      If a bank isn’t immediately selling the foreclosed home, they should lose it.

    • dave@feddit.uk
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      11 months ago

      All good points—did you mean “tiny violin mode”, or have I been misunderstanding that song for a long time?

      • SatanicNotMessianic@lemmy.ml
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        11 months ago

        No, they mean the same thing, at least in my familiarity with the phrases. “Cry me a river” means that I don’t care to hear about their complaints, even if their tears were enough to fill a river, because I think they’re not legitimate.

    • HACKthePRISONS@kolektiva.social
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      11 months ago

      >squatters of this type are taking advantage of laws intended to protect renters from predatory landlords.

      what makes you think that’s the intention?

      • SatanicNotMessianic@lemmy.ml
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        11 months ago

        Being from California (and earlier from New York), that’s very much the intention. Both states (and municipal laws in places like LA, SF, and NYC) make the landlords have to jump through a lot of hoops before an eviction can take place, and the tenants can file for protection.

        I know that things vary from state to state, but I’ve only been a renter in NY, NJ, and CA. I’ve also successfully sued a landlord for over $100k in damages and expenses.

        • HACKthePRISONS@kolektiva.social
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          11 months ago

          squatters rights precede the founding of the United States and have nothing to do with renters rights. You’re just wrong about why these laws exist.

          • SatanicNotMessianic@lemmy.ml
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            11 months ago

            You’re talking like a Sovereign Citizen.

            I’m talking about the very specific laws that prevent people from being evicted if they’ve been residing on a property for N months without following a very deliberate and drawn out legal procedure so that landlords cannot evict a family from their home of many years because of some missed rent payments or because they want to upgrade the place so they can charge more to a new tenant. Those are the laws that keep the sheriffs from just kicking down doors, at least in some states.

            I’m not taking a moral position on squatting. My friends and I squatted in an abandoned house while I was in high school, although most of us didn’t live there full time. If I noticed someone squatting tomorrow, especially in a corporate owned home, I would not have seen it. But the laws that I’m talking about were designed to protect tenants from having their lives unfairly disrupted, and I’m arguing that even if people are against squatters, we still need to protect tenants’ rights.

            I would have thought that was abundantly clear.