Squatters take over 1,200 homes in Atlanta, open illegal strip clubs

The lawn looks well cared for.

“Squatters rights” what a sham. It an amazing what a shit show it turns into to get them out

I just can't believe that shit even exists. I come home to my place every day and if someone is in there I'll force them out at gunpoint. I wonder what the time limit is for someone to be a "squatter". I mean, if you come home from work and someone's in your house it's breaking and entering at the very least.

If you're gone for a military deployment and come back home after a year, someone's living in your house, and they have "squatter's rights?" WTF? If you were only on vacation for a week, would they be squatters? How is it possible there's even a law to protect criminals who take up residence in your house? If they did that with your car it would be Grand Theft Auto.

Double tap assault through, once they get into the fentanyl they turn into zombies. At some point people need to realize the ones that contribute to society need to be the focus.

This was a big feature of uk real estate back in the 70s and 80s. There was lots of inventory that sat empty, and people broke in and lived in them. Squatters got some rights bc there was nowhere else for them to live and socialism etc. it’s still an issue to some extent there. I don’t know the details of the rights. Seems a little crazy to me.

Joe strummer started the clash when he was squatting in a north london apartment! That area of london is very expensive and sought after today.

Today it’s even worse for owners bc empty houses are advertised online, all the squatters have to do is read the internet ads to see what’s available.

I’d be pissed if someone was squatting in my house. I’m less empathetic toward a rental company that has thousands of un rented units which get squatted at some rate. I’m more empathetic toward neighbors who have to put up with all of that shit in their neighborhood.

^^^ "I’d be pissed if someone was squatting in my house." I'd be seriously PISSED OFF is I had a squatter next door! Laws need to be updated so property owners can get quick evictions when it is clear squatters are well SQUATTING! If they have no where to go, NOT MY PROBLEM.

Years back I owned a few rental properties in a low rent neighborhood, we on rare occasions, had a few problems with squatters, the way I was able to deal with it was I had a few friends on the police department in the area, generally a few bucks, to the correct problem solver, and the property was empty without any damage and fairly quickly.
My own experiences taught me that being a landlord was a business, just like any other, and there was always a solution to any problem, if you have a leak a good plumber is helpful, a good roofer is a necessity, a carpentry handyman was good to know, business is business and it’s very rare that a problem will exist that was never encountered by someone previously, and a fix was always available.

there should be good laws protecting property owners.

It's somewhat to be expected in municipalities that have lots of people too poor to have any real positive net worth. They don't have any personal motivation to vote out politicians who don't correct this problem. They don't stop to consider it makes their own housing costs higher, since it's a cost to landlords. The police should not simply take claims of being a tenant at face value. They do have to make judgment calls, and not let landlords avoid the eviction process by claiming unwanted tenants to be squatters. But, if you can't make reasonable judgement calls, you're not qualified to be a cop.

I'm pretty sure it's legal to move squatters possessions out to the curb, and change the locks. I think you can push or pull them out, as long as you don't inflict, or threaten to inflict, pain or injury. But, obviously, you'd have to be prepared to deal with it, if they responded with violence. Or called the cops on you for assault.

Probably the worst situation is when somebody rents or sells your house, so the people in it don't know they're squatting. I suppose a lot of squatters know how to change locks themselves.

mogul: "If they have no where to go, NOT MY PROBLEM" ...well sort of. When there's lots of people who have nowhere to go, it becomes everybody's problem. Which is the problem here.

To be clear, fuck some guy trying to live in my house while I'm on vacation. I will try very hard to get him out, and I am tenacious.

But at the same time, if the choice tonight is between sleep on the street and sleep in an empty house, most people are going to choose the latter. I know I would, even though I wouldn't feel good about it. So, if what we've got going on from a housing perspective is lots of homeless and lots of empty houses, it's gonna happen and then it becomes all of our problem.

What's the answer? I don't know. But we're clearly not doing it right.

Ditto. It's above my pay grade, however, I'm a good analyst and I know how to find solutions.

We elect politicians who are suppose to hire orgs to figure this stuff out. Way too many politicians are funking grifters.

I don't expect a "generic" politician to understand how DWDM (Dense Wave Division Multiplexing - carrier grade fibre optics) works but I expect them to know who to contract/hire (not some lobbyist goon company) to help them come to decisions (DWDM and carrier infrastructure is just an example, this is my world) they may need to make on all sorts of topics they need to deal with. Sadly "politics" gets the better of us all the time.

Sacramento had no problem cleaning out the homeless on the streets for Leonardo DeCaprio's movie - the production company had best pay for the clean out. Or the scrubbing SanFran got when Xi "tip toed through the tulips" when he and the rest were there.

The solution will take a long time to create and implement as so much rot has invested this country.

As far as squatters go - I have no sympathy. Let one mouse in, hundreds will infest - just like The Projects in NYC and Chicago. Sound cold - yup. My problem is making sure I vote for people that will deal with the problems we have today.

I'm considering running for my retiring US House Rep's seat. I have a LOT to figure out as I'm going through a major life change with my wife now in hospice care with days/weeks/months (who knows) left. Timing couldn't be worse for me, and yup it's my problem to sort through.

Yeah, it's a hot nasty mess we have today with so many nasties around us.

And too add - I take in strip club "therapy" a few times a year as a pain reliever from life for a few hours.

Hey Mogul, I'm really sorry to hear about your wife. That's terrible. I'm glad clubbing can help a little. It does sooth my soul from time to time.

Actual, legal "squatter's rights" only apply if the owner doesn't assert their rights or exercise their responsibilities for a long period of time: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adverse_po…

^^^ Plus, laws vary from state to state to county to county and probably city-to-city. I scanned over the Squatters Wiki, and I knew a lot of the history.

I found this section interesting: "A metal plaque on the sidewalk of New York City declares that the crossing onto the private property is a revocable license (an agreement to use the property, not an invasion) to protect it from becoming a subject of an adverse possession.[41] Some New York property owners go even further by actually closing their property to the public for one day each year in order to prove their exclusive control." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adverse_po…

Aside from squatters and their "Ambulance chasing lawyers" (no offense meant to legit, honest lawyers), we have Title Theft you'd think would be easy to lock down. Am I missing something on this? Is it as rampant as the ads make it out to be? '

I know Identify Theft can be a big deal. I do my best to lock my stuff down.

I see Squatters, Identify & Title Thieves in the same box I just want to set on fire and put out with an icepick.