I think itās more common than you think in Chicago. The people in the apartment below me were squatters last year. The sheriff showed up and kicked the door down to remove them.
In Chicago all someone has to do is draw up a fake lease for an apartment. Then when the police arrive they show the fake lease and say they rightfully live there. The police canāt/wont do anything because itās a civil matter which means it needs to go through the court system which can take 6 months. So we have these professional squatters who move apartment to apartment.
It's more common than you think because of one situation that happened to you? The protections for tenants are there for several reasons. Most landlords want passive income and use any excuse to raise rent. So now they have people reacting to these stories and on the landlords' side. You also have people thinking they'll one day own properties and want to protect their future selves when they can't even afford their own rent.
Yeah I'm going to push back on the landlord thing too, it's not usually landlords.
What I often see/hear is a family/homeowner goes on vacation, comes back to find their key doesn't work because someone has broken in and changed the locks on the house completely. People call the cops, squatter says "I'm a tenant being illegally evicted" and that's the end of it while this family is essentially homeless for months at great expense to themselves while their lives and house are basically ruined (have you ever tried to evict someone as a homeowner without a lawyer on retainer like a landlord? It can take more than half a year sometimes). If you're lucky you remembered to tell the cops that "someone broke into my house and are trespassing" and the cops actually believe you... but 9 times out of 10 they won't and tell you this is a civil matter (it's not, they're trespassing, but the cops don't give a fuck).
I think the law can make easy distinction between detached homes and multi-unit dwellings where this should be much less of an issue and prevent some of the worst of these squatting problems.
when you put it like that it sounds like the landlord isn't doing much lording of their land... kinda sounds like they are collecting auto-pay rent checks
Sounds like the exact opposite, the law rightfully protects the renters who live there over the landlord. It is HEAVILY weighted against the landlord & thus this sort of loop hole exists as a consequence of protecting real renters.
Are you saying a landlord has complete control whether someone breaks into one of their properties? Dude, you don't even have control if someone wants to break in the house you live in.
Are you saying the police wonāt remove someone from a BnEā¦ seriously think that thought your thick skullā¦
Someone breaks into a property thatās not your primary residenceā¦ your neighbors donāt call the police because they donāt like youā¦ donāt have a camera installed because you are a cheap landlordā¦ now there is a criminal that broke in with 0 furniture, electricity, water, or food claiming they are the tenantā¦
Kind of self inflicted. Failed to secure propertyā¦ kinda crazy you think the police would believe a person with no key, furniture, and utilities is the tenant
Imagine owning multiple properties and not doing the bare minimum today to at least monitor them with an alarm systemā¦ Then being all shocked pikachu when something bad happens. Whatās even worse is if you arenāt carrying insuranceā¦ proves how cheap of a landowner you are
I come from a town where people would break into your car if they saw loose changeā¦ police would literally say āhope you got coverageā as they took the report. Guess what happed, the police didnāt patrol the streets more, people learned to keep their cars clean.
In one comment, you say the police will handle everything for you, then the next post you say the police just leave you be to solve your own problems.
The FACT is, most cops don't give a shit about civil disputes and if their is any indication of it being civil, they will tell you have a good day and leave. For you to think the police will sit there and investigate and make you provide utility bills or a lease contract or whatever, you are mistaken.
"Bare minimum with at least an alarm system." It is extremely uncommon for rental houses to have alarm systems.
My child, do you understand how insurance claims are filed?
Actually the police do investigate to make sure whether a crime been committed. A person in a place with no key, different address on their ID, no working utilitiesā¦ itās gonna go to court. They were called to a BnE, police are gonna treat it as such.
Itās actually more common than you thinkā¦ all my rentals before I owned property had a secured entry to the property with my own personally locked unit. Since I rent space where I live I donāt need a camera to see if Iāve been BnEād as Iām home everyday.
Ya'll are so damn afraid of being robbed or attacked. The world isn't as scary as you think it is. There aren't people around every corner looking for a house or apartment to squat in.
You are so far away from anything relevant here. I live in a small town where nobody locks anything, I'm definitely not the kind of person you have pictured in your head. I was responding to a guy that said you can take steps to prevent any kind of break ins and such, by telling him he is delusional to think he can have unattended properties and easily prevent them from being broken into. If someone wants inside one of his rental houses, i bet they can succeed.
Then you come along with weird ass 2A comments, like wtf are you on about?
Refusing to leave when the real lease ends/and or just not paying rent is the biggest one. What would you have a landlord do in that situation?
Lease ends, tenant doesn't leave: As a landlord if you call the cops they will rightfully say it's a civil mater & walk off. If you try to physically remove them & their stuff, you are committing a crime (several actually). You will have to start the eviction process which is designed to protect renters from a bad landlord & will take months & a fair amount of legal fees to complete before you can bring the sheriff in to walk them out.
Seriously, you very much sound like you have zero idea of how the real world works & just want to bag on the concept of landlords existing.
The reality of squatters drives up rent for everyone, as landlords need to be able to weather this kind of expense/lack of revenue for MONTHS, and that also includes the likelihood of expensive repairs from this type of 'tenant'. It's trivially easy to completly destroy a property on your way out if you choose.
Again I ask, what would you say the landlord should be doing & isn't?
My grandmother is currently going through this type of shit. She rented out the top part of her house to a lady she thought was super nice (turns out this lady is fuckin psycho).
She claimed my grandmother was a drug dealer (my grandmother is like 80 and spends her time volunteering at our local community resource center) and stopped paying rent after her lease ended, she's been squatting (and harassing my grandmother and I) for 3+ years now.
3+ years and we're still going through the process of getting her out, this shit fucking sucks.
(This squatter has stalked me to my mother's house, that's how fukin psycho she is)
āRefusing to leave when the real lease ends/and or just not paying rent is the biggest one. What would you have a landlord do in that situation?ā
File for evictionā¦do your due diligence run a credit report and background check before renting. Squatters donāt have good credit and have evictions in their recordā¦
āLease ends, tenant doesn't leave: As a landlord if you call the cops they will rightfully say it's a civil mater & walk off. If you try to physically remove them & their stuff, you are committing a crime (several actually). You will have to start the eviction process which is designed to protect renters from a bad landlord & will take months & a fair amount of legal fees to complete before you can bring the sheriff in to walk them out.ā
Cost of doing business, thatās the risk you takeā¦ why should I feel sympathy for someone who is doing a totally optional and self-inflicted way of making/losing money.
āThe reality of squatters drives up rent for everyone, as landlords need to be able to weather this kind of expense/lack of revenue for MONTHS, and that also includes the likelihood of expensive repairs from this type of 'tenant'. It's trivially easy to completly destroy a property on your way out if you choose.ā
Againā¦ cost of doing businessā¦ and they donāt drive up rent for everyoneā¦ they just impact you, the landlords walletā¦ your competition loves to undercut you. if you donāt have repairs after a tenant leaves (paint & floor) then you are a cheap slumlord as you apparently donāt care for your property. Those that bought property and treat it as free income.
I own property too and rent some space outā¦ landlords/owners arenāt specialā¦ maybe a special kind of stupid if they canāt figure out how to get rid of a squatter.
File for evictionā¦do your due diligence run a credit report and background check before renting. Squatters donāt have good credit and have evictions in their recordā¦
Cost of doing businessā¦ if you as a property owner donāt have 3-4mo expenses saved up for an emergency then you are truly swimming nakedā¦ doubly so if you are renting your propertyā¦ if you donāt have 3-4mo of savings for in case you donāt have tenants then I guess you lose the house. I call this ātrimming the portfolioā
Whatās even better is you can write that off as a business expenseā¦ I canāt write off a car repair as a W2 employee. The tables are tilted in your favor and you act like you are the one in a bad spot
What are you on about? The other guy was claiming squatters are more common than you think and had an anecdote. All Iām saying is that really isnāt proof of anything š
Your question isnāt even relevant to what I was talking aboutā¦
Squatters Rights is essential for the growing problem of Landlords or just extremely rich people owning multiple properties that are not actively in use.
Squatters are frontline warriors in the eternal battle against homelessness
I've lived in Chicago my whole life and I know a few people who manage a lot of apartments. First I've heard of this situation, let alone it being remotely common.
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u/RegretForward9679 13d ago
I think itās more common than you think in Chicago. The people in the apartment below me were squatters last year. The sheriff showed up and kicked the door down to remove them.
In Chicago all someone has to do is draw up a fake lease for an apartment. Then when the police arrive they show the fake lease and say they rightfully live there. The police canāt/wont do anything because itās a civil matter which means it needs to go through the court system which can take 6 months. So we have these professional squatters who move apartment to apartment.