New York lawmakers want to define squatters as trespassers, not tenants
NEW YORK -- New York lawmakers are calling for new legislation to crack down on the issue of squatters.
The bill establishes for the first time that squatters are not entitled to tenant protections, but even the lawmakers admit it is only a first step as they seek to grapple with a problem that is claiming more and more victims.
Dr. Young Seh Bae had high hopes when she purchased a home on a corner lot in Flushing, with plans to rebuild into homes for the elderly disabled clients of her nonprofit, but before she could get a building permit, she says squatters broke in and even started growing marijuana in the basement.
They used a fake ID with her address to keep the cops from evicting them.
"It's very traumatic. We still have nightmares," she said. "It's a really frustrating stunt. It's a really traumatic experience, and you're homeowners, and one day, you go to your house and you found that someone says it's [their] house. You can't even describe the feeling that we went through."
Bae finally got the courts to evict them, but she stood with state lawmakers outside the new residence she is building in hopes they will pass laws to protect others from squatters.
Watch: How does NYPD handle squatters?
Sen. John Liu is a key sponsor of a bill that will change state housing laws to state that a squatter isn't entitled to tenant protections and can be evicted.
"A squatter is a squatter, and we need to make sure that our laws clearly define that," Liu said.
"We want to send a clear message to squatters, anyone trying to squat, that your days are over in New York," Assemblyman Ron Kim said.
CBS New York has been hearing from property owners, who say they are being sent into debt by people refusing to pay rent.
"My tenants only pay me one month's rent, and they know the game. They know after 30 days you cannot evict them," said Hong Chen, who spent thousands of dollars trying to get squatters out of a home in Maspeth, Queens.
"I'm not getting any rent and I'm paying the gas and electric every month," said John Sochran, who is using his pension money for expenses on a College Point home he hoped would provide retirement income.
Other residents say they feel unsafe, with squatters wreaking havoc around their neighborhood.
"They turn on the water and use the garbage bins, steal from us and then go to them. After we locked the gates, they went to my neighbor and steal the water over there," Brooklyn resident Brian Liu said.
"The police came. They cannot do nothing, they said," neighbor Antoinette Raffaele added.
CBS New York political reporter Marcia Kramer asked Liu why not change the 30-day rule to make it easier for cops to evict squatters?
"We want to explore additional and stronger protections for homeowners without inadvertently hurting legitimate tenants," Liu said.
The 30-day rule was originally enacted to protect tenants from eviction if, for one reason or another, they couldn't pay their rent. Lawmakers are hesitant to water down that law.
Kramer reports the problem in a nutshell is this -- they can't solve it because there are so many possibilities and so many proposals to change it; one lawmaker wants to change it to 45 days, another to 90 days, another to 180 days -- and right now, there is no consensus in the City Council or Albany.