Community Forums

beamisl · 05-28-2018, 05:28 AM

Our insurance company considers our house as abandoned or vacant at 6 months and 1 day consecutively, of absence, from the home.

We plan to be gone 6 months this winter and will work around this. If you come home for Christmas or whatever, it breaks the consecutive timeframe. That's just our company, no idea how others do it.

There are people out there waiting for an opportunity to scam anyone. Not surprised this would happen. My neighbors would be on this like crazy.

It's scary though thinking someone could just break in and take over.

MapleKing · 05-28-2018, 07:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dexters

I need some clarification. Did he buy 14 acres and think your house what part of it?

Was the old road part of what he bought?

I was wondering the same thing. It sounds like the road that poster used to access his land was through the 14 acres but that the poster thought it was all his land. I guess he didn't know his boundaries but clarification would be helpful. That's not a way to start off a relationship with a neighbor, regardless of how you feel about how they want to live their life.

There's been several posters stating that if they ever found someone squatting on their property that they would physical harm the squatter and I have to say, that can get you into a world of trouble. Regardless of how much paperwork you have to show that something is yours, you can't just attack someone if they are not attacking you. That's assault and you can be criminally charged if you do that.

You need to let the law play out and that can take a couple of hours or months if the courts need to get involved. If you assault someone and your life is not threatened, you're gonna go to jail and get sued while the loser squatter is sitting in your house. Now you have a criminal record too. It's best to just let the law play out.

Having said that, these kind of cases are pretty rare thankfully. Having someone check on your house is probably the best deterrent because the criminal sees random activity and doesn't know when someone might be there. I use Internet connected power switches connected to an app on my smart phone and will randomly turn on lights, tv's and radios in various places in the house in addition to having someone stop by every once and a while I am away to make it look like someone is there.

Sweetbriar · 05-28-2018, 07:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by weredoingit

,,, Well long story short, the guy was about 100' from my property line. Ended up having a contractor cut in 1/4 mile of new Rd. on our property, now I have a BUM for a neighbor.

Considering you trespassing on his land and then threaten to kill him if he didn't leave his land I would venture to guess he thinks just as highly of his new neighbor.

And regarding potential urban squatters, you're probably more likely to blow out a tire while away then having someone move in uninvited to stately Wayne Manor.

Unicorn Driver · 05-28-2018, 07:54 AM

Another thing to consider is if you keep your rv at home outside it advertises you are not their.

We keep ours off site but only because my wife will turn me in to a squatter if I mention a pole barn again. ;-)

Whirrlly · 05-28-2018, 08:04 AM

all the what ifs, all the legal scenario issues, if you haven't gone thru it you are playing arm chair lawyer here

Everyone knows even with laws in place that judgements are wildly varied from state to state, per incident, political of the day on your actions and more. Don't pretend what ever goes down for another will ever be your situation. Never happens!

Secure your property best one can to legal law and from there the crapshoot of it all comes into play.

weredoingit · 05-28-2018, 08:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dexters

I need some clarification. Did he buy 14 acres and think your house what part of it?

Was the old road part of what he bought?

No house, just acreage. He bought the 14 acre parcel south of the Rd. I bought ours in 1992, and was always thought my property was everything on the north side of the Rd. But it turns out he has a little finger of land that cross's the Rd. Took a survey to find out I'm an idiot!

dexters · 05-28-2018, 09:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by weredoingit

No house, just acreage. He bought the 14 acre parcel south of the Rd. I bought ours in 1992, and was always thought my property was everything on the north side of the Rd. But it turns out he has a little finger of land that cross's the Rd. Took a survey to find out I'm an idiot!

Well, think about how that could have turned out if you took physical action .. you might be posting from prison.

hohenwald48 · 05-28-2018, 02:05 PM

You gotta love all the tough guy posts.

State laws vary and in a lot of cases the tough guys will be the ones in jail.

Squatting is not common but can and does occur. In most cases the police will not get involved until a court decides who is in the right and who is in the wrong. To understand why, read the posts by weredoingit above.

NC has some of the most squatter favorable laws I've ever seen. Other states not so much but in any case, tough guy violence will usually result in more problems for the tough guy.

tcg · 05-28-2018, 02:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by weredoingit

No house, just acreage. He bought the 14 acre parcel south of the Rd. I bought ours in 1992, and was always thought my property was everything on the north side of the Rd. But it turns out he has a little finger of land that cross's the Rd. Took a survey to find out I'm an idiot!

You already knew the outcome that he wasn't a squatter yet you decided to post your story as an example of a squatter.

How odd.

Did you at least apologize and make nice with your neighbor?

WeatherTodd · 05-28-2018, 03:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RickNC

For an adverse possession claim. The liberal bastion of Arizona is only 3 years for a quit claim, Montana and Texas are 5 and Florida is 7 years.
by comparison New Jersey is 30 years and New York is 10 years.
Put that in your bastion.

I take it you've never been to South FL??? Austin?

Go 4 years in NJ or NY without paying property taxes...lol.

WeatherTodd · 05-28-2018, 03:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MapleKing

...
There's been several posters stating that if they ever found someone squatting on their property that they would physical harm the squatter and I have to say, that can get you into a world oef trouble. Regardless of how much paperwork you have to show that something is yours, you can't just attack someone if they are not attacking you. That's assault and you can be criminally charged if you do that.
You need to let the law play out and that can take a couple of hours or months if the courts need to get involved...

I see it as this. IF a squatter took up residence in my home(s)... I would be meeting them with the punishment they asked for by not occupying it legally. If youre not comfortable with the process in which I handle my business... thats your prerogative.

Im not worried about any squatters rights or them identifying me.

Mike and Cha · 05-28-2018, 03:57 PM

What people are missing is that "squatting" is a crime and the Police will get involved. It's called trespassing and that is a crime, not a civil action. Like one of the previous LEO posters said, this is very rare and normally never seen in the circumstances that some post here. I don't really care what you read on the internet (oh it must be true....right), the stories are mixing apples and oranges, and there is always more to the story that wasn't shared. Can't say it can never happen because there are a lot of crazy people out there, but highly unlikely.

So if I get this right, some of you really think that if you leave your house for the day, night, week or whatever and you come home and someone broke into your house and are calling it theirs's- you really believe the Police are going to say it's civil and to call a Lawyer. And you are just going to say "oh well I'd better go get a hotel while we sort this out"????? So you wouldn't walk into your own house, that you have lived in for years, never rented out, nor did you give anyone permission to occupy it. Think about how crazy that sounds, all you did was leave for a vacation or whatever. If it were that easy nobody would ever leave their homes.

This is something that usually happens when you have a rental and they quit paying rent but continue to live there. Or own a rental house that has been vacant for a long period and someone moves in. You don't find out for an extended period of time and when you confront them they say they are paying rent to whomever. That will be a civil issue, and take a whole different path for getting them out of your house via the legal eviction process.

Sometimes people start posts like this based on something they heard, read, or was "from a friend of a friend" and somewhat panicked about. Protect your house the best you can, alarms, cameras, people checking on it, house sitter ect. You can never be too careful, and should protect your house the best you can when leaving it for any period of time in this day and age. This thread is a lot like a few other threads started over the years where someone started a rumor based on only part of the story and some were actually afraid to even use their MH's/RV's.

aguablanco · 05-28-2018, 04:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tony Lee

Risk is probably so close to zero that you are wasting your time even considering the possibility.

My thoughts exactly. Some of the "concerns" I see here really make me laugh. Remember, reality TV is far from real.
RichH

WeatherTodd · 05-28-2018, 05:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hohenwald48

You gotta love all the tough guy posts.
State laws vary and in a lot of cases the tough guys will be the ones in jail.
Squatting is not common but can and does occur. In most cases the police will not get involved until a court decides who is in the right and who is in the wrong. To understand why, read the posts by weredoingit above.
NC has some of the most squatter favorable laws I've ever seen. Other states not so much but in any case, tough guy violence will usually result in more problems for the tough guy.

you ever seen some unruly customers bounced out of a night club or bar?

Like I said... if youre occupying one of my properties without a signed lease have your squatters rights handbook and all your stuff prepacked. You aint staying any longer.