

23-year-old occupies empty $2.5 million Boca home [video] - valgaze
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/palm-beach/boca-raton/fl-boca-squatting-in-style-20130122,0,4949608.story

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typicalrunt
_Plus, if they've got the balls to break in the house, what's to prevent them
from coming over here?_

Huh?!? I'm always amazed at the ease of fear-mongering that some people come
to. The squatter didn't break into an occupied home (assuming he broke in at
all), he occupied a vacant abandoned home. At least he's trying to publicly
live there and make it his, which may help reduce more malicious squatters
from occupying that home and using it for criminal purposes (this has happened
with abandoned homes in Las Vegas, NV).

At least now the neighbour can claim a 100% occupancy rate in the
neighbourhood, and not one where there exists an abandoned, foreclosed home.

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frendiversity
She's most likely jealous (of something she already has but has to share and
is still paying mortgage on) and grasping at straws. It's something humans do.

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Phil987
I don't entirely understand. He has to live in it for 7 years to claim
ownership and Bank of America has already issued an eviction notice, how is he
still allowed to live there?

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voidlogic
Just wait until the bank uses non-lethal force, such as tear gas, to defend
their property thus encouraging him to leave and end his 7 year stay early...

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brador
How does he get food if he's not allowed to leave the property?

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wilfra
Occupying the property does not mean staying there 24/7. Sleeping there most
nights and going to work during the day etc is still occupancy.

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ahi
Considering how Bank of America has been handling foreclosures in my neck of
the woods I am surprised they even noticed. Good luck to him.

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matznerd
I first heard about squatting while I was in Amsterdam in 2007. They even had
squatted restaurants. The rule there was that if you found a building not
lived in for 12-months, you could break in, put your own lock, a table, chair,
and bed then call the cops and let them know you were squatting. The process
to kick out a squatter could last over a year. I just learned that it was
outlawed in 2010, but that it still goes on.

\------

"In the past a building could be used legally by someone who needed to squat
if it was empty and not in use for twelve months, and the owner had no
pressing need to use it (such as a rental contract starting in the next
month). The only illegal aspect was forcing an entry, if that was necessary.
When a building was squatted, it was normal to send the owner a letter and to
invite the police to inspect the squat. The police checked whether the place
was indeed lived in by the squatter. In legal terms, this means there must be
a bed, a chair, a table and a working lock on the door which the squatter can
open and close.

In cities, there was often a kraakspreekuur (squatters' consultation hour), at
which people planning to squat could get advice from experienced squatters. In
Amsterdam, where the squatting community is still large, there are four
kraakspreekuur sessions in different areas of the city, and so-called "wild"
squatting (squatting a building without the help of the local group) is not
encouraged.[27] Dutch squatters use the term krakers to refer to people who
squat houses with the aim of living in them (as opposed to people who break
into buildings for the purpose of vandalism or theft).[5] ...

On October 1, 2010, squatting was finally outlawed in The Netherlands after
the Squatting Ban Bill was passed into law by both houses of Parliament. On
October 28, 2011, the Supreme Court of the Netherlands decided that the
legally forced end of squatting can only occur after an intervention of a
judge.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squatting#History>

~~~
furyg3
The history is complicated, but it has a lot to do with the housing shortage
in Amsterdam (and other places in NL) and the concept of a right-to-live.

If many buildings in an area are sitting unoccupied, unused, and potentially
falling apart while simultaneously affordable housing is unavailable, it
becomes morally justifiable to squat. This is especially true if the landlord
has had ample time to renovate, find tenants, or sell the property... If he
has failed to do so, he is actually contributing to the shortage of affordable
housing by driving prices up.

Regulations permitting squatting put pressure on landlords, which seemed to
work pretty well. Landlords used "anti-squat" tactics - renting out vacant
properties on a temporary basis (i.e. with the option to evict at any moment)
to prevent a squat. These rates were excellent in Amsterdam, and many students
and would-be squatters took advantage of this, effectively bringing
'squatting' into the economy.

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frendiversity
Good for him, hope he holds onto it. He'd better start researching persuasion
techniques, bet they hire some ex-cops to social engineer him into slipping
up.

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MichaelApproved
Can you please explain a bit more? How would he slip up? Is he not allowed to
leave the property or something like that?

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frendiversity
I mean a sly ex-cop/PI is going to pose as a delivery guy and wake the kid up
at 8AM after he feels safe and gets sloppy, and get him on camera agreeing
that he doesn't really own the place. Something like that is my guess. There
are a million tricks that they will use, depending on how resourceful and
stubborn they are.

~~~
MichaelApproved
From what I understand, what he's doing is not in question. Part of this law
is that he has to openly state that he intends to squat and use this law to
eventually take ownership. He's not denying that the property does not
currently belong to him.

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frendiversity
I'm talking about using social engineering techniques to get him to let his
guard down and admit he's pulling something.

"Nice scam you got going here kid" "Thanks" He admitted it was a scam! Get
him!

Just an example as to the kind of thing I would imagine private companies
would do to get him out of there by technicality, against his own usage of a
technicality law.

~~~
MichaelApproved
That wouldn't make a difference. What you're calling a scam, is actual law. He
can do this. Part of being able to do this is admitting what you're doing. He
has a sign on the front window explicitly stating what he's up to. Does not
sound like there's anything to get him to admit.

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robbiemitchell
Side note: Ghostery informs me that the SunSentinel website has 32
tracking/social pixels. 32.

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abekarpinski
Have any of you ever seen the 7-up series? It's a series of documentaries that
follow a bunch of from age seven through age 49. I think it's available on
hulu.

One of them squats for a while and this just reminded me of that.

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paddy_m
Given <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adverse_possession> , I don't see how he
can hope to prevail. The true owner has tried to remove the disseisor .
Although it does appear the young man will be able to go on a trip and isn't
under a self imposed house arrest.

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wilfra
Clever hack. These have popped up regularly in the media over the last year or
two. Texas is another popular spot, given their laws and abundance of
foreclosures.

It is a requirement that they maintain the property and make improvements
while living in it - seems much better for RE prices than a boarded up
foreclosed house. Soccer moms can't see it that way though, they just see this
guy getting something 'free' that they had to pay for, and get furious.

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arielpts
Sad to be brazilian this days :/

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freehunter
He's a Brazilian in Florida. I don't think this has anything to do with his
nationality.

