Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman became the most prominent Democratic lawmaker to openly oppose the concept of “squatter’s rights.”
In a weekend interview with the New York Post, Fetterman acknowledged dealing with squatters when he served as mayor of Braddock, Pennsylvania.
“Squatters have no rights,” Fetterman said. “How can you even pretend that this is anything other than you’re just breaking the law?”
“We always tried to push back against that,” he added when informed about New York City law that enables squatters to enjoy tenant rights after 30 days of occupying a property. “It’s wild, that if you go away on a long trip, for 30 days, and someone breaks into your home and suddenly they have rights. This is crazy. Like if somebody stole your car, and then they held it for 30 days, then somehow you now have some rights?”
Unlike Fetterman, the Biden administration has refused to get involved in the growing controversy of dealing with squatters, with Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre dismissing it as a “local issue” and refusing to state if the president would support a law similar to Florida’s new law enabling police to immediately evict squatters once they are discovered occupying private property.
But Fetterman insisted he did not view squatters as deserving of the benefit of the doubt, bluntly adding, “I am not woke.”
Photo: Office of Gov. Tom Wolf / Flickr Creative Commons
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Squatter’s rights provide an incentive for someone to move in and provide upkeep on a home. However, it needs to be for an extended period of time. 30 days is not nearly long enough. The owner needs to be ignoring the property for a significantly unreasonable length of time before someone should be able to claim any rights.
Huh??? Squatters DO NOT HAVE RIGHTS! That’s crazy! You’re saying it’s okay for them to break into a home they DO NOT OWN or have permission to be in and if they stay there long enough they can call it their own. OMG. You’re saying the longer they stay there the more right they have to be there? WTH is going on in this country?!?
Are you kidding me Michelle? Provide upkeep? What planet are you on?
Finally, someone with a brain. Since when is it okay to coddle criminals and treat them as victims while the real victims are penalized with time, money, and loss of property? What is our country coming to when we make excuse after excuse for bad behavior? Without any government, local or federal, deterrents for crime, it will become more and more rampant until we are all overrun by thugs, freeloaders, and criminals. It is time for the silent MAJORITY to stop being scared of the violent and abusive minority pushing us to give more and more to those who don’t contribute to society.
Amen to that. Squatters have no rights. Period.
WhY is this country coming to?
Someone illegally enters a property, illegally then occupies the property, offers the owner zero compensation for the privilege of living in their property, and then thinks they have rights? That is preposterous. .
I Agree with Senator Fetterman, squatters have no rights, It’s “unlawful detainer”. They should be removed from the home and charged with illegally entering the property. No homeowner should have to worry about taking an extended vacation and when you return your home was hiiacked by squatters.
I fail to see how ANYONE could have ever accepted, from the start, that squatters had any rights to someone else’s property.
I totally agree with Senator Fetterman squatters have no rights! Our country seems to have forgotten the rights of victims in all aspects of the law.