Eviction moratorium plays into hands of squatters

 Fox News:

Homeowners across the country tormented by squatters find themselves tied up in lengthy and expensive legal battles to get control of their properties back – and one expert warns many others can find themselves victims.

Real estate lawyer Jim Burling told Fox News Digital that any home unoccupied for a stretch can be a target of squatters.

"I think it's a fairly big problem and I think it's pretty hard to avoid," said Burling, who is vice president of litigation for Pacific Legal Foundation. Burling said squatters took over a neighbor's home after the owner died and eventually had to be removed by police.

Cases like that are common. In the last few months, Chicago squatters have taken over the homes of two residents in the same neighborhood after the elderly homeowners died and left the homes to family members.

Darthula Young said this week that her deceased mother’s property in the Chatham neighborhood of Chicago was taken over by a man she described as a "professional squatter" with a long criminal record who changed the locks and has racked up a $1,300 water bill that she is on the hook for.

Karen Polk also lost her mother recently and realized while she was prepping the property to sell that a family had moved in, claiming that they had signed a lease and paid rent up front to another person that Polk did not know.

Both Young and Polk first discovered the squatters in September and both of them are still tied up in the court process, which can take six months or longer – and that’s only if the alleged squatters show up to court.

In both cases, the hands of the police were reportedly tied since they are unable to definitively determine who is telling the truth and whose paperwork is legitimate, which is a job for the court system.

"If somebody is living in a home and saying 'hey, I signed a lease, I'm paying rent, I have a right to be here,' whether or not that’s true the police hear that story then they hear a story of somebody who's not living there and saying 'this is my place these people don't belong here,' the police officer can't make that legal determination," Burling said.
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The squatters should be charged with theft of property.  Jail time should solve the problem.  That would get them in court where they would be required to produce any ownership or lease documents which could then be contested.