NY Republican lawmaker introduces legislation to combat spiraling squatter trend in Dem-run state
Republican New York state Sen. Mario Mattera is railing against the state’s squatting "epidemic" with a bill that would allow police to immediately evict squatters based on a homeowner's complaint.
Dr. Phil spoke with property owners about how squatters are using legal loopholes to occupy properties, but one real estate agent argued that it can be justified because of a history of "colonization."
Wednesday's episode of "Dr. Phil Primetime" featured one guest named Kristine, a real estate agent who "doesn't think adverse possession is immoral" but believes that "people with no housing dying from the elements is immoral." According to the Legal Information Institute, adverse possession is where a "person in possession of land owned by someone else may acquire valid title to it, so long as certain requirements are met, and the adverse possessor is in possession for a sufficient period of time." The requirements and period of time vary by state and city.
In her introduction on the show, Kristine argued that there are "multi-million dollar projects, and they're just abandoned." She added that she believes the land of those abandoned projects can be reclaimed.
She also noted that she is working with a client who is "trying to occupy a property" that's around 300 or 500 acres.
"It's something that's so large that you wouldn't even notice what two acres is, compared to how many acres are on there," she said. "Adverse possession is a law that's left over from both Spanish and English colonization, it is how they took the land from the native people, and it’s a process we can use to take that land back."
Dr. Phil was flabbergasted when asked whether he would notice if five acres of his were occupied out of a 1,000-acre property.
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"You said that if I've got 100 acres or 1,000 acres, and somebody goes and gets in a corner of it and adversely possesses five acres of it, I'm not gonna miss it, I’ve got 1,000 acres anyway?" Dr. Phil asked Kristine.
"Well, yeah," she responded. "Can you tell me, if you’re looking at 1,000 acres, could you tell me what five acres was?"
Dr. Phil's jaw dropped, and he said, "Hell yes."
A landlord named Tony argued with Kristine about how she believes the manner in which people inherit property should be taken into account when it comes to adverse possession.
"We're not in 1776, we're in 2024," Tony said, sparking a wave of applause from the audience.
"Do you think that a corporation that makes over a billion dollars a year is injured by someone taking five acres of land?" Kristine argued.
Another guest quickly interjected with "somebody is."
A real estate agent named Kristine argued that adverse possession can be justified because of colonialism. (Merit Street Media)
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Another guest named Patti confronted Kristine by arguing she does not use her car 24-hours-a-day.
"Playing out your scenario, then theoretically anyone on the street should be able to boost your car and drive it, because that car is just sitting around unused," Patti said, sparking applause from the audience.
"I don’t have a billion-dollar net worth," Kristine argued, which made Barry ask whether having a billion dollars is where Kristine draws the line.
"Yeah, me personally," Kristine said.
Earlier in the episode, Kristine tried to make a distinction between what she considers to be legitimate adverse possession and the previous cases of hostile confrontations with violent and destructive squatters.
"Squatting is the process to adverse possession, but it is very different, and my intentions are not to help people that have destroyed property," she said.
However, she continued by saying that this is how the government was designed.
"Would it surprise you to know that that's exactly how the law was intended, that’s exactly how the U.S. government is designed, that's how everyone here has their land, they took it through adverse possession. So that's how the law is designed," she said.
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Dr. Phil concluded the episode by commending Kristine for her willingness to defend her beliefs, but said he "100%" disagreed with her.
"It is a lawful thing to do if you do it in the right way, I 100% disagree with your philosophy, but your facts are correct," he said. "She's not suggesting people go squat in someone's home when they go on vacation, she's talking about something completely different, at another level, and if you're not a billionaire, she isn't targeting you."