BILL NUMBER: S8866

SPONSOR: MATTERA
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the real property actions and proceedings law, in
relation to excluding certain persons from the definition of "occupant"
for the purposes of unlawful eviction

 
PURPOSE:

Section 768 of the real property actions and proceedings law prohibits
unlawful eviction of an "occupant of a dwelling unit." This legislation
would exclude squatters and trespassers from the definition of "occu-
pant," thereby denying the special protections of the statute to those
persons.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Under this bill, the definition of an "occupant" shall not include a
person who, not having entered a lease or license for such dwelling with
the rightful owner, enters into a dwelling unit, onto real property or
              

otherwise settles on land or occupies real property without title,
right, permission of the rightful owner, or payment of rent accepted by
the rightful owner.

Notably, the text does not include a specific intent element to the
exclusion.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

Under New York State law, squatters are classified as tenants and
receive temporary rights as such after living in a property for a period
of 30 days. To reclaim property from a squatter after thirty days, an
owner must seek court intervention and be able to prove a right to the
property and proceed with legal eviction proceedings.  The special
proceeding may give the owner an order that a sheriff can then enforce
to remove the squatter. The owner may not remove the tenant himself.

As a by-product of the strained housing market and the extensive and
expensive process of eviction by court intervention, squatters are
infiltrating neighborhoods, entering empty properties and abusing the
loophole in New York State law.

The right to exclude others from entering, and the right to direct
others to immediately vacate, residential real property are the most
important real property rights.  Notoriously, existing remedies regard-
ing unauthorized persons who unlawfully remain on residential real prop-
erty are expensive, drawn out and fail to adequately protect the rights
of the property owner and fail to adequately discourage theft and
vandalism. The intent of this legislation is to exclude squatters and
trespassers from the definition of "occupant" under Section 768 and
thereby deny the benefit of the prohibitions and protections of the
current statute to those persons.

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

New Bill

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

To be determined

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately and shall apply to actions and
proceedings commenced on or after such effective dates