© Gregg Pachkowski / gregg@pnj.com / USA TODAY NETWORK
Syndication: News-Journal
(Oyster Bay, NY) — A Republican lawmaker from Long Island is pushing a bill that would make it easier for homeowners to evict squatters. Oyster Bay Assemblyman Jake Blumencranz says laws protecting honest tenants from greedy landlords are increasingly protecting squatters. He says it’s a growing problem in New York: squatters moving in without permission, without a lease hoping homeowners don’t notice because after 30 days they have rights. Locks can’t be changed, utilities can’t be shut off and they can’t be evicted. Homeowners have to go through housing court which can take years. So Blumencranz has introduced a bill stating that squatters can’t be considered tenants and that their housing rights don’t begin for 45 days.
Police believe squatters killed a 52-year-old woman last week, and stuffed her in a duffel bag inside her upscale Manhattan apartment. They used her car to leave New York City. Police say a man and a woman killed Nadia Vitel inside her recently deceased mother’s apartment in Kips Bay. They say Vitel’s mother’s apartment had been vacant for months since her death, and when Vitel went to check on it, she found the squatters inside. Cops say Vitel died from apparent blunt force trauma to the head. Her Lexus was found crashed in Pennsylvania, but there’s still no sign of the suspects.
