SACRAMENTO – Assemblymember Steve Fox (D-Palmdale) today announced that Assembly Bill (AB) 1513, a bill that deters illegal squatting in residential real properties, received bipartisan support from members of the Assembly Judiciary Safety Committee and passed by a margin of 9-1.
The bill now will move to the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
“Homeowners in the Antelope Valley who have a squatter in their house bear the cost of not being able to lease or sell their home, as well as the cost of having to go to a court in downtown Los Angeles,” said Fox. “This program will give homeowners a local solution.”
Squatters are individuals who break into an unoccupied home and live on the property without the knowledge or consent of the landowner. Over the past decade there has been a rise in the reported number of properties that are unlawfully occupied by such individuals.
Currently, there is no state law that provides local government officials with specific tools to combat the illegal occupancy of residences. It can take two months to evict a sophisticated squatter.
AB 1513 would create a pilot program in the cities of Palmdale and Lancaster that allows landowners to file a Declaration of Ownership with local law enforcement agencies identifying a property that will be vacant. The property owner would then post the Declaration on an unoccupied home and regularly inspect the property to ensure it is vacant.
AB 1513 provides a means to deter illegal squatting on residential real property at an early stage and to provide a chance for squatters to vacate the premises in lieu of arrest.
“Homeowners should have the right to remove a trespasser,” concluded Fox.
(Information via press release from the office of Assemblymember Steve Fox.)
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Anonymous says
If you’re interested in squatting one of the thousands of empty houses, there are plenty of resources available online. Unfortunately, there’s usually between three to five times as many empty houses as there are homeless people and our government is doing nothing to help them. It’s quite the opposite, the government has money for war, surveillance, luxuries for our politicians, subsidies for oil companies, and regulating every mundane element of our lives, but nothing for the mentally ill, who are a significant portion of homeless population, healthcare, housing, or education.
Of course they have enough money to send the police, using our tax dollars, to go check up on empty houses. He wants to give the police more power to abuse our communities and take more from us.
In other words, Steve Fox is a disgusting human. He’s insults our entire species.
Frank Eugene says
Good job Mr. Fox,,I knew voting for you was the right thing to do. Keep up the good work. Frank
William says
Yeah, Steve Fox just keeps keeping on working on one thing after another.
Makes ya wonder what the Runner’s and Steve Knight have been doing all these years but cashing a paycheck and voting ‘No’.
Irena says
I would like to point out that Assembly Fox is incorrect in stating a landlord must travel to downtown LA for the process. The local courthouse handles evictions for this area.
Also as a landlord myself, part of the squatter problem should be placed at the owner’s feet. Absentee owners are the biggest problem because they may not inspect the home on a regular basis. At the very least, they should hire someone to do a bi-monthly inspection. This also holds true for homes in foreclosure owned by banks. Installing an alarm is also a good way of deterring squatters. Yes it costs money, but it could save much more in the end.
Holly says
I haven’t read the bill yet, but it is a good step in the right direction. The victim of this crime typically has a long, expensive and often frustrating process ahead when they discover squatters have taken up residence.
Irena says
This is why it is important for landlords to do inspections on a regular basis. People who do this all the time look for homes that ill-kept or otherwise seem abandoned in many cases.
I just find it amazing that landlords even have this problem. I own several rentals, some which aren’t in the same area where I live. I rarely have vacant homes but when I do, I make sure to have someone check up on the home on a very regular basis. I will also keep the lawn up, put lights on timers etc. to make it appear occupied. Sometimes I even talk to the neighbors and let them know the house is vacant so if they see anyone other then myself or my husband there to call the police.
Bank owned homes another matter entirely.
Being a landlord isn’t for everyone. It isn’t as easy as many people think it is. But just like any profession there are good ones and there are bad ones.
William says
Simply amazing that this isn’t already illegal.
Isn’t it called ‘breaking and entering’? What is the difference is someone breaks into your house while you’re a work or breaks into a vacant house?
Well, anyway, thank you Assembymember Steve Fox for closing this loophole.
Where was Steve Knight?
squat says
because the new breed of squatters are not homeless – they turn on utilities in their name, change all the locks and appear to be a normal renter – so police can’t just evict them based on the word of the homeowner. It has to be settled in court, and by then the squatter has moved on looking for his next victim. In other cases, the squatter thought he was legitimately renting a house, the landlord who rented it to them was phony and took their money and disappeared.