Pols’ new ‘squat’ shot
A beleaguered Queens landlord said her life became a living hell after a crew of squatters broke into her home — and it took her two years and $100,000 to get rid of them.
Youngseh Bae, 59, is just the latest Big Apple landlord with a hellish squatter tale, as the troublesome trend of hostile home takeovers continues to gain traction in the five boroughs.
“They basically broke into our home,” Bae said Wednesday. “Our house was boarded up, all the windows were blocked by boards, but somehow they used a back window to get into the house.
“My husband went to the house and knocked on the door and someone came out and said, ‘This is my house.’ It was crazy,” she said. “The majority of the homeowners who are victims of the squatters are not big builders or rich people. We are middle-income families.”
Not legal tenants
On Wednesday, a pair of state politicians stood outside Bae’s home to announce a new bill to define squatters as unwanted intruders rather than legal tenants — the latest attempt to tweak the law to bar troublesome intruders from bedding down under someone else’s roof.
State Sen. John Liu and Assemblyman Ron Kim, both Queens Democrats, said their proposal would “erase any kind of ambiguity” in the law that an unwanted homesteader is not entitled to claim private property as their own — making it crystal clear what has to happen when cops show up.
“We all agree that people intruding into other people’s homes or squatters have no rights and should not be allowed to have any rights,” Liu said.
“The law, the bill, clearly defines what a squatter is — somebody who has entered the premise without any permission of the homeowner or the property owner or anybody who has any rights to occupy that space,” he said. “A squatter is a squatter and we need to make sure that our laws clearly define that.”
The bill is just one of several pending changes in the law.
Sen. Mario Mattera and Assemblyman Ed Flood, both Republicans, have unveiled another bill that would make it easier for property owners to evict unwelcome guests.
The proposed legislation seeks to shift the burden of proof onto squatters, compelling them to prove their right to occupy a residence rather than burdening property owners with lengthy legal battles.
It also carries safeguards to ensure landlords don’t misuse the statute by putting significant penalties as high as triple the value, along with court costs for wrongful evictions.
“New York State is clearly in the midst of a squatting epidemic with stories every single day highlighting the damage this lawlessness is wreaking on New Yorkers,” Mattera said. “These laws are being exploited by squatters and are leaving our communities at risk and our homeowners in peril.”