Squatting vs Trespassing - what do you need to know

Squatting vs Trespassing - what do you need to know

If you have a vacant investment property, you must know the difference between squatting versus trespassing. Welcome to Wealthy Wednesday.

Now we know trespassing, somebody passing by and then squatting. Now trespassing is when someone comes to your premises, on your land and break into the house to steal something or whatever purpose that is trespassing. You can call the cop. The cop will come if they can arrest them, if they're there, because they're breaking into your house that is trespassing. Or even somebody not even inside the home, even on the land, you can call the cop because they are trespassing.

Now squatting is different. Certain things come under the law and they have to be very careful. So squatting is somebody already getting into the house. They didn't break anything. Somehow they either changed the lock or they got the key from somewhere and they're living in the property. Means they have the furniture inside there. They have a family there, they're living there. A lot of times we had problems from the Craigslist ad on vacant listing, someone put an ad in the Craigslist that the house is for rent. And then they try to get some family to get money from them. So sometimes the squatter can be innocent. They think the property is for rent. They don't know, innocent families. So whatever the reason behind it, when someone inside your property and nothing broke, no broken door, no broken window and you call the police, the police come and then the first thing they will say after looking at everything, this is a civil case. Because they don't know if you have a leasing agreement with them or not. Because the police are for the criminal case and this is here nothing broken, nobody hurt.It's not a criminal case. So then you may have to go through the whole process for eviction. And definitely for more details, you should check with an attorney. And with our experience, I'm giving you the knowledge that that's the difference between squatting and trespassing.

So when there's a squatter on your property, be careful, talk to the lawyer, check the consequences. Even if you're buying a property with a squatter in, be careful. It may take months before you get rid of them and acquire the investment property.

Hopefully, this information is going to help you decide on buying the next property. Or if you have somebody breaking  into your property or squatting, give me a call if you have any questions. I'm here to help. Shawn Bhakta from Remax Presidential. Glad to help.