SOUTH JERSEY (KYW Newsradio) — Stories about squatters' rights have made national headlines recently. Notably, a TV news crew in New York City captured a property dispute on video. Now Republicans in New Jersey say more needs to be done to protect property owners from those who, they say, would claim residency in housing where they don't belong.
"The rights are in the wrong people's hands, and this is intended to level the playing field," said state Sen. Doug Steinhardt. "There's a void in New Jersey. There's a void in a lot of states, but unfortunately, as often is the case, the law is slower to catch up to the acts of criminals."
The Republican legislator says bad actors learned how to game the system in New Jersey and elsewhere, sometimes through social media.
He proposed three new bills establishing criminal offenses to target squatters in New Jersey: unlawful entry of a vacant dwelling, unlawful occupancy and unlawful re-entry. Steinhardt says it's important to note these laws won't apply to legitimate renters, who also have rights to protect.
"You'd have to be able to certify that the person that's on your property never had a written lease, never had a verbal lease, never had written permission to be on the property or in the property, never paid rent," he explained.
Steinhart says another bill they're working on would help accelerate the legal process to ensure these disputes don't take months to get before a judge.
It's still early in the legislative process. The bill needs approval in the Senate and Assembly, but it's unclear if there's enough support to pass it in the Democratic-controlled legislature.
