While tenant and squatter rights can be helpful, they often do more damage than good. They are CONSTANTLY abused.

My husband and I never thought we'd ever say this because, like many, I once believed landlords to be "always the problem". Until I married one. We aren’t “rich”. The houses you live in? We pay the mortgage on. And often times, we refinance. So very rarely is the house you live in ACTUALLY paid off. And when you don’t pay your utilities, if they are in your landlords name, it destroys their credit. We wanted to build a house after liquidating. But, my husbands credit keeps dropping because of our squatter using our utilities and not paying. And we can’t just “shut off the heat”. Not in the winter. Not to mention, he’s ripped a door off of the hinges and broke a window getting back in after his ex locked him out 7 months ago. So, the house is CONSTANTLY heating itself.

Reality dealt us a different hand when we became landlords ourselves. The Fates were harsher than we could have ever anticipated as we, amid a difficult economic period, attempted to liquidate our assets.

We had built an understanding with what we believed was a responsible renter. His ex girlfriend bailed and he just hasn’t left. He has NEVER been on or had a lease/contract with us. He just won’t leave.

We are trying to move someone else in. Our arrangement is akin to a rent-to-own situation, through signing of land contracts for our rental properties. (Part of our liquidating process.) Well, that's until we had an unintended guest – a squatter who was the ex-boyfriend of a former tenant. For five months, he has taken up space in our property without paying a dime, refusing to leave and pushing us into financial despair.

This has left us behind on taxes and mortgages for ALL of our houses. We have been endlessly struggling. He is actively drowning our finances.

Neither of us come from privileged backgrounds. My husband worked TIRELESSLY to have what we have. He still does. And I came from an unfortunate upbringing as well. We finally built a life. And now a selfish squatter has been slowly deteriorating it. 

Squatters' rights, otherwise known as adverse property possession, are seriously affecting landlords like us, who are just striving to survive in an increasingly difficult economic climate. An estimated 23% of landlords experience unauthorized occupants at least once in their career (Landlords Guild, 2019). These unauthorized tenants can legally claim ownership of a property after staying there without permission under current laws, causing undue hardship for landlords.

We, and many other landlords, are unfairly punished by squatters' rights that are too lenient towards illegal occupants. We demand that the current squatters' rights legislation be reviewed and revised. Laws need to be developed with a balance, protecting both the rights of actual tenants and landlords.

We are not demanding any radical change, just a fair deal. Help us reform legislation by signing the petition. Stand up against squatters exploiting these laws and support legitimate landlords.