NEW YORK — New York lawmakers are calling for new legislation to crack down on the issue of squatters.
CBS New York has been hearing from property owners, who say they are being sent into debt by people refusing to pay rent.
“My tenants only pay me one month’s rent, and they know the game. They know after 30 days you cannot evict them,” said Hong Chen, who spent thousands of dollars trying to get squatters out of a home in Maspeth, Queens.
“I’m not getting any rent and I’m paying the gas and electric every month,” said John Sochran, who is using his pension money for expenses on a College Point home he hoped would provide retirement income.
Other residents say they feel unsafe, with squatters wreaking havoc around their neighborhood.
“They turn on the water and use the garbage bins, steal from us and then go to them. After we locked the gates, they went to my neighbor and steal the water over there,” Brooklyn resident Brian Liu said.
“The police came. They cannot do nothing, they said,” neighbor Antoinette Raffaele added.
New York State Sen. John Liu, Assembly member Ron Kim and other leaders will gather Wednesday at one victim’s house in Flushing. They are expected to address the new bill that would define squatters as intruders under state law, instead of tenants who are entitled to certain rights and protections.
Lawmakers have also called for these rights set in after 180 days, rather than 30, and for the NYPD to start collecting data on issues caused by squatters.
- In:
- Flushing
- Queens
