Some of my friends recently told me about their trip to this abandoned insane asylum in my town. they went their, explored a little, got thouroughly freaked out, and came back safely.
Was what they did harmless fun though, or was there a real danger that they could get caught? And if so, what could happen to them? In California, what, if anything do the police do? Who owns abandoned buildings anyway?
Thanks
It’s trespassing. SOMEBODY owns the building, even if it’s the bank that foreclosed on it.
The property is almost certainly still owned by somebody, so you’d get busted for trespassing. If its an old asylum, the property is likely owned by the state.
Not that I don’t think exploring old, weird buildings is cool – but yeah, you can get in legal trouble for doing it.
It’s trespassing.
You can look up the ownership at the County Clerk’s or Assessor’s office. If no one has been paying taxes on it, it will come up for auction, and you can buy your very own insane asylum, and tell the cops they can’t come in.
Simulpost.
Its illegal, but lots of people do it.
Head on over to google and look up “Urban exploration”. It looks like a lot of fun.
Assuming they didn’t break anything, the only legal risk is probably a “you kids shouldn’t be here” from the cops.
There is, however, a very real danger of injuring yourself if the structure is unsound. You could step on glass, fall through a floor, get hit by falling debris, and so on.
It’s trespassing, but more importantly, if it says “Condemned” or “Stay Out” or “Danger” of any sort, then you can’t sue the owners when you trip and break your ankle. 
I love automatic litigation. You were properly forewarned, so you shoul dhave avoided the place.
Now, if it’s just abandoned you can sue the owner for damage to you.
This all assumes you got injured and have witnesses to say “The HOUSE did it!”
Look at it this way: Abandoned buildings can be death-traps. They aren’t maintained and commonly aren’t up to code in the first place, hence abandonment. What happens when people start traipsing through abandoned buildings and get hurt? Liability lawsuits, that’s what. Even if the courts find in favor of the defendant, any lawsuit incurs expenses on both sides. Why should someone have to incur expense just to own a building that’s not producing revenue? That’s why tresspass laws are still in effect.
You guys forgot the most important part: abandoned insane asylums are often haunted by the ghosts of inmates that died there. They can drive you crazy, or kill you. Happens in the movies all the time.
Hmm… So lets say they were caught, and are minors. What happens to them? Google is rather lacking (or rather, my googling skills are rather lacking) in descriptions of specific laws and penalties for adults and minors.
I’ve done it a few times, but the abandoned buildings I’ve seen never feel safe to me. It won’t be very entertaining if the floor collapses under me.
Anybody remember the Iowa farmerwho had an abandoned house on his property? he boarded it up, and put “NO TRESPASSING” signs up…but somelocal kids kept breaking in. So he wired up a shotgun to blast smeone breaking in via the door…and the dumbass kid sued him and won!
The farmer was found guilty of constructing an “infernal machine”!
And he would’ve gotten away with it if it wasn’t for those blasted kids! 
Good. Pretty much every place in the civilized world makes it a crime to set up deathtraps.
While I don’t know what the punishment for tresspassing is (if your a minor or otherwise), in most cases I’ve read up on at urban exploration sites, the kids just get off with a warning from the cops…unless the property owners take the no tresspassing thing very seriously, still keep tabs on the property, and press charges. I have heard of that happening, but don’t know of anyone who’s gotten caught personally. (All my tresspasser friends are very cautious and have never had any problems, and they’ve been at it for some time).
If you or your friends are interested in this sort of thing, but are worried about getting caught, there are some abandoned places, that while uninhabited, you can still visit without any worries of whether or not what you’re doing is illegal. www.ohiotresspassers.com has a page of links, one of which, the Mansfield Reformatory, holds overnighters for $50 bucks per person and lets guests roam around the place as much as they’d like with flashlights and cameras and so forth. (There might be a second place linked to through ohiotresspassers as well). If you surf around, you’ll probably be able to find places like this closer to home.
Sorry about the bad link there…I spelled “trespassers” wrong. Oh, the shame. :o
Fixed link.
I have done a lot of exploring old mines, houses, towns, buildings, farms, etc. for the most part, there is no problem, whether it reverted back to the state, or not. In most cases, they have reverted back to the state for non-payment of taxes. Exploring old places is fun.
However, do not steal anything, and do not take any metal detctors or shovels with you(an intent to steal).
The few that are still in private hands, some owners will let you go on the property, and some wont. Some will tell the local police that “officially” it is no trespassing, so they wont get sued, but they also say that they dont care if you go on it as long as you are not suing.
I am not a lawyer, but I have never seen an abandoned place that a cop would give you a ticket for, without warning you first, and esp if your purpose is to visit/find the owner with the intent of purchasing such property. But my experiences have been in open country, and not in cities. I would not take a chance going into any building in a city - that is a different story.
Yes, I remember the farmer very well. but I would not call the ones who stole from him “kids”. The man was well in his 20’s or late 20’s, and had a beard and mustache.
The farmer rigged up a 12 guage shotgun to fire if the door was broken into and it was opened. It is called a “deadfall” which is illegal in most states now.
Sure enough, the criminal came back to steal some more(this abandoned house was on anther part of the farmers property, and not used anymore.
The criminal was charged with attempted larceny, fined $35, and paid his fine.
Then…
The criminal sued the farmer, and won, a couple hundred thousand dollars. The farmers land and farm were put up for auction, and sold.
I saw a followup to this story, and they showed the criminal who claimed to be permanently paralyzed in his legs, but I saw him working at a gas station, “jumping”, yes, jumping on his “paralyzed” legs, over the gas pump hose back and forth, all day. It was on film, and taken to the judge but they did not use it , and did not reduce the amount given to the criminal.
From what I understand, the last I heard, the farmers neighbors pooled all of their money together, purchased the farmers house which was sold at auction, back and gave it back to the farmer.
It is illegal, and dangerous, but also very fun. Another good site is www.forgottenohio.com/abandoned