# What are squatter's rights (in the modern day)?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-squatters-rights-in-the-modern-day/333037>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 28, 2005, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-squatters-rights-in-the-modern-day/333037 "2005-11-28T08:13:38Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\
**Post date:** [November 28, 2005, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-squatters-rights-in-the-modern-day/333037/1 "2005-11-28T08:13:38Z")

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Disclaimer: I’m not asking for legal advice or specifics but a general understanding.

The play _RENT_ made me wonder and now the movie does as well: what if any legal rights to squatters have in modern day (or even late 20th century) NYC? Surely they can’t have the right to live in a building indefinitely once it has a clear owner. Are their rights limited to having to receive reasonable notice to vacate or do they have a form of unwritten lease or…?

I’m not a particularly conservative person but I am a strong believer in property rights. Why should a building’s owner have to make provision for people who occupy it without permission and without charge? Does the owner have any responsibilities in the event a squatter is injured on, say, a faulty staircase that they never had permission to use in the first place?

Just curious. (In the exact case of _RENT_ it would seem that the characters had a much better case of verbal contract, but that’s another story.)

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**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\
**Post date:** [November 28, 2005, 8:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-squatters-rights-in-the-modern-day/333037/2 "2005-11-28T08:56:09Z")

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Couple of threads:

[http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=43678](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=43678) Goodun  
[http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=11366](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=11366)  
[http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=307495](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=307495)