I lived illegally in a house for 5 years – I took the time to fix it up and sued for legal ownership, now it’s mine
A HOMEOWNER has revealed they lived in their residence for years illegally before fixing it up and suing for legal ownership.
In California, there are laws in place often referred to as “adverse possession” or “squatters rights.”
The legislation allows for those who squat in an abandoned home for at least five years to sue for legal possession of the property as long as they adhere to specific requirements, per The Orange County Register.
Steven DeCaprio, a Bay Area local, successfully went through the process of obtaining a home legally through squatting.
DeCaprio was homeless in the mid-2000s and moved into an abandoned home on the western side of Oakland in 2008.
After five years of living in the space, renovating it, and cleaning it up, he went to the Alameda County Superior Court and staked a claim on the property.
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With the assistance of the adverse possession law in The Golden State — DeCaprio won his bid on the home.
He's now a legal homeowner.
"Sometimes I’m just overwhelmed with a sense of appreciation for the privilege of having a house,” DeCaprio told the publication.
Inspired by the process, DeCaprio set out to help others in need of housing take advantage of state law by squatting on properties until they were able to sue for ownership.
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Although property owners often prevented many other squatters from being successful under his tutelage.
In one instance, DeCaprio spent two nights in prison for trespassing after an attempted squat in an empty residence in Berkeley.
After a while, he shifted his focus to assisting the homeless population through the human rights-focused nonprofit, the Meiklejohn Civil Liberties Institute.
Serving as an executive director at the non-profit, DeCaprio told The Orange County Register that he believes abandoned homes could hold the key to helping some in the area.
"It would be great if we could just identify all the abandoned properties in Oakland and house all the homeless people in them,” he said.
"And then the problem would be solved at that point — at least the immediate problem of people being unhoused.”
Attorney Dan Siegel handled DeCaprio's case and warned that obtaining property through squatting is much harder than it might seem with the adverse possession law.
Siegel explained that a squatter can claim possession after establishing their residency through mail, bills, paying property taxes, and openly entering and exiting through front doors for five years.
The major caveat is if the current owner happens to become aware of the squatting and objects against it, as the squatter could then be arrested for trespassing or evicted through civil court processes.
The attorney said in DeCaprio's case, the previous owner had died, and nobody else seemingly wanted the property, leaving no one standing in his way to obtain the home.
Although Needa Bee, an activist who advocates for the rights of homeless residents, noted that some homeless in Oakland have already continued to follow in DeCaprio's footsteps.
Bee noted that the owners of the homes where several squatters were positioned for almost a year were essentially absentee landlords.
“They don’t even know we’re in there,” she told the outlet.
Other organizations also sprung up in the advocacy for sustainable housing for the homeless through squatting, including the controversial group Moms 4 Housing.
In November 2019, the group moved several women into an abandoned Oakland home and refused to leave when a landlord attempted to evict them after discovering the situation.
Some, like attorney Todd Rothbard, called the actions of groups like Moms 4 Housing "pure lawlessness," per The Orange County Register.
"This type of situation is very rare,” Rothbard said of squatters winning legal battles over property.
“It’s not something I expect to see a lot of.”
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For more related content, check out The U.S. Sun's coverage of a homeowner who claimed that a registered sex offender moved into their residence and changed the locks.
The U.S. Sun also has the story of a squatter caught living in a resident's home while they were away due to a thermostat notification.