NJ next? NYC cops side with squatters, arrest homeowner

🔴 A Queens homeowner was arrested during a squatting fight

🔴 In NY, squatters have rights after 30 days

🔴 NJ lawmakers have introduced legislation to criminalize squatting

It’s a squatting incident that went horribly wrong. Could it happen in New Jersey?

In New York, a property owner was caught in a verbal standoff with alleged squatters whom she has been trying to kick out of her family’s home, and it was all caught on video from ABC Eyewitness News.

Adele Andaloro, 47, was put in handcuffs after changing the locks last month on the $1 million home in Flushing, Queens, that she claims she inherited from her parents when they died, ABC Eyewitness News reported.

She was in the process of selling the home when she noticed someone had changed the entire front door and lock of the house, she told ABC Eyewitness News.

However, under the law, it is illegal for the homeowner to change the locks, turn off the utilities, or even remove the belongings of these so-called tenants from the property.

She said she was afraid that by the time someone investigates, it will be over 30 days and this man will still be in her home. Under New York law, squatters have rights after 30 days.

During the recent encounter at her home, Andaloro was filmed entering the property after one of the squatters left the front door open, The New York Post reported.

“You shouldn’t be trying to steal my house,” Andaloro yelled at him during the verbal fight caught on camera.

A man, identified as Brian Rodriguez, told ABC7 he was on a lease and is being unlawfully evicted.

Following many 911 calls, police told Andaloro she had to sort the whole ordeal out in housing court because it was considered a landlord-tenant issue. On top of that, she was given an unlawful eviction charge because had changed the locks and did not provide the people staying there with a new key, the NYPD confirmed to The Post.

Andaloro was also given a criminal court summons. She is now being forced to start an eviction filing in court to settle this dispute.

One unidentified neighbor told The Post that they had no idea how the squatters got into the house to begin with, and how they even knew the house had been empty.

Here is the full video from ABC 7 Eyewitness News.

This is just the latest involving squatters in New York.

New Jersey squatters

Here is how New Jersey is dealing with squatting problems.

State Sen. Doug Steinhardt, R-Warren, introduced legislation (S-3613) that would give homeowners and communities new tools to address squatters who unlawfully occupy dwellings.

Under current New Jersey law, squatting is not a criminal act. It’s a civil matter that requires the property owner to file a claim to evict, which can take months or even years to resolve, Steinhardt said.

His law would shift the burden onto the squatters to defend themselves rather than on the homeowners to prosecute the case.

Squatters often damage homes and destroy or sell any personal property that the owner left inside.

To address these concerns, Steinhard’s legislation would create three new crimes related to squatting:

Housebreaking: A person would be guilty of housebreaking if they forcibly enter an uninhabited or vacant dwelling without the owner’s permission with the intent of taking up residence.

Unlawful occupancy: A person would be guilty of unlawful occupancy if they take up residence in an uninhabited or vacant residence without the permission of the owner.

Unlawful reentry: A person would be guilty of unlawful reentry if had possession, was ejected from the home, then broke back in to take up possession without the owner’s permission.

Steinhardt said he wants to make it clear that this law distinguishes squatting, which to him, should be criminalized to aid the property owners versus somebody who is going through a foreclosure proceeding, to which this law does not apply.

It only applies to people who never had the right to enter a residing home in the first place, he said.

Each of the new offenses would be a crime of the fourth degree, punishable by up to 18 months in prison, a fine of up to $10,000, or both.

The bill went nowhere last session but was reintroduced this session as S-725 sponsored by Steinhardt and Sen. Michael Testa, R-Cumberland, and as A-731 by Assemblyman Michael Torrissi Jr., R-Atlantic.

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