A picture of an abandoned rural house, a place where people may squat. Photo Creds: Unsplash
Ria Titus, Staff Writer for the Powderhorn
A squatter is defined as “a person who occupies an unused building or land without legal permission, title, or paying rent”. It is, however, legal, and even in many cases, a person squatting can actually obtain possession of the property. Squatting is somewhat common in Watauga County, though most people don’t realize it. The county is filled with abandoned/unused properties, and with that, a substantial homeless population. Squatting rights in North Carolina as a whole aren’t as simple as they may seem.
“The issue of squatter's rights is kind of more of a federalism thing that people realize, because the states, a lot of times, decide how they do it,” said Samuel Vining, AP Government and Politics teacher. “When you talk about things like unfunded mandates or block grants and stuff like that, it can get a little tricky.”
Federalism plays a key role in determining squatter's rights. While broad legal principles exist, each state has the freedom to decide how rules are made and executed. In North Carolina’s case, a squatter has to live in a property for 20 years before making an adverse possession claim, which is a legal doctrine that grants a person the right to the title of the property. There are also certain requirements for this rule: the squatter has to live there alone, make it obvious they are living there, and act as if the property is already theirs.
“The main difference between squatting and trespassing is when you're in someone's property or at a property unlawfully, whereas squatting is legally protected by the state, county or municipality you're in,” said Vining. “I'd say [squatting is] protected because it's very easy to hurt the rights of people who don't have property, their general life liberty, and then their ability to even kind of have their own property, per se.”
Squatting has existed for a lengthy period of time, and that is why its rights are still protected to this day. These rights coincide with the efforts to address social issues in America. The laws try to balance order with providing help to vulnerable citizens, even though some may disagree with the strategy.
“Historically, squatting occurred during the settlement Midwest, where colonial European settlers established land rights during the gold rush. America is not really having any forms of government, and people are literally just moving into a place that maybe isn't U.S. territory, and they're just settling, and so they would create a homestead on the frontier when there's no government there,” said Vining. “It's been around throughout American history, but it became a little bit more popular in cities after the Great Depression, because there were a lot of folks who got pushed out of their homes, and so they began to squat around big cities like New York and even Washington, DC.”
One of the questions that many people have regarding squatting is, how do these properties get abandoned in the first place? There are many reasons why a property could be abandoned and also many reasons why people would squat in the first place. In the High Country, snowfall is heavy, and temperatures drop significantly. Being outside in the winter months is very hard for many, and sometimes shelters can’t support everyone. This is what inclines people to squat.
“If you just think about what's our county: picture, old, dilapidated home off the side of the road. Let's say that you had land that you owned, and you had a house on it that wasn't really usable. Someone could go squat there for 20 years and might not really worry about it,” said Vining. “There's a lot of people that have multiple homes. It's usually a grandparent, they have kids, and then their kids move off to other parts of the state. They still have this piece of land they have, and they don't care about it, because they're all doing their own thing. Before they know it, they have a group of squatters that are at the home.”
If a squatter is discovered in a property, the tenants can’t just kick them out. There is an in-depth legal process that has to be followed, which involves the courts. If a judge sides with the tenant, then the squatter is forced to vacate the property. Squatting is a civil crime rather than a criminal one, so it is usually handled in that way, with documents having to be presented instead of arrests taking place.
Squatting is an issue that displays the gray area between maintaining order and protecting the rights and liberties of homeless people who don’t have anywhere else to go. Squatter’s rights exist so that people have options on where to go and also so unused land doesn’t go to waste. While some view it as a threat to property ownership, it could also reflect other issues, such as homelessness and economic instability. Overall, squatter's rights are important in the High Country and are beneficial to many people.