Couple returns from work trip to find 13 gypsies have moved into their house.

[Tetsmega]

[QUOTE=CruelAddict;52865274]I have heard of a Russian guy in Spain who does this for a living: extracts squatters through deception and returns properties to owners. Was a fun read.[/QUOTE]

Do you think you could find it again? I'm interested.

[CruelAddict]

[QUOTE=Tetsmega;52866250]Do you think you could find it again? I'm interested.[/QUOTE]

It's sadly in Russian. Although they are [url=https://pikabu.ru/story/otdel_quotdisokupaquot_kak_yeto_rabotaet_borba_s_okkupantami_kvartir_v_ispanii_5169869]here[/url] and [url=https://pikabu.ru/story/kak_ya_vmesto_opernogo_teatra_v_tsyiganskiy_rayon_popal__5163412]here[/url]

[Lapin]

[QUOTE=Tamschi;52850670]I can see [I]various[/I] practical problems with that, especially if you aren't keen on physically injuring someone.[/QUOTE]

It's called defending yourself, since it's on your property.

[Coment]

[QUOTE=Tetsmega;52866250]Do you think you could find it again? I'm interested.[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=CruelAddict;52866330]It's sadly in Russian. Although they are [url=https://pikabu.ru/story/otdel_quotdisokupaquot_kak_yeto_rabotaet_borba_s_okkupantami_kvartir_v_ispanii_5169869]here[/url] and [url=https://pikabu.ru/story/kak_ya_vmesto_opernogo_teatra_v_tsyiganskiy_rayon_popal__5163412]here[/url][/QUOTE]

Heard of them, here's two links explaining the situation in Spain and, on the bottom of both pages, Desokupa's role in it (the name of the russian guy's company, comparing the pics on the russian article)
[URL="https://www.thelocal.es/20170430/vacant-apartments-held-for-ransom-in-spain"]https://www.thelocal.es/20170430/vacant-apartments-held-for-ransom-in-spain[/URL]

[URL="http://www.newsweek.com/homeless-spain-squatting-owners-getting-creative-627190"]http://www.newsweek.com/homeless-spain-squatting-owners-getting-creative-627190[/URL] (autoplay video warning)

[Big Dumb Patriot]

[QUOTE=Im Crimson;52850594]Some redditor presented the following explanation:

[I]"Second, we have squatters rights because sometimes people buy land and don't use it. Or buy land and lose it in the shuffle of deaths and wills and sales so the land ends up wasted. This was especially problematic in old England, where the rule comes from, since people would buy huge tracts of land and it was hard to know where one property began and another ended.

The idea was that, by allowing people to take possession of the land by use, you encouraged landowners to actually check on their land from time to time, and also prevented the descendants of an absentee landowner from swooping in 100 years later and kicking you out of your house.

It also relates to how the law works. There's a statute of limitations on the action you take to evict someone. (another thing that made sense in the past when paper records got lost or were stolen or forged). You can't even begin to have "squatter's rights" to property until that period lapses, and it's usually 15, 20, or 30 years.

Last, in most places squatters rights are really hard to get, even if you wait out the time. So, for instance, if you are there with permission, you can't get squatter's rights. And, in a lot of places, if you're there illegally (meaning you just moved in rather than, say, got confused about where the property line was between your house and the next guy's house) you can't get squatter's rights no matter what."[/I][/QUOTE]

We have laws in the US that relate this to, believe it or not. Adverse possession. Essentially, if somebody goes and openly occupies a piece of land or property, and remains in it for long enough without challenge, they acquire legal rights to it. The key phrases here being "openly" and "without challenge." The squatter must be utilizing the space in open defiance and full view. Making a fence, gardening, furnishing, whatever. It's not a matter of hiding in the closet for two years -- you have to be treating the property as if you owned it. Furthermore, the actual owner of that property can come along at any time in the first two or three years and have you removed by saying, "hey, that's my property! You can't live there!"

If the squatters have been openly living there for 2+ years, though? It's basically theirs at that point.

[editline]/[/editline]

It's not quite as crazy as it sounds, really. Like the reddit user mentioned, this kind of law can be important where land has been essentially abandoned. A more realistic scenario might be something like this:

A farmer has been living on his land for twenty years, utilizing the acreage that he believes he owns for agriculture for that entire period. Suddenly, somebody comes in and says, "hey, I found this old survey that shows that half your land technically belongs to me!"

Well, under adverse possession, the farmer can say, "I've been farming this land for twenty years without challenge. In effect, it's been mine for two decades, and should remain that way!"

And the farmer would, probably, be right. It might go to court, but if the farmer can demonstrate that he's openly and continuously utilized that land without challenge for the entire time, he'll most likely get to claim legal rights to it.