Free Republic

Hundreds of nursing homes in Florida have been forced to shut their doors over the past five years because of the soaring cost of commercial property insurance in the state. In the five-year period ending in 2023, an average of 146 nursing homes or assisted-living facilities in Florida have closed each year, according to the state’s Agency for Health Care Administration. During that same five-year period, commercial property insurance premiums rose 125% in Florida. Last year alone, annual premiums rose by around 27% in the state, according to Bloomberg News.

Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly vetoed a bill on Friday that aimed to prevent companies of China and other “foreign adversaries” from acquiring real property near military installations in the state.Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly gives her inaugural address for her second four-year term on the south steps of the Statehouse in Topeka, Kan., on Jan. 9, 2023. (John Hanna/AP Photo)Senate Bill 172 aims to block individuals or companies from “countries of concern” from owning any interest in land located within a 100-mile radius of a military installation in Kansas.Under the bill, any foreign principal that owns or acquires any interest in...

The rising problem of squatters illegally occupying people’s homes has become so obvious that even the mainstream media have recently been paying some attention to it, and lawmakers are beginning to take action.A survey by the National Rental Home Council found 1,200 homes in Atlanta alone have been taken over by squatters, News Channel 8 in Atlanta reports. Georgia enacted a law in late April to speed up evictions of squatters. “We will be watching this develop over the next year,” Atlanta’s Fox 5 TV channel stated.NBC Nightly News ran a national story on property owners’ difficulties in getting governments...

A trend sweeping America is for people to break into unoccupied homes and resist eviction by claiming "squatter's rights." Some states, notably New York, explicitly facilitate this crime by declaring that a trespasser who can rebuff the owner's efforts to remove him for 30 days qualifies for "tenants rights." In an effort to ensure that intruders don't inflict these same crimes on Arizona home owners, the legislature passed a bipartisan bill (SB 1129) that would have permitted a homeowner to request law enforcement to immediately remove a squatter from his or her property. This bill was vetoed by Gov. Katie...

The state has confirmed an additional case of pertussis — or whooping cough — on Hawaii Island amid an outbreak that has so far sickened 11 since March. HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - The state has confirmed an additional case of pertussis — or whooping cough — on Hawaii Island amid an outbreak that has so far sickened 11 since March. Several of the recent cases have been in infants too young to be fully vaccinated. Officials said the cases indicate “community spread” of pertussis on Hawaii Island. Because of that, the state Health Department is strongly recommending that parents stay up...

Opinion The scientific community celebrated April 14 as World Quantum Day to raise awareness of quantum science’s impact across diverse fields The world of science is on the cusp of a transformative era driven by the burgeoning field of quantum technology. Quantum science is founded on several key principles that underpin the behaviour of particles and systems at the quantum scale. The term “quantum scale” refers to the realm of physics that deals with phenomena occurring at very small scales, typically at the level of atoms, subatomic particles and fundamental particles. It encompasses the principles of quantum mechanics, which govern...

If you are planning a lengthy holiday getaway don’t leave your home unattended: beware the squatters. In some towns in the U.S. if homeowners take a lengthy vacation and squatters move into their home in the interim the intruders may wind up calling it their own “home sweet home.” And “yes,” it’s legal. The issue of squatter rights is not something new; squatters have been around since the first European settlers arrived in America. What is new is the emergence of squatters in growing numbers as a result of the Biden administration’s open borders policy. Texas Senator John Cornyn tells...

The state is awarding just over $15 million in bonds and subsidies for a project that will create 78 affordable homes in Ontario County. Sunlight Lane Apartments in Geneva will be for low-and-moderate low-income households. The net-zero development will be fully electric and feature rooftop solar panels. The financing is allocated through the New York State Homes and Community Renewal program.

The ultimate goal of Democrats and their far-left allies is to destroy property rights and replace capitalism with socialism.Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., said last week that squatters have “no rights.” He should try to convince his Democrat colleagues and their far-left allies because their systemic effort to normalize property theft has led to the unprecedented squatter crisis in America. Their ultimate goal is to destroy property rights and replace capitalism with socialism.Squatting is a form of trespassing as squatters use properties without the owners’ permission or any legal documentation. Nor do squatters offer property owners financial compensation. Atlanta, Georgia, is...

Bidenomics is also a Highway To Hell for commercial real estate. Let’s say real estate is thunderstruck under Bidenomics. There are more dormant office towers in the United States than at any point since 1979, according to a new report from Moody’s Analytics, which began tracking office leasing vacancies that year. The rising supply of office space is due to a combination of surging remote and hybrid work that forces companies to reduce corporate footprints. Also, companies are exiting imploding progressive cities and high-taxed blue states for red ones while downsizing space. In the report, office tower vacancies rose to...

An anti-squatting "professional" is warning homeowners against taking squatters to court, amid ongoing issues relating to property rights. Flash Shelton, who describes himself as a professional squatter remover, on Wednesday spoke to Fox News' America's Newsroom about how to handle squatting incidents and different ways to remove uninvited dwellers from your home. "First thing, call law enforcement, it's dangerous, don't do anything yourself, it's property, don't risk your life. Call law enforcement and when they tell you there's nothing they can do, contact SquatterHunters.com, let us assess the situation, before you hire an attorney and go to civil process," Shelton...

A pair of alleged squatters accused of unlawfully moving into a Queens duplex are suing its rightful owners after refusing to vacate the $930,000 home. It’s the latest logic-defying chapter in the ongoing squatter saga in the borough, which in recent weeks has seen multiple homes occupied by unwelcome invaders who claim rights to the properties under New York City’s permissive laws. “It’s absolutely absurd,” said the owner of the latest targeted home, Juliya Fulman — who so far has racked up more than $4,000 in legal bills fighting the suit — to The Post on Sunday. “These people literally...

New York City officials are forecasting overdue property taxes will surge to a record $880 million in the current fiscal year — and they say it’s because they’ve lost the power to enforce punishments for delinquencies. The staggering figure — forecast for the fiscal year ending in June — marks a jump of more than 30% from three years ago, according to an offering document for a city general obligation bond sale Tuesday obtained by Bloomberg. “It’s not just the absolute dollar amount that I think should worry us all,” Preston Niblack, the city’s finance commissioner, said at a City...

A property owner in Atlanta, Georgia, is fighting back against squatters who have taken over his land, which spans nine acres. Approximately ten years ago, David Morris, who now resides in California, allowed four individuals to live on the property for a while at no charge, Fox News reported Wednesday, noting the agreement was they would assist with the upkeep of the land. Morris used to run a nonprofit on the property that assisted needy people with food. However, he shut down operations during the Chinese coronavirus pandemic, as people suffering from addiction and mental health problems moved onto the...

Heads up to all NYS property owners (yes upstate too) Not only is "Good Cause" back on the table, but the Winter Eviction Moratorium is also on the floor in the NY Legislature. If you want to sell your property and get out of the landlord biz, as hoards of mom and pop landlords are doing due to the overly restrictive regulations of 2019, you'll have to WAIT to evict them between October and April. As you know, if "Good Cause" goes through, you will be unable to "not renew" a lease. All "non renewals" will be turned into a...

Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) signs into law a property rights bill to crack down on squatters.

Private property isn't so private anymore. When normal Americans weren't looking, squatters became cult heroes. The left has been cultivating squatters' rights for years. Woke cities are giving them legal backup by consolidating COVID-19-era no-eviction rules into free housing for months or years. People seeking their piece of the American Dream are now the stars of the left's dystopian horror show. The property takeovers are all over the country in the nation's woke cities. The stories are legion. "The homeowner wouldn't talk with us on camera for fear of retaliation from those living on the property. When he asked them...

“It’s too easy to forge a deed and record it,” Real estate attorney Richard Alembik told WSB-TV. “It’s a big problem nowadays, because of the fact that e-filing, the e-recording of deeds is so easy. It’s very easy to record forged deeds.” Alembik said notaries don’t check the identification of the people who submit the documents to verify if they are the rightful homeowners. Victims of fraud who have proof to be the rightful homeowners can still be ordered by a judge to move out and pay fines, according to the outlet. An elderly Georgia homeowner was forced out of...

An elderly Georgia homeowner was forced out of his house and arrested when an alleged swindler used fraudulent documents to claim ownership of the property. Charles and Charmaine Allman lived in the same Stone Mountain, Ga. home — located 16 miles east of Atlanta — for the last two decades before officials told the couple Tuesday that they no longer owned the house and had to vacate. “They made us feel like we were squatters,” Charmaine Allman told WSB-TV. “Just tossed my stuff out like it was trash.”

The Institute for Justice says its data show that a century-old Supreme Court doctrine created a huge exception to the Fourth Amendment. Police can traipse onto the vast majority of private property in the country without a warrant thanks to a century-old Supreme Court decision, according to a new study by the Institute for Justice, a libertarian-leaning public-interest law firm. In a study published in the spring 2024 issue of Regulation, a publication of the Cato Institute, Institute for Justice attorney Josh Windham and research analyst David Warren estimate that at least 96 percent of all private land in the...