A New York homeowner, longtime director and screenwriter Jean de Segonzac, found himself in a hellish situation when the ranch-style home he bought to help make life easier for his disabled daughter was taken over by squatters, and when he found out and tried to rectify the situation, New York law made it near-impossible to remove them.
News on that comes from Newsday, which reports that Mr. Segonzac bought the ranch-style home because its ground floor and backyard would be helpful for his wheelchair-bound daughter, 33. However, as it had certain problems that needed rectifying, he shut down the utilities and waited to move in until it could be sufficiently renovated.
But then he got a water bill. Shocked, as no one from his family was living there, he tried to contact the water company to shut off service. It said it couldn’t do so, as people were living there. He went to investigate and found that a family of squatters had moved in. Not only were they living there, but they had moved in furniture, were living there with a dog, and acted like they had a lease.
That became a squatter nightmare for Mr. Segonzac, who purchased the home for more than $600,000, as New York is one of the least owner-friendly jurisdictions in America when it comes to squatters. Between the Covid-era eviction moratorium, overtaxed courts, and a law making it illegal for a homeowner to try to throw out squatters, owners have nearly no avenue to get the squatters to leave quickly.
Describing how he felt when dealing with the situation, Mr. Segonzac said, “My family was in a very dark place. And it was a long time before we saw light at the end of the tunnel.” He also noted that New York law is wildly pro-squatter, classifying the person as a tenant, whether the owner wants them in the space or not, if they stay there for more than 30 days. Further, a homeowner can’t turn off the utilities to try to force them out. As he couldn’t remove the intruders before the thirty days were up, the case would have to wind its way through the courts.
Fortunately, he was able to find another way out of the situation. As there were structural issues with the property, hence why he hadn’t yet moved in, he was able to get the space condemned by local regulators, who then forced the squatters out for health reasons. Once they were out, he had the property demolished to be rebuilt, making it impossible for them to move back in.
Describing what he would do differently next time to try and prevent such a squatter nightmare from ever happening in the first place, he said, “I should have spoken to all my neighbors. I should have asked them to keep a lookout while I was gone.” Continuing, and describing why he didn’t think it necessary, he said, “I should have put up security cameras. But I didn’t think that was necessary. It’s just a small, sleepy village.”
"*" indicates required fields
Watch him describe his painful experience here:
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video