Bill Introduced In Texas Legislature To Curb Crackpots From Using Adverse Possession Affidavits As Self-Created Free Housing Vouchers That Provide Immunity From Criminal Trespass Charges

In Dallas, Texas, KXAS-TV Channel 5 reports:

• A string of squatters attempting to use an old law to legitimize taking over empty houses has inspired a new bill that aims to prevent copycats from following in their footsteps.
  
  While some of the more high-profile squatting cases—like that of Kenneth Robinson, who made headlines last year for flaunting his "$16" Flower Mound house—have faded from the spotlight, their examples continue to linger.
  
  "It's still going on in Denton County, we've heard about it in Houston. I get calls regularly from Alabama, Kentucky," said Tarrant County Constable Clint Burgess, who had to study up on the law of adverse possession when apparent squatters, including Robinson, began presenting him with obscure affidavits two years ago. "We had never seen anything like it," Burgess said.

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• Tarrant County has managed to crack down on the practice by refusing to accept the affidavits at the county clerk’s office and prosecuting abusers. But Burgess encouraged State Sen. Jane Nelson, who represents Denton and Tarrant counties, to sponsor legislation that would prevent the scam from bleeding into other parts of the state.
  
  Under the new law, filed last week, anyone interested in gaining ownership of an unused property would have to send written notice to the last known address of each person who holds an interest in it, from mortgage lenders to homeowners. "This bill simply states what a reasonable person would expect—that property does not convey simply by squatting," Nelson wrote in a statement.

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• While a squatter may not stand a chance to legally acquire a home he entered illegally, the use of adverse possession affidavits has still slowed down what is typically a straightforward process—swiftly filing a charge or a warrant against the suspected squatter.

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• That sort of confusion allowed some of the initial North Texas cases to remain in legal limbo for weeks, and in some cases months before authorities had the information they needed to evict a squatter.

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• While the new legislation could thwart the abuse of adverse possession in Texas, it remains a problem in other areas of the country still recovering from the foreclosure crisis.

 For the story, see New Bill Aims to Limit Squatters' Abuse of Obscure Law (The state law would target people who believe an “adverse possession” affidavit is a ticket to taking over an empty foreclosed home).