Latest news with #squatting
Yahoo
4 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Atlanta tenants say they're being wrongly labeled as squatters amid unsafe living conditions
Tenants at the Bolden Townhomes in southwest Atlanta say they are being told to leave their apartments within days, despite having paid rent. [DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] They fear becoming homeless and claim the property owner is attempting to classify them as squatters under Georgia's new squatting law. Residents say they've been living without power and facing unsafe living conditions, including mold and severe water damage, with little to no response from the property owner, Bolden Capital Group, which is headquartered in downtown Atlanta. 'I haven't had any power since I moved in,' said one tenant, Montavious Vaughn, while showing Channel 2's Eryn Rogers dark, powerless units and empty meter boxes. Others pointed to dangerous living conditions, including collapsing ceilings, standing water, and widespread mold. One tenant also showed Rogers his bandage, where he said he was shot in the leg by a stray bullet two days ago. Multiple tenants reported not receiving formal leases upon moving in, despite paying rent. One woman shared that her lease lacked her name, and several other tenants told Rogers their leases had the same wrong name on them. Other tenants said they were promised a lease the day after moving in, but never received it. 'We moved in here, she said she was going to give me my lease the next day,' Vaughn said. 'I waited like three weeks, and she had not been in the office.' He said she never showed up again. Several other tenants also said they paid their money to the leasing manager, who disappeared. TRENDING STORIES: GA mayor, wife charged with crimes against children Driver, 9-year-old hospitalized after suspected DUI driver smashes into car during chase Area of GA river remains closed as divers search for missing boater On Friday, some tenants returned home to find their belongings outside. 'We never got an actual eviction notice,' Hailey Spruill-Osley said. 'We just got this: a letter anybody could type.' The letter said it was a 'warning'. Spruill-Osley said it was put on her door Friday and that she was given no notice before her belongings were put outside. Tenants have shown rent receipts and payment records to support their claims, insisting they are legal occupants. Many say they're living in the complex on vouchers. 'You can't call nobody a squatter when we've got proof of payments,' Vaughn said. However, Georgia's recently passed Squatter Reform Law requires tenants to show a valid lease. The property owner has to file a squatters' affidavit. It's unclear if the owner, Edward Bolden of Bolden Capital Group, filed it. The act was recently passed, allowing law enforcement to cite suspected squatters criminally for trespassing. 'If they have no documentation, they'll be out in three days,' said State Rep. Devan Seabaugh, who sponsored the bill. Under the new law, if the suspected squatter presents a lease, the case goes before a magistrate judge within seven days. [SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter] Tenants without a lease may be forced to vacate by Tuesday. Those who do have leases could still be required to appear in court to prove their right to remain in their homes. Rogers reached out to Bolden. When asked about the power issues, Bolden denied the allegations, said he would send documents, and then hung up. Follow-up messages were read but not answered. Georgia Power confirmed it's working with Bolden Townhomes and released the following statement: 'Georgia Power continues to work with Bowden Townhomes to address various connection and account issues for their residents. Given possible legal, safety and account privacy issues, we are not at liberty to discuss. For further details, please contact Bowden Townhomes directly.' Tenants say they feel the law is being weaponized against them. With nowhere else to go, many are now scrambling to find housing before Tuesday's deadline. 'I am homeless,' Spruill-Osley said. 'I have nowhere to go.' Under the new law, A fake lease also adds an extra felony charge. Channel 2 Action News also learned that Bolden Capital Group is involved in several lawsuits.
Daily Mail
11-05-2025
- Daily Mail
Squatting activist shares staggering 'Aboriginal Australia' justification for his antics - as he publishes DIY guide of how to take over someone else's house
A controversial squatter's rights activist has sparked fresh uproar after he published a DIY guide for his followers on how to detect whether a house is fit for squatting. Jordan van den Lamb, 29, collects addresses for abandoned or empty homes and provides them to Australians in need of emergency housing. In a recent TikTok video posted under his moniker Purplepingers, he shared what to look out for in identifying an empty home - from checking the fuse box and gas meter to researching online real estate listings. While the video received mostly positive reactions, a number of viewers were furious at the idea of having to justify their right to homeownership. In an interview with Daily Mail Australia, Mr van den Lamb claimed property owners had a responsibility to make productive use of their land. Where it was clearly demonstrated they had failed to do so by leaving it empty or abandoned - usually for at least two years - he claimed it was justified for a squatter to move in. He said the idea is embedded in Australia's cultural history. 'It's how we colonised the country. It was like: "this land was owned by no one", which is obviously flawed right. And therefore, the land rights were granted to colonial squatters,' he said. 'The song Waltzing Matilda is literally about that... read the lyrics, it's about a squatter evicting a swagman from their property.' Each state and territory in Australia has its own version of adverse possession laws allowing squatters to claim ownership over land they've openly and continuously possessed for a defined period of time. In most jurisdictions, possession must be held for 12 to 15 years. For his part, Mr van den Lamb believes this is excessively long. 'Twelve to 15 years is a ridiculous amount of time for a house to be empty, especially noting these houses are empty for much longer periods prior to them being squatted [in],' he told Daily Mail Australia. 'If someone's living in a house you've literally not bothered to check on for like two years.... You have a responsibility to use it productively'. Mr van den Lamb draws justification for encouraging Aussies to take ownership of empty homes in part from the vacant residential land tax in Victoria, which requires homeowners to pay a tax on properties left unoccupied for one year. He claimed many residents were committing fraud by failing to pay the tax, while others took advantage of the enforcement limitations. 'The data used to enforce [residential land taxes] is predominantly water usage. We've seen people go around every couple of months and just turn the taps on for a day and then leave the house empty,' he said. Mr van den Lamb has consistently warned his followers against breaking into the properties he assigns them, claiming it was unnecessary. 'I've been doing this for a while and, most of the time, they just have either an open back door or an open window,' he said. 'I've never encouraged anyone to break in to a property and I still would never encourage that. That's not what this is about. 'This is about the thousands of empty properties that we have around this country and the far fewer people who don't have roofs over their head every night.' Mr van den Lamb said it was his understanding that trespassing required forced entry to a property, for example, breaking a window or kicking down a door. But legal experts told Daily Mail Australia otherwise. Andre Ong, principal at Sharrock Pitman lawyers, said Mr van den Lamb had 'misconstrued' the criminal and tortious elements of trespassing. 'In a civil society, you are supposed to respect other people's property rights. What is relevant is that you were there without consent or other lawful entitlement to be there,' he said. Special counsel in commercial litigation at Attwood Marshall Lawyers Jade Carlson agreed, adding the legal question is whether Mr van den Lamb himself could be held liable for any trespasses he may help to facilitate. Ms Carlson said only the registered owner could raise a trespassing claim, meaning if a home were truly abandoned the likelihood of legal action would be 'remote'. She added, however, the program raises 'inherent risks' that could raise 'significant' legal consequences. Mr Ong said a court may look beyond the activist's insistence against forcing entry to a property to any reasonably foreseeable misconduct arising from the trespass. Asked by Daily Mail Australia whether he feared any legal repercussions, Mr van den Lamb said: 'Not particularly, no. People are dying. Me having a fight with a cop isn't gonna change much. 'At the end of the day, I'm a young white man who's tertiary educated in this country, so I'm going to be fine compared to someone who's not from my demographic and is sleeping rough on the street.'
