NY homeowner arrested after changing locks on alleged squatters, report says

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16. Shockingly enough, landlords are sometimes *ssholes, too.

Yes, there are sometimes people who just occupy a vacant apartment or house.

But there are also landlords who want to break a lease. Rent control in nyc gives them an incentive to get rid of tenants so they can charge a higher rent to new tenants.

A cousin of mine is a NY real estate lawyer and he has had more than one case where the landlord entered the apartment (illegally, of course) searched for and took the tenant's copy of the lease, then claimed they were "squatters". In one case the landlord previously ginned up an argument and made the tenant show the clause in the lease, just to find out where they kept it. Then literally the next day it was gone.


Not claiming who's right or wrong in this case or in the majority of cases. But the legal eviction process seems like the right way to resolve these disputes, and that process may take time. In the meanwhile, if the landlord is right and the tenant is allowed to stay they're unfairly out money, but it's only money; but if the tenant is right and they're booted out, they're unfairly out of a place to live, which could be a complete disaster.