Landlord, tenant advocates criticize crackdown on squatters
May 1—CONCORD — Activists representing tenants and landlords roundly criticized a proposal to make it easier to remove people illegally squatting on someone else's private property.
House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee Chairman Terry Roy, R-Deerfield, said he is determined to work on changes to his proposal to "get it right," but he said the problem of squatting in New Hampshire is real and must be addressed.
"This is something our constituents are asking for," Roy said during the second hearing in two weeks on the topic. "I ask that we take our time and do it right, but it is not something that can be put off because it is happening to people right now."
The proposal would be added to a Senate-passed bill (SB 315) on the reporting of bias crimes.
This latest proposal would allow a property owner to request someone unlawfully occupying a unit to be removed by law enforcement after 48 hours and possibly charged with criminal trespass.
Under Roy's amendment, the person accused of squatting could provide proof that they are entitled to be there.
If this request isn't made, the landlord would have to go through the more lengthy procedure to evict the squatter.
Officials with New Hampshire Legal Assistance, the Apartment Association of New Hampshire and Housing Action New Hampshire said the latest language was unworkable.
Elliott Berry, a retired lawyer who worked with tenants for more than 40 years, said police typically do not get involved in evicting tenants for any reason.
"This makes the police the judge in the case rather than the judge," Berry began. "The only way the alleged tenant gets to tell their side of the story to a neutral decisionmaker is in defending a criminal prosecution."
Nick Norman, with the apartment organization, said even if the squatter has no rights to be on the property, removing him or her without due process would violate the U.S. Constitution.
"It is good we are addressing squatting; it happens for people who own their homes and it happens for people who are renting it out," said Norman, who has been a landlord for 35 years.
Norman and Berry offered a further amendment for cases of suspected squatting to be handled under an existing process that addresses tenant-landlord disputes in a more expedited fashion than eviction.
This alternative route could complete the due process in two days, Norman said.
Kerstin Cornell, a lawyer with New Hampshire Legal Assistance, said the bill also could inadvertently capture and criminally charge sublessees, like those who rent an apartment from a college student during the summer even if the tenant has been barred from subleasing under his/her rental agreement.
"They don't know they are there unlawfully and then are faced with this (criminal) trespassing" charge, Cornell said.
After the hearing, Roy decided to put off further committee work on the bill until Wednesday.
