Squatters’ rights in Orange County, California come into play when a tenant who has been living on your property without paying rent is suddenly evicted, and refuses to leave. Squatter’s rights are not a legal defense in Orange County, CA but they are a protection against immediate action being taken by law enforcement.
Squatters rights are not recognized in Orange County.
The eviction process is the same for a squatter as it is for any tenant who has violated the terms of their lease. If you are being harassed by a squatter, you may want to contact your local police department or seek legal advice from an attorney.
Squatters do not have the right to remain on your property. If they are there without your permission, they are trespassing. In some cases, the police may be able to arrest them for criminal trespass.
If you find squatters living on your property, you should contact a lawyer immediately. Your attorney can help you determine whether there is any legal basis for removing them from your property.
What is a squatter?
A squatter is simply a person who lives in a house or other property without the owner’s permission. The term “squatter” has been used to describe people who have taken possession of land or buildings that are not legally theirs, and who can be evicted.
Many people believe that if a squatter takes over a property, he or she has “squatter’s rights” and can stay there indefinitely. This is not true.
Squatters’ rights are not recognized by law in Orange County, meaning that if you find yourself dealing with squatters on your property, you may have legal recourse available to evict them.
There are several popular myths about what it means to be a squatter in Orange County
The first myth is that squatters only take over vacant homes. This is not true. In fact, squatters can occupy any type of residential property as long as they meet two requirements:
1. They must have permission from the owner of the property to live there (or at least believe they do).
2. They must not have been evicted from that residence by an Orange County Judge or the Sheriff’s Department after being given appropriate notice by those entities.
The second myth is that once you become a squatter, you can never leave your home again. Again, this is false. It’s actually quite easy for squatters to leave their properties voluntarily without having to go through any legal proceedings at all. All they have to do is pay rent and utilities like any other tenant would do and then give their landlord 30 days’ notice before moving out so they can get credit towards their security deposit when they move out of the premises at the end of their lease term (see our article on landlord tenant laws in Orange County).
If a tenant has not been paying rent, you can serve them with an eviction notice and they are no longer protected by squatters’ rights in Orange County, CA.
In conclusion:
Realistically, most landlords are not going to go through the many steps necessary to evict a squatter from their property. However, it is important to be aware of your options since squatters rights do not apply.
Squatters have no legal right to stay on your property, but they can be nearly impossible to remove. This can lead to a slew of problems, including: