(The Center Square) – Eviction of squatters, despite concerns from a police group that the legislation lacks due process provisions, could be easier for property owners if legislation passing a North Carolina committee on Tuesday becomes law.
The Judiciary Committee in the House of Representatives positively favored Expedited Removal of Unauthorized Persons, also known as House Bill 96. Rep. Brian Biggs, R-Randolph, is a realtor and made the presentation citing the story of a personal encounter with squatters.
“I sold a piece a property, a large tract of land, a couple of years ago,” he told the committee. “It had a small house. It was run down, abandoned boarded up, on the property.”
A few months later Biggs received a phone call from the local sheriff, who told him that someone had taken the boards off the house and moved into the house, complete with their dog on the front porch. The squatter said he was the grandson of the previous owner, now deceased, who had given him permission to live on the property for the rest of his life.
“We had to prove that he was lying,” Biggs said. “We had to go through all that procedure. It was a terrible situation.”
In another case, a squatter moved into a woman’s house while she was in a nursing home, Biggs said. That person also falsely claimed to be a family member of the property.
Squatters will sometimes read obituaries and take up residence in the deceased person’s home, Biggs told legislators.
HB96 provides an expedited process to evict remove squatters, Biggs explained. It comes with stiff penalties if the property owner wrongly accuses a person of squatting, said Biggs.
Fred Bagget, chief counsel of the North Carolina Association of Chiefs of Police, told legislators his organization has concerns about the bill because it does not require a judge to approve the evictions.
“I know of no analogy in the law that allows an individual to provide an affidavit to law enforcement which requires law enforcement to take control of an individual and his property temporarily,” Bagget told the committee on Tuesday. “Law enforcement needs some type of judicial order in order to do that.”
An alternative procedure that could be accomplished in two or three days would require a brief hearing before a magistrate judge and an order from the judge before proceeding with the eviction, Baggett said.
“We continue to request that you consider that alternative and are very concerned about taking control of a person and his property without due process,” he told legislators.
The bill advanced to the Rules Committee where it could generate support to then go before a full House vote.
