Although it is not part of budget talks, several high profile so-called squatter cases have landlords on high alert. Lawmakers are trying to pass additional legislation to keep squatters from dwelling in homes unlawfully.

“Owning a home, that's the American dream. But some people have turned it into the American nightmare, and we have to stop it,” state Sen. John Liu, a Queens Democrat, said in Flushing on Wednesday.

Making a move to crack down on people who live in someone else’s home or apartment without the owner’s permission, Democrats from Queens rallied around a new bill introduced that would codify the definition of a squatter in New York.

“There’s a growing trend of violators who are occupying spaces illegally, pretending to be legal tenants, when they’re not,” state Assembly bill sponsor Queens Democrat Ron Kim said.

“Every day I have people patrolling my neighborhood, looking at abandoned houses, looking at where seniors live, and moving in and forcing them into horrible situations,” added State Sen. Leroy Comrie (D-Queens).

State law says that if a person is living on a property they don’t own for 30 days or longer, then certain legal protections kick in. Landlords cannot evict lawful occupants without initiating a special court proceeding, for reasons like not paying rent.

“Even after 30 days, a squatter has no rights,” Liu, who carries the bill in the state Senate, said.

Ellen Davidson, a housing attorney at the Legal Aid Society, says squatters can be evicted if a special proceeding is initiated.

“There is a procedure to evict a squatter, that you can find in [section] 713 of the real property and procedure law. But appellate case law makes clear that that is an option a landlord has, but they can just change the locks,” Davidson told NY1.

Recently, there have been shocking reports involving alleged squatters. Although Davidson has never represented anyone in a squatter case, she says it typically boils down to an ugly dispute between landlords and tenants in housing court or a fraud case, like deed theft.

“In our practice, it is incredibly rare to come across any case like that, and the problem is that the person doesn't have rights, and the reason we don't come across these cases is that a landlord doesn’t have to go to court to evict a squatter,” she added.

The numbers are also unclear. The state Office of Court Administration told NY1 that it does not track squatter cases.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, housing court has been backed up.

“We have years and years of the housing court being under-resourced, and that’s a problem,” Davidson said.

Queens landlord Dr. Young Seh Bae told NY1 on Wednesday that trying to evict a squatter cost her family over $100,000 and six months in court.

“It was very traumatic and it’s a nightmare obviously. I still have a nightmare the day that we found the squatter,” she said.

Meanwhile, Gov. Kathy Hochul and the state legislature face a late state budget and are still hashing out details that would strengthen the rights of tenants to stay in rental properties.

“We want to make sure that we have new housing, and we have a new ability to build housing, while we have common sense laws to protect tenants on the books,” Kim said.

There’s other anti-squatter bills the legislature has introduced, but none of them are anticipated to be included in the final budget package.