Know anything about squatting laws in Chicago?

Asked by EmpressPixie (14760

) February 19th, 2009

We found a reference to a squatting law in Chicago in an article, but it wasn’t an actual reference (ie, there was nothing noting the specific law). The article was from the ‘70s and the law had to do with squatters being able to stay as long if they were improving the property. We wanted to know what the actual law was and if it is still around, but my Google searches have been very poorly structured in terms of results (I can’t get any good ones). Anyone able to help?

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3 Answers

There were laws like this in NYC back in the late 70s and early 80s. I never saw the language of the law, but most of my friends knew about it, and quite a few lived in apartment building in Alphabet City that they were rehabbing. They believed that if they lived there long enough (10 years?) and improved the building, it would become theirs. I don’t know if this ever actually happened. Sometimes landlords would wait until all the improvements were made, pay back taxes and kick the squatters out.

wundayatta (58722

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@daloon: That’s actually where we found the reference—the article was talking about trying to get a law like that passed in NYC, similar to laws already on the books in Chicago.

EmpressPixie (14760

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They must then have been passed, because the people I knew took them quite seriously. This was during the last deep recession, and there was a lot of abandoned property. It was ugly!

wundayatta (58722

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