Banning Adverse Possession Squatting In Detroit Would Make It Easier To Clean Up

Late last year, a squatter named Andre “Loki Boy” Barbosa occupied a multi-million dollar home in Boca Raton, Florida claiming that the laws of Boca Raton and the United States didn’t apply to him. He and friends began posting notices on the front of the house saying it was a sovereign property and they had rights under the United Nations for indigenous people.

This spin on the Sovereign Citizen claims that they answer to a higher calling than local, state or the federal government has become such nightmare for Homeowners Associations, Lenders and police in the posh city of Boca Raton that the neighbors of the house that Barbosa and his friends were squatting in decided to lobby the Florida Legislature to do something about it.

As the chorus of complaints about the various Sovereign Citizen groups and their ludicrous claims justifying their right to squat in homes grew through out Florida, the Florida Legislature passed HB 903 that Florida Governor Rick Scott signed on June 28 and went into effect July 1st.  The new law would allow local police to evict and ticket squatters from a home if they cannot legitimately document their right to reside in the property.  The new law also prevents acquiring title to real property simply by possession.  The occupant would have to pay all taxes for seven years, file a return of the land for taxes, protect the property with an enclosure or cultivate it, and maintain and occupy the land.  The legislature also put to strongly worded language into the law that would makes it a criminal act to occupy a home that has been claimed as adverse possession or to lease or rent it to another renter and makes it illegal to occupy property without being the owner or having the consent of the owner.

“If you are a Detroiter then you probably know about them. They are running property taxpayers out of Detroit in order to financially ruin the city and the police are aiding them and not helping property owners. Only true Detroiters know how to live with such problems because they are familiar with it.” -Heidi Peterson

You may remember this story from last year of Heidi Peterson, who came home from an overseas to find squatter, Missionary Tracey Elaine Blair living in her home.   Blair had stripped radiators, stained glass windows and anything else of value and sold them for cash.  Peterson unable to afford lengthy litigation to evict Blair was forced to live with Blair in the house for 90 days before all the unwanted media attention forced her out.

The squatter is gone but the damage she did to the house remains as Heidi and her 20 month old daughter struggle to pick up the pieces and clean up the mess of lead paint, holes in the walls and ceiling, jimmy-rigged plumbing and other home improvement projects that make it appear Tracey Blair thought she was Scotty the Engineer from Star Trek.

Heidi Peterson is not the only victim of Missionary Tracey Elaine Blair, a former Write-In Candidate for President of the United States, MFI-Miami has found other homes where Blair has filed bogus mechanic liens and other bogus documents in the historic neighborhood of Boston Edison, where people like Mitt Romney, Barry Gordy, Henry Ford and other prominent Detroiters once lived.

Florida styled law in Michigan would permanently stop the actions like thugs like Blair and her friends from committing what is essentially paper terrorism this could be a first step in helping clean up Detroit.