4 ms·

This is so wild to me. Coming from a place in New Zealand where property is incredibly valuable, nothing in my city is ever vacant for more than a few weeks. Th

This is so wild to me. Coming from a place in New Zealand where property is incredibly valuable, nothing in my city is ever vacant for more than a few weeks. The idea that land and buildings could remain empty is economically unthinkable.

satori99 3y ago
A man did this in Sydney fairly recently. He discovered a vacant house whose occupant had died, changed the locks and tidied the property before renting it out to other people. After 20 years he applied for the deed. Relatives of the deceased owner were tracked down, and tried to fight him in court, but he won. He got to keep 20 years of rent payments and a multi-million dollar property. https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/developer-wins-court-battle-to-become-owner-of-vacant-sydney-house-20181031-p50d4v.html https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/developer-wins-court-bat...
- Eisenstein 3y ago
  Seems fine to me. No one cared enough to do anything with it and people need living space, so he utilized it. After a while if you tend a property and no one complains it is yours -- squatter's rights.
  - vintermann 3y ago
    I would agree, except that he rented it out. He should get compensated for the part of cleaning the place up, but the people he rented to got scammed - he lied to them, took their money and let them carry the risk of getting thrown out if the real owner turned up.
everyone 3y ago
property is incredibly valuable in Dublin City centre. However there are many vacant lots and abandoned buildings. There has been an issue with "land barons" for decades. They own a lot of property in Dublin, and leave it vacant to create scarcity and drive up the price of property, and then they use the leverage of their now more valuable property to buy more. It was identified in the 70's that there were gaps in Irish property laws that could allow this to happen but nothing was eventually done about it.

satori99 3y ago

A man did this in Sydney fairly recently. He discovered a vacant house whose occupant had died, changed the locks and tidied the property before renting it out to other people. After 20 years he applied for the deed. Relatives of the deceased owner were tracked down, and tried to fight him in court, but he won. He got to keep 20 years of rent payments and a multi-million dollar property. https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/developer-wins-court-battle-to-become-owner-of-vacant-sydney-house-20181031-p50d4v.html https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/developer-wins-court-bat...

Eisenstein 3y ago
Seems fine to me. No one cared enough to do anything with it and people need living space, so he utilized it. After a while if you tend a property and no one complains it is yours -- squatter's rights.
- vintermann 3y ago
  I would agree, except that he rented it out. He should get compensated for the part of cleaning the place up, but the people he rented to got scammed - he lied to them, took their money and let them carry the risk of getting thrown out if the real owner turned up.

everyone 3y ago

property is incredibly valuable in Dublin City centre. However there are many vacant lots and abandoned buildings. There has been an issue with "land barons" for decades. They own a lot of property in Dublin, and leave it vacant to create scarcity and drive up the price of property, and then they use the leverage of their now more valuable property to buy more. It was identified in the 70's that there were gaps in Irish property laws that could allow this to happen but nothing was eventually done about it.