Fact checking TikTok vid about squatters rights: people cannot seize empty houses in Ohio

It's another case of don't believe everything you see on social media.

Ohio law does not allow anyone — citizens and noncitizens alike — to "seize" an abandoned home and immediately invoke "squatter's rights," as a man recently claimed in a provocative video on TikTok.

A video in which Leonel Moreno, a Spanish-speaking social media creator living in the Columbus area, tells other migrants that U.S. law allows them to do this has been shared widely by conservative news outlets. U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance shared a version of the video with English subtitles on X, formerly known as Twitter, earlier this week.

Moreno also said in the video he knows people who have already done this.

Legal experts told The Dispatch Moreno is likely referring to adverse possession laws, which don't work like he claims — at least not in Ohio.

Felix Chang, a visiting professor at Ohio State Moritz College of Law, said adverse possession is extremely rare, and there are a lot of legal hurdles in most states, including Ohio.

In Ohio, an individual trying to take over a property would have to show exclusive possession of the property for 21 years to even have a chance in court, Chang said.

"So it is not a quick process," a spokesperson for Columbus City Attorney Zach Klein's office told The Dispatch.

The spokesperson also said adverse possession is not a defense in Ohio courts against criminal trespassing, and police are authorized to arrest trespassers.

The office pointed to a February court decision out of the Tenth District Court of Appeals in Franklin County that affirmed a squatter trying to fix up an empty building on the Near East Side for about a month could not claim adverse possession while on trial for a breaking and entering charge.

Additionally, the city attorney spokesperson said the Columbus city code authorizes police to arrest those who enter vacant and abandoned properties where city code enforcement officials have placed notices the structure is uninhabitable or hazardous.

Squatters claiming tenant rights have also been in the news lately after police in New York arrested a woman for changing the locks on her property to keep out alleged squatters living there. And Florida passed a law this week making it easier for property owners to remove squatters.

In Ohio, Chang said he doesn't know of a law that allows trespassers to claim tenant rights. But issues can arise with holdover tenants who the owner previously allowed to live there that decide not to leave a property when asked, Chang said. In those situations, the landlord may have to go through a formal eviction process (that's true under the new Florida law, too).

Klein's spokesperson said the city attorney's office has real concerns about "false claims circulating online about 'squatter's rights.'"

"False statements and misinterpretation of the law can place real people (in this instance, vulnerable individuals) at risk for criminal prosecution should they act on the information being pushed in these posts," the spokesperson said. "In fact, the Columbus Division of Police is charging individuals in these types of situations."

jlaird@dispatch.com

@LairdWrites

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Fact checking TikTok claim: squatters rights not a thing in Ohio