Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz urged Queens homeowners to protect themselves against deed theft and squatting during a visit to a public safety meeting hosted by the Astoria Homeowners, Tenants & Business Civic Association on March 18.
Katz, along with representatives from the 114th Precinct, spoke to local residents about public safety issues impacting the Astoria community for the monthly meeting, which took place at Pistilli Grand Manor at 45-02 Ditmars Blvd.
During a lengthy address, Katz urged local homeowners to be vigilant against deed theft, a form of identity theft whereby a criminal illegally transfers ownership of a property to themselves or a third party — usually through forgery, fraud or deception.
Katz advised all homeowners to sign their properties up to ACRIS, which provides New York City property owners with a notice whenever a deed or mortgage is taken out against their property.
“You have to protect yourself against deed theft,” Katz told Astoria residents Wednesday night. “If you sign your properties up on ACRIS, you will get notified when anybody takes a mortgage on your property, when anybody’s trying to steal your property.
“If you inherited and someone’s pretending to be your grandchild, you will get a notification. I’m in it. Everyone I know that’s in my world is in it,” she continued.
Katz also advised residents to do “other things” to protect their property, even if they don’t live there. She advised visibly mowing the lawn or leaving the lights on occasionally to give the impression that someone is home.
“Make sure someone who is watching the property knows that it won’t be so easy to steal,” she said.
Katz also urged homeowners to protect themselves against squatters, referring to an individual who occupies a property without legal permission in the hope of obtaining tenant’s rights after 30 days. Katz said the issue puts cops in a “terrible position” but added that her office has been “going after” squatters on trespassing charges.
“You don’t get to walk into a piece of property that you don’t own and trespass and then say, ‘I have 10 Shake Shack receipts that span two months, so I have a right to stay.’ You don’t get to do that. So we have arrested squatters ,but more importantly, we’ve gotten the property back,” Katz said.
During a short Q&A segment, residents raised concerns about a proliferation of unlicensed scooters in the neighborhood, which residents said creates a serious safety hazard for pedestrians and other road users.
Katz noted that her office has been working with the NYPD to remove illegal and unlicensed scooters off the streets, noting that her office has removed more than 2,000 scooters in Queens County since the start of the initiative.
In particular, Katz said, police can seize illegal scooters when they are parked outside shops and other public spaces.
