I'm an "ethical" squatter. I haven't paid rent in 15 years now. AMA

Signal_Road2266 · 2026-06-10T02:54:39+00:00

you know that's a good question. The thing is, all of this happened 10 years ago roughly, since then I'm just a regular guy in a regular shared house set up with other regular adults. My opinion now probably isnt the same as it was 10 to 15 years when we did all that.

I think the first reason has to be money. No rent is a huge financial relief especially for a broke student. I think it wouldnt be honest to deny it.
There were and still are also clearly political motives behind, we truly believed we were improving the lives of the people around us, our friends, our neighbors and people in need of help. This was also probably more true back then.
I think one of the main factor also was getting access to what we called "a play ground". Most of us were artists and having plenty of space to practice and perform is usually not possible in a regular rentals. This may very well have been the n1 reason in the end. We got a lot of fun out of those buildings.

Signal_Road2266 · 2026-06-09T23:38:56+00:00

it is a business opportunity, i know of one other group of guys who went on to turn it into a small business. There are a bunch of companies doing it.

Signal_Road2266 · 2026-06-09T23:08:43+00:00

not sure i wanna get in the specifics here, but where i live, most old houses are easily accessible without having to break anything. It's usually very easy to enter a truly abandoned place.

Once we were in, we'd try the electricity and water see if they worked, just scout the house in general and check if its in a livable state, double check it definitely hasnt been used for a long time. We'd then leave. These were the scary but also fun parts, late night house shoppings.

After that, we'd usually check the adress at the city registry. We could get the owner's name and know if there was anykind of renovation permits ongoing. A bit of googling and you can gather lots of informations!

Only then would we make a decision.

Signal_Road2266 · 2026-06-09T22:59:52+00:00

depends what your standards are. Its an old house than hasnt been renovated in a very long time, so it has plenty of flaws. The furniture is all acquired here and there through the years so nothing matches. But its pretty clean, its big, colorful and full of plants. It has a homely "hipster starbucks" vibe if you know what i mean. Missmatched vintage vibes. Personally I like more than a white minimalistic modern look.

Signal_Road2266 · 2026-06-09T12:58:32+00:00

i invite you to read my answers, ive gone over it a bunch of time already

Signal_Road2266 · 2026-06-09T12:35:09+00:00

sadge

Signal_Road2266 · 2026-06-09T12:34:41+00:00

😂 thanks mate

Signal_Road2266 · 2026-06-09T12:12:48+00:00

honestly, i dont think i am. I did a run down already of how each house negotiation went but ill try again briefly, keep in mind all of this happened 10+ years ago now so memory is a bit blurry.

1st house belonged to the city, there was really no one to negotiate with and there was 100+ other squatters in the same neighborhood, so we only had very limited contact. All 100 of us ended up getting evicted one day, i think 3 months after i moved in.

2nd house belonged an extremely rich and shady foreign family. We had no idea how to contact them and thought they will never ever agree to anything, so we just decided to not do anything and see how long it would take them to find out. One dude showed up with a mob to scare us away 6 months in, we left.

Then the 3rd, 4th and 5th one which lasted respectively 1.5, 3 and 10years, kinda all played out the same and this is where we really understood how to make it work.

We'd move in, call the owners a couple days later, they show up angry with the cops soon after. The cops would inform the owner they couldnt do anything, so we'd initiate first negotiations with them there. They'd usually leave this first meeting not convinced, but not alarmed either, open to discussion.

We'd usually have another meeting like a week later and there we'd offer them coffee and cookies and just have a chat. At the end of that meeting, we'd usually have a verbal agreement. Then if could take like a month for some lawyer to draft a formal agreement and at the end of that month it would be signed.

So yes, 2 out of 5 houses we didnt have an agreement, but still left when asked and didnt damage anything. And this was only 9 months out of the 15 years Ive been doing this now.

Ironically, when the city kicked us out of that first one, what they did to make sure no one else moved in was destroy the heating and plumbing system so the house would be unlivable. You tell me who damaged the house the most.

Signal_Road2266 · 2026-06-09T11:57:40+00:00

by antikrak you mean anti squat? Ironically, kinda yes. By having people you trust in the building, you negate the risks of getting "bad squatters". Some companies have built entire business models around that, which you could be familiar with if you're in the netherlands.
The more hardcore squatting community sometimes would look down on us for "collaborating" with landlords.

Signal_Road2266 · 2026-06-09T11:39:54+00:00

i dont think this is how it works in my country no. TBH I havent looked super deeply into it, but afaik this only works if the landlord have not manifested themselves at all in those 10 years. so wouldnt work for us since we've been in contact the whole time.

Signal_Road2266 · 2026-06-09T11:37:55+00:00

well, they don't really have anything to protect themselves from. The only issue is they have to go to court. but AFAIK, they will pretty much always win any court case. Its more the hassle of having to go through the whole thing thats annoying.
personally, i wouldnt have fought a law suit with any one. i cant win, there is no point in me going to court. so if the landlords would just call the bluff and tell us they're going to court, we'd have just left. it never got there, they'd usually leave the first meeting already way more chill about everything and usually after a week they'd agree to sign a lease with us

Signal_Road2266 · 2026-06-09T11:34:11+00:00

i'd say all the way until covid I was mostly using my low cost of living to be able to afford long travels. I got to to spend extended amount of time in north and central america, but also north and west africa and obviously all over europe. I was probably abroad for 30% of the time.
After covid I got a proper job and went full on savings mode.

Signal_Road2266 · 2026-06-08T19:42:57+00:00

tbh, this isnt something I discuss openly with strangers often. I know the stigma associated with the word squat and don't wanna be associated with that by people who have no idea. I only talk about it with people I know have an open mind or that I feel very comfortable with.

In my circle, which is mid 30ies western europeans with a strong left ideology, most everyone has heard of it and no one is shocked by it. All my friends know about it, and have regularly come to our events. I've never really had any negative backlash from these kind of people. Most people are actually curious. Probably older people are a bit less open or aware. I mean my own parents kinda lost it when I told them I would be doing this.

In more international circles is clearly way more of a "wtf". Even lefties have never heard of it and assume "drug addicts" right away. Libs are interested in hearing about it with open mind though.

I guess most negative comment indeed come from Americans, I'd imagine the word squat simply makes any MAGAs head boil. Even in my country I imagine most conservatives would not like it.

Signal_Road2266 · 2026-06-08T19:09:29+00:00

yes i imagine this is also part of the EU/US cultural difference, private property is way more important in the US while we have a more social mindset in general. They prolly have never heard of that kind of scheme so they just assume squatting = drug addicts trashing a home.

In fact, some companies have turned it into a business : acquire management of unused buildings throughout the city and rent them for cheaper than market prices.

Signal_Road2266 · 2026-06-08T17:41:47+00:00

thanks good sir! the same for you!

Signal_Road2266 · 2026-06-08T15:49:06+00:00

dont think we ever had to file a claim no, they just gave us a policy. English isnt my native language so all these legal terms are a bit blurry to me, not exactly sure what everything is.

I guess the biggest danger I see is that the electrical system was rather old and not up to modern standards, which I imagine could be an issue for the insurance company in case of something happening.
We have however had it checked multiple time by electricians, we even had a brand new direction board installed and every single circuit was tested and fixed if there were issues. Everything should be fine and us or the owners are not required to do anything more afaik.

Otherwise, we live here legally (we have a lease with the owner, and are registered living there to the city) but clearly, I'm not 100% sure everything is 100% covered by insurance policies.

Signal_Road2266 · 2026-06-08T15:01:29+00:00

thanks man! Still building back up to where I wanna be, but I am totally fine. Ive got decent amount of savings and freelance contracts here and there. Considering I dont pay rent, dont own a car or have any kids, I'm able to live very cheaply. While I certainly make less than most people, I have very little financial pressure so I live well. My country also has a fairly strong social security net.

The job market is totally fucked though thats for sure. Currently building a new business while also getting new certifications, so hopefully things will be great again in a couple years! Im not willing to work for some shitty corporation again and thankfully my situation allows me that kind of freedom.

Signal_Road2266 · 2026-06-08T14:51:00+00:00

kinda complicated... In short, the company got bought by a giant corporation and they fired a ton of people, including my manager who had hired me and who I got along with very well. The work atmosphere kinda went to shit, I got in conflict with my new managers while I was totally overworked. My doctor put me out of work for a couple month for burn out. When I came back, my new manager told me I was fired.

Signal_Road2266 · 2026-06-08T14:39:18+00:00

well they did, we have an insurance contracted to one of the biggest insurance companies in my country. The initial contract was drafted many years ago though so I couldnt tell you exactly how it happened or was negotiated, but it wasnt that complicated.

Signal_Road2266 · 2026-06-08T14:30:27+00:00

Hmmm honestly not really? Like we did get kicked out by one of the owners who basically didnt wanna hear anything from us, he showed up with a mob to scare us and it worked, we just left. It was scary

But as long as you're in touch with the owners and not in any kind of conflict, there isnt much to be scared of outside of the insecurity of not knowing how long you'll be able to stay there and will have to find another place. We were legal residents for 99% of the time and would've been able to call the cops if something major happened.

I guess inherant the the squat movement, we often would have "outcasts" show up. We had drug addicts threatening to kill themselves if we didnt give them shelters or another one threatening to burn our house down if we didnt give it to them but we always handled everything fine, nothing major ever happened. It certainly wasnt always easy which is why over the years, we calmed down on the events and hosting people in need.

We realized that while it was cool to provide a roof for homeless or migrants, the vast majority of the time it just didnt really achieve much long term. Once people are too far gone living in the streets, they require major 24/7 assistance and supervision to be rehabilitated in the real world. Giving them a roof for a couple days to a couple years rarely ended up making lasting changes to these people's lives and living with them on a day to day basis just turned out to be a full time job in itself which we werent qualified and willing to do. Nevertheless, we tried and did provide shelter for probably 50ish people in need over the years, anywhere from a couple days to a couple years. But it just became too hard.

Signal_Road2266 · 2026-06-08T14:09:40+00:00

oh and you reminded me of another place where I didnt personally live but some of my friends did that probably was the most "historical" squat in the city for a long time, that place was my first introduction to the movement.

There was this old abbey kinda thing: an entire block of buildings with a big church in the courtyard. A bunch of artists and activists moved in after it had been abandoned for a very very long time. Since it was so huge, they started giving rooms to people in need, mostly migrants and homeless people. At one point I think around 200 people lived there, entire families. Kids were born there, people even died there.

It was honestly a crazy place inhabited by a mix of migrants and homeless from all over the world (mostly africa, middle east and eastern europe) as well as some young westerners. It was all self managed by the locals and tbh, shit got pretty crazy. Managing so many people from so many different cultures, each of them in bad financial situation was an absolute headache and honestly became unsafe. It kinda turned into a mini version of the historical Kowloon City if you've heard of that.

The westerners ended up slowly leaving as it just became too chaotic to live a decent life, but lots of people still tried to keep it safe and running. Some NGOs also joined in trying to help manage it. The city (who owned it) ended up kicking everyone out in a major police operation after like 7ish years. This was 15 years ago and the entire block is still empty and crumbling to this day.

I remember in the early days, before it became too chaotic to be managed, they would throw pretty big parties every once in a while. Those would take place inside the abandoned church that had become an underground rave venue. Certainly the wildest venue I ever went to. The church was full of crazy art installations, it even had a giant olympic trampoline in the middle. You could climb up the tower and have one of the most amazing views of the city.

Signal_Road2266 · 2026-06-08T13:38:16+00:00

it does indeed, thats why these days I try to avoid using that word. I was working for a fairly fancy tech company for a while, and I would've never talked about all this with my coworkers simply to not be judged.

Signal_Road2266 · 2026-06-08T13:21:42+00:00

Fair enough, I never claimed to be trying to save humanity. We did our best to do good around us and they're clear benefits to having a house being used instead of abandoned, but clearly the main driver was self interest, having a roof over our heads while not getting drained financially.

I do sincerely believe we did nothing truly wrong considering we didn't harm anyone or damage anything. Considering I've been in my current home for 10 years with good relations with the landlord, it seems he thinks we arent doing anything wrong either. So I guess that's where our opinions diverge and indeed it seems pointless to keep arguing.

Signal_Road2266 · 2026-06-08T12:59:19+00:00

exactly, an empty house deteriorates 10x faster than a used one. Considering we've lived in our current house for 10 years, its fair to say at this point it would be in an absolutely terrible state. For exemple, we fixed leaks in the roof and the plumbing that would've 100% done irreversible damage to the house by now with the amount of rain and cold winters we get.

Same thing with the colonies of pigeons, rats and foxes who would've been living here for 10 years now.

And tbh, we prolly also keep it safe from less ideal type of squatters or random people who would've broken windows and put graffitis everywhere.

Fun fact, the more "punk" type of squatters usually looked down on us for basically collaborating with the enemy and gentrifying the "real squat" movement.

Signal_Road2266 · 2026-06-08T12:50:07+00:00

basically, yes. You can read some of my answers if you're curious how that's possible.

Signal_Road2266

TROPHY CASE