How to Hang Out in a House Until It's Yours

The cult of adverse possession is alive and well in New York City.

Adverse possession is the centuries-old legal principal that says, basically, if a squatter occupies a piece of land long enough, he owns it. This week, a Howard Beach man named Peter Zephyrin has been telling local news outlets that he's using adverse possession to take ownership of a boarded-up apartment complex in Queens — and that he's charging tenants $250 a week to take up residence there. Zephyrin says he has been arrested three times for trespassing on the property, according to the local Fox television affiliate.