The Katana Is The Symptom
In Reason Magazine’s August/September 2026 Issue there is an article called “Samurai vs Squatters” by Christian Britschgi. The article follows James Jacobs, founder of ASAP Squatter Removal as he works on and discusses a few jobs he was recently hired to complete. Jacobs is known for a “near-perfect success rate of removing squatters” as well as his unique weapon of choice: a katana. How did the need for a katana-wielding squatter removal expert arise?
California’s property laws are largely interpreted as “you can legally own what you can physically possess” which has led to a large increase in squatters confidently taking up residence in empty units. The stringent rules for how landlords can address these non-consensual tenants include no self-help options and little-to-no help from law enforcement as officers consider the matter civil and not criminal. The effect of these laws is typically that the properties are trashed or damaged as well as criminal drug activity and even illegal sex work being regularly present. Landlords are thus not able to collect rent, are not able to complete routine maintenance, and because of the generally unsafe nature of squatter activities in some cases landlords even lose their consensual tenants.
Proponents of California’s squatter laws defend them under the premise that the legal route of removing illegitimate tenants is safer and more humane than any more aggressive alternatives. The truth of the matter regarding the court system though is that it is often costly and slow, sometimes costing landlords tens of thousands of dollars and years worth of litigation before they can regain access to their properties. Because of all these circumstances, alternate removal services have started to appear on the market. Think of these services as part private security and part breach-and-clear operatives. While the cases these services are hired to close often plan to work within the law, they are unsurprisingly not without violent incidents.
At first glance one might applaud California’s laws for creating both a legal solution to a physical problem and an entirely new market for entrepreneurs. If we zoom out and look at what is not seen though we might see a number of legitimate tenants who would have been great matches for the landlord’s properties before they were trashed, perhaps even a young family envisioning their first home. We might also see landlords who actually want to make valuable repairs or enhancements to their properties, create new units to help the housing supply, or even donate some of their profits to charitable services that help the unhoused community. In an overly regulated market, we all lose - but in a free and open market where landlords are allowed to pursue lifetime utility, everyone stands to win.
California’s squatter laws and the gray markets surrounding them illustrate the importance of property rights and the government’s role in securing them. You can effectively see how a court system that is so bogged down with less important cases and unable to quickly address property rights disputes serves no one. The entrepreneur willing to fill a need and assume any risks associated with it can serve as an entertaining distraction, but do not let it sidetrack you from the fact that a government run eviction program caused the initial problem. California and other states attempting to follow suit must remember the words of Ayn Rand that “without property rights, no other rights are possible” and reform their property laws ASAP.
