Homeowners who leave a property vacant while traveling, preparing it for sale, or helping a relative move should install security cameras before anyone moves in, according to Flash Shelton, the man known as the Squatter Hunter. Shelton, who stars in the A&E series «Squatters» and helps property owners reclaim homes from unauthorized occupants, said the single most important step is capturing evidence of when someone arrived and how they got inside.
Shelton's advice comes from personal experience. After his father died in 2019, he moved his mother into his home while preparing her vacant house for sale. Seven people then took over the property. Shelton called the sheriff and said he was told there was little law enforcement could do because the situation had become a civil issue. He refused to accept that answer and began researching how squatters operate and when occupancy claims become harder to untangle.
His solution was unconventional. Because his mother owned the house, she signed a legitimate lease giving Shelton the right to occupy the property. He wanted documentation showing he had permission to be there in case the squatters produced a fake lease of their own. He waited for the occupants to leave, entered with his key, and began installing cameras and a security system. When some of the occupants returned, Shelton told them he had possession of the property and gave them until the end of the day to remove their furniture. Cars and trucks soon arrived, and the house was cleared.
That experience became a full-time mission and a television series. But Shelton said the outcome could have been different if cameras had been in place earlier. The back door of his mother's home had been broken, but he lacked proof showing exactly when the entry happened and who did it. He believes footage would have changed the situation from the beginning, allowing him to show authorities that on a specific date and time, a specific person entered the property.
Modern home technology can provide that timeline. A connected camera can alert a homeowner when someone approaches a vacant house, record an entry, and give law enforcement evidence before competing stories about who belongs there begin. Shelton said that after someone gets inside, experienced squatters may produce a lease and claim they were given permission to live there. That can create reasonable doubt and complicate removal efforts.
The problem extends beyond individual cases. Squatting does not appear as its own category in national crime databases, and cases can be handled differently depending on whether authorities view them as trespassing, fraud, or a landlord-tenant dispute. That makes it difficult to put one national number on the problem. As of July 2026, the National Apartment Association reported that 28 states had enacted laws addressing squatting, while another 25 states had introduced or considered legislation during 2026. Those measures include faster removal procedures and new penalties for some forms of unauthorized occupancy.
Documented cases show how disruptive squatting can become. A New York City Department of Investigation review found unauthorized occupants in 548 vacant NYCHA apartments. Joint DOI and NYPD operations reclaimed 60 of those apartments and resulted in 81 arrests involving unauthorized occupants accused of criminal activity connected with the properties.
Shelton said the lesson is simple for homeowners: prevention matters most when a property sits empty. Looking back at his mother's home, he said that if he had cameras on the house back then, he would not be the Squatter Hunter today. His advice is to put cameras on a vacant property before there is a problem, because evidence captured early can make the difference between a quick resolution and a lengthy dispute.