Squatters In Florida
Recently we’ve all seen ‘nightmares’ encountered by home owners who return home only to find the house has been taken over by squatters,
On March 27 FL Gov. DeSantis signed legislation removing squatters’ rights from the Florida statute.
“You are not going to be able to commandeer somebody’s private property and expect to get away with it,” DeSantis said at the Orlando press conference. “We are in the state of Florida ending the squatter scam once and for all.”
“Homes are being invaded, and those states and their laws aren’t siding with the homeowners, they’re siding with the squatters,” DeSantis said.
This latest move continues the no nonsense, law and order stance of Floridians. For example, some states have growing problems like shoplifting without consequence, but those light-fingered crooks don’t try it in Florida.
Need I say the vast majority of Florida residents are supportive of strict adherence to law and order and putting criminals where they belong and where they won’t hurt others or steal or damage private property. Florida law enforcement personnel can take their oath to protect and serve quite seriously and literally because they know violators will be prosecuted.
Lawmakers unanimously passed HB 621, which removes the premise of “squatters’ rights” from Florida statute, gives police the right to immediately remove squatters, and makes it a felony for an invader to do $1,000 damage or more to the property.
Florida was the first state to take this action, removing squatters from the civil statutes and putting squatters into the criminal category.
Squatters’ rights go back a long way in English common law was adopted by the states here. Under that scenario, a person who does not have legal title to a piece of property—usually land (real property)—may acquire legal ownership based on continuous possession or occupation of the property – for various time periods dependent on the state- without the permission its legal owner.
Many pioneers used those rights to settle on and develop property into farmland. The US also granted those rights to settlers on public property.
Like so many things that are hangovers from the past, times have changed.
Examples of the nightmares encountered by property owners have been increasing in recent years as criminals became aware of the squatters’ laws in their states.
People taking over homes while the owners are on vacation or perhaps elsewhere for family or medical reasons have become all too common. And, under civil law, the homeowner is required to get a court order via a court process to remove the squatters – which not only can take weeks, too often months or even longer.
I can’t imagine it happening to Kathleen and me. With our home now in Florida, we don’t need to be concerned about this type of thing happening to us or our neighbors.
People and families who have experienced squatters must watch while trespassers run or deal drugs, weapons and prostitution. In one Florida case the squatters did $40,000 worth of damage before they could be legally removed.
Then we have the case of an illegal immigrant using Tik Tok to instruct other illegals on how to ‘squat’ in various states.
Every state has squatters’ rights laws. With the Florida exception now, it falls to the property owner to prove the squatter(s) are not paying tenets and are occupying the property without legitimate reason. The owner also has to show the squatter(s) are occupying the property in a “hostile manner.” The definition of that term varies from state to state.
It’s easy to ask why, seemingly all of a sudden, squatters and squatters’ rights laws are current issues, many requiring significant outlays of time and money by property owners to remove a person or persons who decided to occupy their property.
The best answer likely goes back to the COVID shutdown. During that period, a federal moratorium was placed on rental payments. That moratorium wasn’t lifted until August 2021. For months after that the federal government spent $50B on ‘emergency rental assistance.’ Renters got used to not paying rent. That’s when some renters became aware of antiquated squatters’ rights laws and began to employ them to their advantage and continue not paying rent for weeks, months or years.
So there you have it. Arizona and some other states have begun consideration of enacting legislation to make it a simpler process to remove “squatters.”
But don’t expect all states to follow Florida. Some progressive legislators in certain states think landlords and single homeowners represent privileged status people taking advantage of lower income and ‘homeless’ people.
Those are the ones that got on, and remain on, the wealth redistribution, socialist ideology.
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Have a great and prosperous week.
Hug somebody.
References:
https://floridianpress.com/2024/03/florida-signs-first-in-the-nation-anti-squatter-bill-into-law/
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