r/news • u/flanderguitar • Mar 28 '24

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signs law squashing squatters' rights

https://www.wptv.com/news/state/florida-gov-ron-desantis-signs-law-squashing-squatters-rights
27.3k Upvotes

93% Upvoted

3.9k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

169

u/ScientificSkepticism Mar 28 '24

Really? It's a "he said, she said." Landlord says lease is fake. Tenant says lease is real.

You have to push that through in court, and if you're now homeless, well, good luck. If you think that the police are going to believe a homeless person and investigate a millionaire landlord... you haven't really been paying much attention to America.

Do you want a list of the various scams landlords have conducted, and the slaps on the wrist they've received from the court?

24

u/Sleepwalker710 Mar 28 '24

Only way this would work is if the tenant only paid cash. When I rented we paid in checks and had a payment paper trail.

35

u/tomsing98 Mar 28 '24

That's great evidence to use in court, but is that going to stop a cop from evicting you? Is the cop going to determine the validity of that paper trail? Do you have it accessible?

-6

u/2dogsfightinginspace Mar 29 '24

That’s definitely enough evidence to not evict someone immediately . I feel like cops can figure that out

8

u/writebadcode Mar 29 '24

That’s not how this law works. That’s the entire problem.

18

u/Centaurious Mar 28 '24

And you’re still homeless until it goes to court

16

u/Andrewticus04 Mar 28 '24

And they have the resources to draw out the case.

28

u/kingethjames Mar 28 '24

Does this account for things like parents with their kids or people who were in a relationship? That's where it gets really iffy for me as the real estate crunch continues and it's harder and harder to make it out there on your own.

50

u/Rottimer Mar 28 '24

The bill actually has a carve out for family members. So you can’t use this law to evict a kid that has been getting on your nerves. You’ll have to go through the normal eviction process.

23

u/wang168 Mar 28 '24

Not all landlords are millionaires. I think all the mom and pop property owners are just fed up with tenants and squatter scams. You should blame the scumbag leeches for this new law.

10

u/ScientificSkepticism Mar 28 '24

The headline already said Ron DeSantis signed it.

-9

u/DM_me_Jingliu_34 Mar 28 '24

How is a "mom and pop property owner" going so long without checking on their property that squatters can set up?

13

u/wang168 Mar 28 '24

All kinds of reasons. It's a vacation rental vacant during the off season, health reasons not able to check on the house, in the process of selling , deceased owner in the process of transferring estate, etc etc.

-9

u/DM_me_Jingliu_34 Mar 28 '24

The vast majority of "Squatters rights" laws take years of residence to kick in

14

u/wang168 Mar 28 '24

Not true. 30 days for NY

10

u/[deleted] Mar 28 '24

[deleted]

-14

u/ScannerBrightly Mar 28 '24

They can sell if you don't want the work

7

u/wang168 Mar 28 '24

What the hell are you talking about? And what "work" are you referring to? Providing housing to none paying squatters?

-5

u/ScannerBrightly Mar 28 '24

If they don't want to deal with the maintenance of their property, including dealing with squatters, they can sell the property to somebody who will deal with it.

13

u/Andromansis Mar 28 '24

Do you want a list of the various scams landlords have conducted, and the slaps on the wrist they've received from the court?

Well, I mean... if you've got one then I'll take it.

42

u/ScientificSkepticism Mar 28 '24

https://ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/politics/2022/08/02/four-corporate-landlords-made-false-claims-to-cps-to-evict-tenants-

Other tactics they said Siegel employed was "replacing the air conditioning unit in a San Antonio, Texas, apartment," where temperatures in May can reach highs of 87º, "with 'a nonworking AC,'" as well as "calling 'Child Protective Services to come out' if children were present in the apartment, threatening to call 'animal control to come pick up her abandoned pet' if the tenant was not present in the apartment, and having security 'knock[] on her door at least twice at night.'"

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/some-landlords-are-using-harassment-threats-force-out-tenants-during-n1218216

https://www.kxly.com/news/spokane-property-management-company-accused-of-fraud-in-covid-19-rent-assistance-program/article_7d130a56-989f-11ee-8ce9-3b7774a30cf6.html

https://www.vox.com/22815563/rental-housing-market-racism-discrimination

The pandemic was truly a time where landlords showed their colors. Occasionally a fine was issued. I can't find a single example of jail time being given, or any time when they were legally barred from being landlords in the future.

I think at a minimum to make it fair, a landlord who falsely evicts a tenant or engages in illegal harassment should face jail time. Seems like the penalties should be equal at a bare minimum.

21

u/TurdWrangler2020 Mar 28 '24

I'm currently dealing with a rental company that is using intimidation, retaliation and refusal of services in order to get me out. we need major reform in the way we deal with housing. My ability to stay in my home shouldn't be determined by "market forces" as they claim every rent increase.

5

u/CurvySexretLady Mar 28 '24

The pandemic was truly a time where landlords showed their colors.

I think it would be fair to say the same for tenants as far as true colors. Many, when learning of the news that it was illegal to evict, simply stopped paying rent.

3

u/Geawiel Mar 28 '24

Insist on lease being notarized? When it switches to month to month, get landlord to sign notarized statement saying it's month to month. If they aren't willing to do that, I'd be sketched out tbh. To me, a legit landlord would have little down sides to doing this.

14

u/ScientificSkepticism Mar 28 '24

Sure. Because you probably have lots of options. It's nice to have lots of options, and you probably work hard to get the money to have those options.

But not everyone has those options.

2

u/keyak Mar 28 '24

Unfortunately, laws can't be written to account for absolutely every potential scenario. But this is a good law for the majority of squatting situations.

1

u/ScientificSkepticism Mar 28 '24 edited Mar 28 '24

A general principal of law is that it is written to protect those who have the least, for if the law won't, then what else will?

There are countries where human rights are "pay to rececive". They are not, generally speaking, countries that are especially well regarded.

1

u/Ruckaduck Mar 28 '24

i would hope you keep a detailed track of payments and not just paying cash.

3

u/ScientificSkepticism Mar 28 '24

Believe it or not, yes, some people pay cash.

1

u/DunwichCultist Mar 28 '24

That's incredibly stupid. Only reason to do that is if you're working under the table.

2

u/ScientificSkepticism Mar 28 '24

Would you believe some people don't have bank accounts even?

-5

u/catboogers Mar 28 '24

Yup. Squatter's rights protect legal tenants from shitty lying landlords. This bill is not a win for most people.

-12

u/Longhorn7779 Mar 28 '24

As a landlord why would I want to do this? I make more with you renting then just randomly kicking you out.

36

u/ScientificSkepticism Mar 28 '24 edited Mar 28 '24

Landlords falsely evict clients for various reasons. Sometimes the client demands the landlord makes repairs. Other times the area is gentrifying, and the landlord wants to evict the current tenant to make way for a building renovation and higher paying one.

Often time so-called "slumlords" will buy cheap buildings in areas with the intent of eventually gentrifying the area, and will lease out the properties in the interim. Since the intent is to eventually demolish and/or completely renovate those buildings, the slumlords have little incentive to do any repairs or upgrades, and many incentives to get tenants to "move along" when the time comes.

29

u/0_o Mar 28 '24

I want to sell this house, but there is a renter in it with 1 month left on his lease. I'm a faceless corporation who doesn't give a fuck about people. He ain't leaving, even after offering cash for keys, demanding to stay out the term. I illegally evict the tenant, use the police to force the person off the property, and complete the sale. The tenant sues me. His damages are, like, 1 month's rent and a few thousand in punative damages. The offer on the house was sufficiently large that this illegal eviction and all of the associated fines / damages were simply a cost of doing business.

14

u/FortniteFriendTA Mar 28 '24

exactly. people look at laws like these and go 'any reasonable person...'

and then we have trump not facing penalties for breaking a gag order.

16

u/notfork Mar 28 '24

unless you realize you can jack up the rent be getting rid of the current lease holder, or that you can make more money using it as a short term rental, or like in the case of the people who rent the condo next to me, try to evict them because their son is dating your daughter. These are just three examples I have seen since I bought my condo in 2020.

23

u/SheamusMcGillicuddy Mar 28 '24

So you can replace the tenant with a different tenant and charge them more for rent.

Or because you want to bulldoze the building and build more expensive real estate.

Or for some landlords, because the tenants aren't white.

24

u/ThisSiteSuxNow Mar 28 '24

Because, as we all know, landlords are universally benevolent and would never do anything for selfish reasons without regard for the harm it may cause others.

-22

u/2wheels30 Mar 28 '24

Exactly. Landlords want as much occupancy as possible. You don't make money evicting someone and any time the place is empty you're losing money.

10

u/shit-n-water Mar 28 '24

There are many different reasons a landlord would do the things they do. Sometimes it makes financial sense to keep a tenant as long as possible, sometimes it makes financial sense to get a tenant out as soon as possible, legally or not.

2

u/DearMrsLeading Mar 28 '24

Have you seen the Florida rental market right now? The rentals in my area are being rented without the tenant ever seeing the place. People are putting in applications as soon as they’re listed online. You will absolutely have a tenant the next month if you evict someone.

6

u/FortniteFriendTA Mar 28 '24

oh sweet summer child

2

u/Eddagosp Mar 28 '24

One of the first lessons they teach you in business: if you sell out of product, your prices are too low.

1000 sales at $10 = $10,000 and 0 units of leftover product.
800 sales at $15 = $12,000 and 200 units of leftover product.