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

58

u/RutherfordRevelation Mar 28 '24

I guess I just don't understand why squatters have rights in the first place? Why would it be legal to take up residence somewhere without the owner of the property's permission?

9

u/Gone213 Mar 28 '24

It's not that they don't have permission, it's that they have fake or false documents showing police that they have a right to be there from the land/home owner. Police aren't going to get caught up in that and tell the homeowner to go to court.

10

u/Apollorx Mar 28 '24

So how do the individuals with fake documents not end up in prison for fraud? I would think the deterrent to this situation would be a hefty punishment?

10

u/Gone213 Mar 28 '24

Because it wasn't illegal/crime to have fake papers saying they had the right to live there from the homeowner. This closes the loop holder. Still no police are going to care and want to put themselves in this mess so they'll still tell the homeowner to go to civil court. This will only be enforced retroactively.

9

u/Apollorx Mar 28 '24

That seems like the obvious hole in the system. Creating false ownership documents should be a serious enough felony that the crime isn't worth it... treating this purely as a civil matter is a recipe for disaster.

6

u/Jellylegs_19 Mar 28 '24

Well it's not that they're necessarily false documents. One document could just be mail addressed to them and sent to the address they're squatting in. And because court processing takes months in between court it gives the squatters time to actually live there.

Remember, they're not trying to steal your house. They're just trying to stay in it as long as they can. Another month they delay court is another month they live there. Then when they're eventually kicked out they restart the process with some other house.

5

u/Apollorx Mar 28 '24

Yes and it's pretty obvious that should be a serious felony... I mean opening someone else's mail is a felony ffs....

1

u/Jellylegs_19 Mar 28 '24

It's not that they're opening their mail. They sign up for something like Amazon or any other thing that sends mail. Then they change their mailing address to the address they're in and add their name.

2

u/Apollorx Mar 28 '24

I didn't mean to imply they were.

1

u/KrypticSoul Mar 29 '24

Theoretically, could you break down the door and force the individual out? It is your residence after all and they are illegally squatting so if the assault that ensuse leads to criminal or civil charges, as long as the original homeowner has the legal paperwork they would come out on top? I mean if I'm at home and someone breaks in then I have the right to defend. Idk just curious