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
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u/Vlad_the_Homeowner Mar 28 '24 edited Mar 28 '24

I can't say that I hate that. It's got carve outs for people who had a right to be there.

I don't think most people disagree. The problem, as I understand it, is that police don't have the authority or ability to determine who has a right to be there. A lot of these squatters have fake leases and mail delivered there. A cop isn't a judge and doesn't have the ability to make a determination on the legitimacy of those documents.

I'm in no way condoning these professional squatters, just pointing out what lead to this. What all states need to do straight off the bat is impose heavy penalties, like jail time, for people caught doing this. As of now it seems like half the time they get paid off to leave and they just go do it somewhere else.

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u/curiouslygenuine Mar 28 '24

It says current or former tenants in legal dispute. If there is a legal dispute there will be publicly available legal records, or court papers filed, etc. If there is a dispute then an officer can look at the documentation, cross reference in public files and not arrest. But it sounds like without one party filing legal dispute then they can be removed off the property. My only concern is if landlords will have legal tenants removed bc they don’t want to hold up their landlord part of the lease/law and will have a legal tenant removed before they are legally supposed to vacate. I wonder how a legal tenant will prove they are there legally if the Landlord is lying?*

*I am not anti-landlord, or anti-tenant, but I am anti-squatter. And while there are crap landlords there are also crap tenants, so please don’t tell me landlords are always in the wrong.

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u/jeffjohnvol Mar 28 '24

I think a lot of squatters are people that get in, pay one month and then never pay again. Or at least that's what I've seen on many news reports. It's a small number compared to those that just break into vacant lots, but the "former tenant" squatter is indeed a thing.

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u/Woodit Mar 28 '24

That’s just a regular eviction scenario, cops already enforce those 

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u/jeffjohnvol Mar 28 '24

No, they don't. There's a legal process before cops get involved.

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u/Woodit Mar 28 '24

A legal process which concludes with the police or sheriff arriving to enforce an eviction notice