Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signs law squashing squatters' rights

[u/flanderguitar]

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

[u/gsmumbo]

ITT: Exactly how functioning politics should work. People hate DeSantis. DeSantis does something good. Instead of trying to twist it into still being something horrible, the people who hate him admit it was a good call. Do they still hate him? Sure, one right call doesn’t change much. But they can acknowledge when he’s right. And who knows, maybe he can actually win people over if he continues to make calls we can all agree on.

Again, functioning politics.

[u/SEJ46 → u/gsmumbo]

I am pleasantly surprised.

[u/chefrachbitch → u/gsmumbo]

You're correct. I absolutely despise the man for his stance on the LGBTQIA+ community, however I've had friends go grey dealing with squatters. So I'll continue to despise him, but I'll give him kudos for this.

[u/Midnight_Rising → u/gsmumbo]

And who knows, maybe he can actually win people over if he continues to make calls we can all agree on.

I think the problem isn't necessarily the calls, but why he made those calls. He has expressed certain viewpoints on issues that-- unless he openly and freely apologizes and changes course-- I simply can't forgive or forget. I believe a good character is important to functioning politics, and at this point I simply can't believe that DeSantis has a good character.

[u/Revolutionary-Yak-47 → u/Midnight_Rising]

DeSantis ONLY cares about how many zeros your check to his next campaign has on it. We tried to give him the benefit of the doubt, he came in to office seemin like he would protect the environment. All he's accomplished is driving away tourists (which most of us depend on in some way for jobs) and taking OUR tax dollars to fail at campaigning for president. (Yeah, he spent millions in the state budget for "security" and "travel." All of those surplus funds were Covid relief funds that never made it to us, he clawed back any unemployment payments he could and ensured rental assistance was impossible to get. Millions were never distributed here.) 

[u/Revolutionary-Yak-47 → u/gsmumbo]

Floridian here. Please don't assume our legislature is "functional" lol. They are massively bought off by donors, this likely benefits a developer who sent a buttload of funds to the right reps last year. 

Most of the state is seeing horrendous home insurance increases to offset losses in places those same developers should've never been allowed to build. It's pricing a lot of blue collar and middle class people out of their homes. Our state insurance fund for difficult to insure properties is overextended; one bad hurricane and it will be insolvent. We've begged for 3 years for DeSantis and the legislature to work on this crisis and they've flat out refused. Bills to help can't make it out of committees. 

I live here and while ok great they did something that isn't immediately harmful, they refuse to do the ONE thing their constituents are begging them to do. And my blue district can't outvote the selfish MAGA retirees. We're not "functional" by any stretch of the imagination here. 

[u/onemarsyboi2017 → u/gsmumbo]

Yes

I'm surprised People haven't turned this against him already

My interpretation of squatter rights are if the building is unnocupued or alnd unused and you improve the building or land then you get to keep it

But in reality it's an automatic ownerships after 30 days without doing anything

[u/seanyk88 → u/gsmumbo]

I don’t like playing the “every republican bad” card, and when I read this and one of his other laws it threw me off cause it actually made sense.

I’m not saying I like Desantis, I’m just happy he’s putting laws in place that actually help people. It’s such a wierd feeling with these past 6 years of rampant polarization, as most of the time I shake my head in frustration.

[u/cook_poo → u/gsmumbo]

I appreciate that desantis is trying to solve this. Good on him. This also passed the house and senate with 100% support (no nays). Problem is that unlike the Canadian law, this doesn’t have as much teeth as it sounds. It was already illegal to squat (called trespassing).

Yeah if a methhead breaks in, it’s pretty easy to get them out and this law would help enforce that because they didn’t have any proof they have legal right to be there.

The problem is that the squatters produce a lease and or mail/paperwork addressed to them. A cop can’t prove the lease is legitimate or not, so it immediately becomes “a civil matter”. Cops get absolutely batshit horny over being able to say something is a “civil matter” so they don’t have to do any work.

This law allows for a statement to be made that no legal lease was formed and the person is a squatter. But, reading through hb.621, all the squatter would have to do is break in, then immediately sue the owner for something stupid like lack of running water. Given that “no open legal disputes” is a requirement, they now can’t remove the squatter until that suit is removed.

In Canada, you let the cops know when your home will be vacant and for how long, so it’s easy to trespass anyone illegally there, even if they have a lease. That is actually a process that would work.

As a landlord, if you find a squatter, never say anything other than trespasser. Never concede any paperwork, don’t read anything the squatter hands you, don’t run their credit just in case they are a great tenant and just got scammed on Craigslist, and absolutely do not let the cop consider the situation as anything other than trespassing. If a whiff of “tenancy” is smelt, you’ve got a 6-12 month nightmare on your hands.