(UnitedVoice.com) – Florida has a terrible problem with homelessness. The crisis stems from property insurance and taxes rising, increasing rents, and more people moving to the state and depleting the housing inventory. In some cases, people have taken over properties that don’t belong to them. Now, the state hopes a new law will prevent that from happening any more.
Not in the Sunshine State
On March 27, Governor Ron DeSantis (R) signed HB 621 into law, destroying squatters’ rights in the state. The legislation makes it easier for homeowners to have people removed from their properties and increases penalties for bad actors.
The new law will take effect on July 1 and has three conditions that people must meet in order to remove a squatter from their properties quickly.
- The property owner must have already directed the person to leave.
- The person must not be a former or current tenant currently in a legal dispute with the property owner.
- The individual must have unlawfully entered and remained on the property.
If the property owner meets those conditions, they can ask law enforcement officers to immediately remove the person from the premises. The law also makes it a felony for people to advertise rent or the sale of property they don’t own. Further, those who squat and intentionally cause more than $1,000 in damage can be charged with a felony as well.
DeSantis said the state was “putting an end to the squatters scam” while other states, such as California and New York, “are siding with squatters.”
Recent Squatters Cases
Patti Peeples owns an investment property in Jacksonville, Florida. Last year, the 61-year-old said she was shocked when she learned her house was occupied by people she didn’t permit to live there. She claimed two squatters broke into the property that she was trying to sell, changed the locks, and damaged the home.
When Peeples confronted the squatters, they claimed they were the rightful tenants. She tried to get law enforcement involved, but they told her they couldn’t pursue criminal charges.
In another recent case, an immigrant who was supposed to be living in Miami made a series of TikTok videos telling other immigrants how to take over properties. The migrant is now on the run from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for not attending his immigration appointments.
Florida’s Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd told Fox News Digital that he was going to become squatters’ “worst enemy” and vowed to throw criminals into jail.
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