SARASOTA, Fla. – Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed two anti-squatting bills during a news conference Monday morning in Sarasota.
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DeSantis signed SB 322 and SB 606, which aim to protect property owners against squatting.
Press play above to watch DeSantis’ remarks
Squatters are people who inhabit a piece of land or a building that they don’t have a legal right to occupy.
“Under current law, the remedies to remove unauthorized applicants or occupants of a commercial property can, unfortunately, be lengthy and time-consuming, which then incentivizes people to take advantage of the situation. And we’re not going to allow that to happen. We’re not going to create those perverse incentives,” DeSantis said.
SB 322: Property Rights
According to DeSantis, SB 322 provides commercial property owners with a streamlined process to regain possession of a property that is rightfully theirs in case they encounter an unauthorized person occupying their property.
The bill authorizes a property owner or their authorized agent to request the sheriff to immediately remove the person who is unlawfully occupying the property, if specific conditions are met.
Click here to read the legislation.
SB 606: Public Lodging and Public Food Service Establishments
SB 606 strengthens the rights of hotel and motel owners when dealing with guests who are “uncooperative or not paying their bills,” according to DeSantis.
“You’re staying at a hotel. You’re either paying or you’re not. It shouldn’t devolve into some major landlord-tenant dispute. You should be escorted off the property and leave,” DeSantis said.
The legislation also revises notification requirements for removing guests from public lodging and public food service establishments. It also requires bills and receipts to contain certain information.
Click here to read the legislation.
In 2018, News4JAX reported that three vacant office buildings in Arlington, including one that used to house the area’s FBI headquarters, were attracting squatters.
Moreover, almost two years ago, the I-TEAM exposed a loophole in the law that allowed two women to live rent-free in a home in the Hogan’s Creek neighborhood for weeks, while the property owner wasn’t allowed inside.
One of the women had claimed she was a victim of a rental scam, which was the same thing she had claimed at a nearby property where she had been recently evicted. They were allowed to stay in the house rent-free for weeks as the case moved through the civil court system.
MORE | Here’s how the News4JAX I-TEAM discovered a squatter loophole that resulted in a new Florida law
After the investigation, the Florida State Legislature unanimously passed a new state law that allows law enforcement to immediately get involved in removing people living in a home without the owner’s permission. Under this law, officers may be called to help remove squatters if they unlawfully entered and remained on the property after the owner asked them to leave.