Gov. DeSantis Signs Anti-Squatting Laws

This doesn’t seem to have gotten any national attention at all but earlier this week Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida signed two laws aimed at curbing squatting. These particular bills are aimed at making it easier for owners of commercial properties to remove squatters.

On Monday, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed two bills — Senate Bill 322 and Senate Bill 606 — that significantly expand property owners’ rights and give law enforcement new tools to remove squatters from commercial properties such as hotels, restaurants, and retail establishments…

State lawmakers, backed by the hospitality industry, are seeking to reinforce property rights and minimize legal ambiguity. The move is being described as a victory for Florida’s business and tourism sectors. 

By tightening definitions of transient occupancy and streamlining the eviction process, officials aim to prevent hotels and restaurants from becoming entangled in long, costly legal disputes typically seen in residential landlord-tenant cases.

Another local news station mentioned an incident last summer at a hotel in Sarasota.

The Westin Sarasota provides a luxurious stay for guests, but in August, one woman outstayed her welcome. After causing scenes in the hotel pool and dining area, the manager called the Sarasota Police Department.

Body camera footage posted on YouTube by Florida Cop Cam showed the struggle to make her leave. 

“She had a lot of erratic behavior. Yesterday she was drinking at the rooftop and got really intoxicated. We asked her to leave. She kept coming back,” said the manager. 

The two laws DeSantis signed this week are a follow up to a residential squatter law he signed last Marchl:

The push builds on momentum from last year’s House Bill 621, which for the first time codified a clearer process for removing unauthorized occupants from residential properties in Florida. Before HB 621, police often declined to intervene in squatting cases, citing them as civil disputes. Landlords were forced into slow and expensive court battles to recover their homes.

Now, under the revised Florida Statute Chapter 83, property owners can engage law enforcement to assist in removing individuals who are illegally occupying homes, with fewer procedural hurdles. HB 621 was pitched as a model for restoring private property rights and is already influencing lawmakers in other states.

That law went into effect on June 1 of last year. One local station in Tampa Bay saw it work on the very first day.

On July 1, the day Florida’s new squatter law went into effect, we were with property investor Alex Jandick, homeowner Brenda Wilkinson, and St. Petersburg Police as they tried to contact a family that moved into Wilkinson’s vacant home.

“You had somebody renting this house?” The officer asked Wilkinson.

“No, we did not,” she responded.

The officer continued, “How did this person get into this house?”

“They broke in!” Jandick said.

Police were called to the home three times to remove the squatters and on the last visit two people were cited for trespassing. One of those people, a woman who’d been living in the house, talked to a local reporter and said she’d rented the house and then been removed by police. But when asked who she rented it from she couldn’t come up with a name or any paperwork to back up her claim.

This is how it should always work. Homeowners should not be sent into a months-long removal process involving courts and the need to hire attorneys. A recent story in nearby Atlanta, GA shows how dangerous squatting can be.

The homeowner took a handyman to his rental property to make a minor repair. But when they got there, they found a mess. “I didn’t know what happened, I didn’t know why he was there,” said the homeowner, who asked to remain anonymous. “On the floor, broken glass, we realized the window had been broken.”…

The homeowner tells FOX 5 he walked into a bathroom. “It was all bloody, blood everywhere,” the homeowner said.

Eventually, the homeowner found the intruder hiding in a closet and ordered him to leave.

The intruder put up a fight. “He was resisting as I pulled him out; then we started wrestling,” the homeowner said.

The homeowner says the guy tried to grab a backpack. “He said, ‘Let me call my mom.’ I said, ‘No, you’re not going to call your mom, ‘cause I don’t know who he was planning to call,” the homeowner said. “I didn’t know if he had a gun or not.”…

Police say they found a stolen 9-millimeter handgun in the backpack the homeowner says Forbes was trying to grab during the fight.

Florida is leading the way on this issue. Hopefully other states will follow their example and make it much easier for homeowners to remove squatters without a lengthy court battle. Here’s a local news report on the bills Gov. DeSantis signed this week.