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2024-03-24 Home Front: Politix
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Florida lawmakers unanimously pass bill to combat squatting; giving property owners ‘positive hope'
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[News4Jax] This comes after a News4JAX I-TEAM investigation exposing how a loophole in the law allowed people to live rent-free in a home for weeks while the property’s owner, Patti Peeples, wasn’t allowed on the premises.
The bill would close that loophole, and it’s now headed to the governor’s desk.
“It gives me a real feeling of positive hope that we still have the ability to discuss challenges in our society and work with our legislatures in a bipartisan way,” Peeples said.
It’s been a year since Peeples found strangers had moved into her rental property.
They refused to leave, and it was Peeples who was banned from the premises as the case spent weeks moving through civil court. When she first discovered those unwelcome guests living there, they produced a lease, claiming they were victims of a rental scam, again. Court records revealed they made the same claim at a nearby house.
It took months for the owners to evict them, right around the time they moved into Peeples’ house.
After several weeks, the women were evicted, and the house was left with tens of thousands of dollars worth of damage.
“It’s just the wild west,” Peeples said. “They simply move from one place to another.”
Now, state lawmakers have passed a bill to put a stop to it.
The bill allows law enforcement to immediately remove squatters who do not have a lease authorized by the property owner. It also adds criminal penalties, including designating intentionally presenting a fraudulent lease as a misdemeanor and making it a felony to intentionally sell or lease someone else’s property or intentionally cause more than $1,000 in property damage while squatting or trespassing.
The women who made themselves at home at Peeples’ house were never criminally charged.
“I have never felt more unempowered or helpless in my life than on March 1, 2023,” Peeples said.
It was soon after that date when Peeples first shared her story with the I-TEAM. Later, she was invited to share it on national TV and then, in Tallahassee.
Peeples said she is not surprised her story has resonated so widely.
“I’ll tell you why. Because at the crux of this issue is just basic unfairness, you know, if we don’t have the right to inhabit our own property, then what kind of world are we living in?” Peeples said.
The bill allows a person wrongfully evicted to sue to be placed back inside, as well as recover attorneys’ fees and damages.
Critics, including from Florida Rising, which is a group advocating for historically marginalized communities, had previously expressed concerns that the bill could lead to abusive landlords removing lawful tenants.
However, in a statement to the I-TEAM today, a spokesperson said they are now neutral on the bill’s passage because they feel it was satisfactorily amended to protect legitimate tenants from wrongful eviction.
If signed by the governor, the bill will go into effect July 1. 
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Posted by Grom the Reflective 2024-03-24 02:03||
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Posted by Super Hose 2024-03-24 12:37||
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