ORLANDO, Fla. — Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill that will allow property owners to request assistance from a sheriff to immediately remove unauthorized occupants from their homes on Wednesday afternoon.
House Bill 621 allows law enforcement to arrest “squatters” who are not permitted to be in homes if the owner files a complaint. The bill, sponsored by Representative Kevin Steele (R-Hudson), also provides criminal penalties if a person gives law enforcement false documentation regarding property rights.
“The squatter scam ends today,” DeSantis said at a news conference in Orlando where he signed the bill.
The law was a piece of bipartisan legislation that passed unanimously in the House and the Senate.
On Wednesday morning, DeSantis posted a video on social media site X and said squatting violates private property rights.
"It will give the homeowner the ability to quickly and legally remove a squatter from a property and which will increase criminal penalties for squatting," DeSantis said.
The new law makes it a misdemeanor to present a fraudulent lease and makes 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.
Anyone who is wrongfully removed from a home can sue to recover damages, attorney's fees, costs and three times the fair market rent.
Before this new law, squatters were considered tenants and the process to evict them would be lengthy.
Now, homeowners will be able to fill out a complaint and once the sheriff's deputies verify the squatters should not be there, they can be evicted.