By Mark Gray
7:00am PDT, Apr 2, 2024
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There's little doubt that squatting has become a hot button issue in America — particularly after a recent viral TikTok video showed a man giving followers advice on how to take over someone's home. The video came amid countless stories of homeowners struggling to evict squatters. In some cases, squatters have changed locks, made fraudulent lease agreements and even gotten utilities put in their names.
The squatting situation has prompted Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to take action: He recently signed the anti-squatting "Property Rights" bill — the first of its kind in the United States. Under the bill, which takes effect on July 1, an owner can remove unauthorized people from their property quicker and with the paid help of authorities.
Click through to see everything DeSantis has said about the bill since signing it…
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"Strong private property rights are essential to a free society. That's why we have ended the squatters scam in Florida," Ron DeSantis tweeted on March 28. He then took shots at other states in a followup, noting, "On so many issues, what New York does, what California does, we will do the opposite. The squatters scam is over in Florida."
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"We don't want the law to have the thumb on the scale in favor of people that are violating the law," Ron DeSantis said in a press conference while standing at a lectern with a sign reading "Ending the Squatters Scam."
"We want the law to have the thumb on the scale in favor of law abiding property owners, and that's what you're going to see here with this piece of legislation," he continued.
"You are not going to be able to commandeer somebody's private property and expect to get away with it. We are in the state of Florida ending the squatter scam once and for all," he later added.
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"When Americans were settling the Old West, you didn't know who owned [the land]. There weren't records, so people started a community there. Then someone came six or seven years later and claimed it was theirs. Well, that was different. It's an adverse possession. It was never intended that you could just go into some subdivision and break into a house and start living there and then all of a sudden have all these rights vested," Ron DeSantis told Fox News.
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"Other states are allowing squatters to take over homes, and those states even side with the squatters. Not in Florida. We are ending the squatters scam once and for all," Ron DeSantis tweeted on March 27.
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"This whole idea of squatting is a scam. The notion that you can just move into somebody's house, be there for 30 days and all of a sudden be able to assert rights against the homeowner is a total farce," Ron DeSantis said on Newsmax. "This is a central issue for a free society. If you don't have strong property rights, you are not going to end up having a free society. In Florida, we are very strong on your property rights. You purchased that home. That is your property. Someone can't just come in and commandeer it. "
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The anti-squatting law, Ron DeSantis said, "will give the homeowner the ability to quickly and legally remove a squatter from a property" and "will increase criminal penalties for squatting."
"We have not had the same type of issues here, as you've seen in California or New York. Nevertheless, our laws were really geared towards this not necessarily being a fad," he said.
