BREAKING NEWS: DeSantis Signs Into Law Hardline Property Rights Bill To Crack Down On Squatters

good

afternoon good afternoon it's great to

be back here in Central Florida I want

to thank the state attorney Andrew Bane

for hosting us today I also want to

welcome Sheriff uh Dennis Lima from

nearby simol County uh we also have

representative steel Placencia amisty um

I saw trun now I saw David Smith so I've

seen other folks too um then we're going

to hear from some other folks Justin mil

Carrick Winter Park resident and Flash

Shelton from California is's going to

talk a little bit about why we're here

so we're we're here today because you

know you assume in America uh if you uh

purchase a home and own a residence that

that's your residence that if you happen

to maybe split time in Orlando in

Michigan that if you go to Michigan over

the summer people aren't going to be

able to just move into your house and

then claim squatters rights on your

private residents and yet in places like

New York and California that's exactly

what's happening in this country homes

are being invaded uh and those states

and their laws are not siding with the

homeowners they're siding with the

squatters uh in fact we uh have seen

squatters move in and claim residents uh

this forces a massive long drawn out

judicial review before they can even be

removed from the property these are

people that never had a right to be in

the property to begin with uh earlier

this month in New York a woman returned

to a property she inherited to find

squatters living there she changed the

locks to get them out and the state of

New York arrested her instead of the

squatters uh just a few days ago two

squatters in New York City allegedly

murdered the property owner when she

confronted them for being in her

apartment IL legally in fact we even

have illegal aliens taking to social

media instructing other foreigners how

to come into this country and commandeer

property they have gotten involved in

this well today in the State of Florida

uh we say very simply uh what what

passes muster in New York and California

is not passing muster here uh you are

not going to be able to commandeer

somebody's private property uh and

expect to get away with it we are in the

state of Florida ending the squatter

scam once and for all

and momentarily I'll be signing hb6 uh

621 which will give the homeowner the

ability to quickly and legally remove a

squatter from a property and which will

increase criminal penalties for

squatting now we have not had had uh the

same type of issues here as you've seen

in California or New York nevertheless

uh our laws were really geared towards

this not necessarily being a fad you

know this idea of squatting you know

when you had the old west and people

would settle the West you'd show up

there'd be a place so people would

settle they'd create a community well to

have someone come seven eight years

later and say they own the property

after all this you understood why you

know that was done in that way uh that

was never intended to empower somebody

to just invade some residential

subdivision and occupy illegally occupy

somebody's private residence so what

we're doing today is is recognizing that

but I think more importantly providing

very Swift remedies because what the

squatters know is even when they're in

the wrong it's a massive process many

times before they can be evicted uh and

a lot of times the process is very

expensive and so we don't want the law

to have the thumb on the scale in favor

of people that are violating the law we

want the law to have the thumb on the

scale in in favor of law- abiding

property owners and that's what you're

going to see here with this piece of

legislation what you can do now if

you're the victim of squatting uh you

can simply fill out a form give it to

your local sheriff and the sheriff is

instructed to go and remove the people

who are are inhabiting your dwelling

illegally and that will happen very

quickly and I can guarantee you it's

just like you saw I think it was a

couple months ago there was a discussion

about some of these theft rings that

happen a lot of them with illegal aliens

and how people will steal in New York

sometimes they'll try to come to Florida

to spend the money but they don't steal

in Florida and the question was well why

don't you steal in Florida and they said

because you go to jail in Florida when

you do

that

so I think it's going to be similar here

yes you're going to have really strong

remedies so that it does happen to you

they're going to be ejected but the fact

that you have those remedies the fact

that a sheriff Lima can go in send

deputies and liberate your residents for

you very quickly people are not going to

want to even try this in the State of

Florida so I commend the legislature for

this action I think it's going to be

something that is going to be very very

meaningful uh for this state and look uh

you see these trends that happen in

these other parts of the country uh I

think good leadership is looking and

saying okay uh we're not going to repeat

what is going on in these failed

jurisdictions and so the legislature was

up to the task and then here today we're

signing this into law is going to show

that the State of Florida is up to the

task so I thank the legislature for what

they've done uh we believe in the rule

of law we believe in private property

rights we think it's good that people

people can aspire to own a home you know

we even are proud that we've got a lot

of seasonal residents here you know it's

great that people will uh maybe decide

to come to Florida for for half the year

and if they do do that and they go to uh

the northeast or the Midwest or even

Canada many people do that uh they can

their house will be uh left unattended

uh they're not going to have some Rogue

person move in and then try to assert

rights against the lawful property owner

so uh the squatter scam ends today uh

with my signature on this piece of

legislation and the State of Florida

will be better for it now we are going

to hear from some folks here today uh so

first we're going to hear from our great

state attorney uh for the ninth judicial

circuit Andrew

[Applause]

Bane good afternoon I'd like to thank

you all for coming for this very

important bipartisan and Bill signing i'

like to thank the governor for taking

the trip to Orlando and I'd like to

welcome here here to our

office while I was an Orange County

Judge I resided over the Civil Division

for almost a year and a half and almost

every day I presided over cases where

property owners were trying to remove

squatters from their

homes imagine that you leave for

vacation or take leave to take care of

care of a sick family member only to

return home and find someone has taken

up residence in your

home then go through a month long or

more Court Pro proceeding to remove that

squatter and then be left with the bill

to get your home back that home that you

work so hard to

purchase or you might live next door to

a vacant

home and someone moves into it and turns

it into a drug Den trap house or

brle then starts the lyy process of

contacting a homeowner and that Court

proceeding that you just heard me talk

about I long hoped that the legislature

would do something to speed up this

process and this because this process

was so outdated and

Draconian this is why I'm excited that

about this bipartisan bill that would

give so much needed relief to the

citizens of my circuit and to the State

of

Florida property ownership rights are

one of the most important rights that we

have in this

country today is a big step forward in

making sure that this Injustice no

longer

continues so I would love I love this

bipartisan legislation and the bill

signing that we're having today to end

this problem and Scourge that we have in

our community

[Applause]

well uh thank you so much Governor

another reason why people are leaving

their states and moving to the great

state of Florida um I I I I tell you

it's uh you have always uh stood as an

ambassador of Public Safety Law And

Justice and protecting the most

vulnerable of this state and this is

another example of that I want to thank

our legislative uh body uh both our

delegates here in central Florida and

abroad because this receive unanimous

support and it's been uh long too often

where we've seen homeowners that have

spent their entire life working and

earning uh some have inherited homes of

parents and to knock on the door and be

met with squatters you know squatters

actually is a very very kind term these

are criminals and con artists that need

to be held accountable to the fullest

extent of the

law this this is why the Florida

sheriff's Association police Chiefs

associations have gotten behind this

bill from the beginning you know we've

walked away from scenarios where

legitimate homeowners have argued with

people who are inside their home using

the most vulnerable of areas inside the

house can you imagine having people

squatting in a home that you own taking

showers and using the restroom in your

own house and then a process that gets

tied up in the Civil process that

sometimes can take six or seven weeks to

get these criminals out that is no more

with the governor's signature on this

document sheriffs from across the state

will be able to provide the adequate

resources and support for victims of of

of these crimes and homeowners to

preserve their property and I incredibly

grateful on behalf of all of our

legislators and the governor to make

this a possibility and give us Public

Safety professionals another tool to use

to protect our citizens of the great

state of Florida thank you so much

thank you guys for coming out to hear

the bill and and to uh have the governor

sign sign this amazing uh piece of

legislation that we put forward uh I

work I started working on this uh Bill

about a year and a half ago um I I heard

the first case of squatting on Fox News

and I thought to myself I didn't realize

this was such a big problem uh Patty

peoples was actually on on TV talking

about it it happened to her and in

Jacksonville and it was too late for me

to actually file a bill that session so

I decided you know what I'm going to do

that's going to be the first bill I file

next session and so I worked all summer

long with different individuals across

the state that had issues like Patty

peoples had in in our great state and so

I went ahead and drafted something a

piece of legislation that I thought

would work and it didn't initially we

got it passed but we had to make major

changes to make sure it was going to be

effectively accepted across the board so

I want to thank the governor for

actually having Common Sense approach

because he is one of the only leaders in

this in this country that actually has a

common sense approach on things and I

think that we need more people elected

into office that have a common sense

approach and so I want to thank him

personally for for uh taking this bill

up it's not it's not always that you get

a bill across the floor but it's it was

across the floor unanimously in the

Senate and in the house so I want to

thank everybody for doing that Patty uh

you know thank you for taking the time

to spend with me and talking about this

and I want to thank God for for putting

me in the position make this change so

thank you very

much all right Governor disantis thank

you so much for having me here today for

the house sign for the signing of Bill

621 so I'm gonna apologize in advance to

everybody for reading but I want to make

sure everybody hears me my name is

Justin Mel Carrick and I'm just one of

the neighbors that had to deal with

squatters invading our street squatters

turn the house across the street from us

into a drug and prostitution house we

live in a good and decent neighborhood

flanked by an Elementary and high school

we have at least a dozen kids on our

street who play outside every day in

addition to all the kids walking to and

from school the squatter has brought

reckless driving drugs weapons and

verbal threats to the lives of my

neighbors we came together to work with

police we put up flood lights cameras

called the police Whenever there was

suspicious activity the police would

arrest the drug buyers but never the

squatters the police hands were tied

this was a civil matter that had to go

through the courts we were told to leave

the squatters alone ignore them don't

engage as a law-abiding and taxpaying

citizen we were told to stay in our

homes while these criminals carried on

we were prisoners in our own homes

because of these squatters this Insanity

lasted for five months so five months

might not seem like a long time for

everyone

but when sa when the safety of your

family's lives are threatened you don't

sleep very much we went door too with

Flyers letting neighbors know about the

situation thankfully a neighbor knew

someone in the Court's office to

expedite the eviction process I truly

believe that this is the only reason we

were able to get the squatters out our

community has been shaken by this

experience we never thought something

like this would happen and I would not

wish this on

anyone House Bill 621 is definitely a

step in the right direction ction to

help law enforcement and neighborhoods

and I'm so thankful for that but I take

my responsibility as a parent seriously

and we have to teach our kids right from

wrong legal from illegal and how to

stand in truth I pray the nation takes

note of House Bill 621 and moves into

truth with it thank you governor danis

for letting me speak my truth today it

is truly been an honor thank

you

hi my name is H flash Shelton and I am

the squatter

Hunter first I'd like to thank Governor

DeSantis for making it possible for me

to be here and be a part of this

historic event today is a good day for

Florida homeowners this law bill is a

promising start to giving hardworking

homeowners the support they need and

deserve there are a lot of people saying

that homeowners shouldn't be able to own

additional properties to make an income

as a landlord that they are greedy one

woman even posts on social media with a

million followers that no one should

make money without physical labor but

the truth is landlords are needed

greatly to provide housing for the

majority that aren't in a position to

purchase a home including the many that

are saying this blaming landlords for

squatting homeowners and landlords are a

crucial part of our economy and I'm

proud to stand up and fight for

them my journey here today started with

me just being a good son protecting my

mom what every good son should do when

squatters take over their mom's

home in 2019 after my father passed away

and while we were attempting to sell the

home I was notified that there was a

Breakin I did what everyone would do I

called the

sheriff I told them that someone had

broken into my parents vacant home the

responding Deputy called me and verified

a broken back door then he said the

words that every homeowner fears to

hear you have you said it was a vacant

home it appears you have

squatters and there's nothing we can do

I know what it feels like to feel the

helpless hopeless feeling when dealing

with squatters and the law saying it's a

civil

matter fearing that long drawn out and

costly process I decided to lift my head

up stand up and fight I broke the law

down to its knees and figured out that

if they could take a house I could take

a

house I got my squatters out in less

than a day using the same system them

and their rights against them I started

squatter Hunters to start helping others

to shift the balance we are making an

impact Nationwide and I'm and I'm

Consulting a few other

countries this is a worldwide

problem my fight to change squatter laws

started one year ago and I will not stop

fighting until squatters laws until

squatter laws are changed from coast to

coast and homeowners are free free from

their squatters thank

you