Governor DeSantis Obliterates Florida Squatters

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis obliterated squatter’s rights with a new law that allows residents rapidly evict unwanted freeloaders without dealing with a lengthy court battle.

At the bill signing on Wednesday, the Republican lawmaker blasted blue states New York and California for putting the rights of squatters ahead of homeowners.

“So we’re here today because you assume in America if you purchase a home and own a residence that that’s your residence, that if you happen to maybe split time in Orlando and 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 squatter’s rights on your private residence,” DeSantis remarked.

“And yet, in places like New York and California, that’s exactly what’s happening in this country,” he explained. “Homes are being invaded, and those states and their laws are not siding with the homeowners, they’re siding with the squatters.”

In New York, a woman inherited a $1 million property from her parents, but found that it had been taken over illegally by migrants.

The fake tenants had the gall to call the police on her for showing up at her own home, but were unable to provide any leasing documentation to prove they were residents.

The homeowner provided officers with the deed to the property, but when she changed the locks on the home, she was arrested for illegal eviction.

In California, a $5 million home in the luxury Beverly Hills neighborhood that houses Jennifer Lopez and LeBron James has been invaded by brazen squatters who have been throwing non-stop “wild parties” on the property for months.

During his speech, DeSantis referred to a woman in New York, who was beaten to death and stuffed into a duffel bag by the migrant squatters who had taken over her apartment.

“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 illegally,” he noted.

“In fact, we even have illegal aliens taking to social media, instructing other foreigners how to come into this country and commandeer property,” he said in reference to an illegal Venezuelan TikToker who went viral telling fellow migrants how to “invade” American homes.

“Well, today in the state of Florida, we say very simply what passes muster in New York and California is not passing muster here,” DeSantis warned.

“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 said that the new law would give homeowners “very swift remedies” to evict squatters, which is a long an arduous process in other states.

Thanks to the new legislation, property owners who are victimized by illegal tenants can “simply fill out a form” and turn it into local law enforcement, who will “very quickly” remove the squatters from the property.

“What the squatters know is even when they’re in the wrong, it’s a massive process many times before they can be evicted. And a lot of times, the process is very expensive,” the Florida lawmaker detailed.

“And so we don’t want the law to have the thumb on the scale in favor of people that are violating the law,” he concluded.

“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.”