Ron DeSantis Fights Squatters' Rights in Florida With New Law

SANFORD, FLORIDA, UNITED STATES – 04/08/2024: Florida Governor Ron DeSantis listens to a speaker during a press conference in Sanford, Florida, where he signed legislation to increase penalties for those who expose law enforcement to fentanyl and raise awareness of the steps that can be taken to save the life of someone who has suffered an opioid overdose. (Photo by Paul Hennessy/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

(NewsNation) — Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis has approved a bill that would allow property owners or authorized agents in the Sunshine State to request sheriff's help in evicting squatters from their properties.

As other states seek to crack down on squatters, DeSantis continues to push to crack down on them. The move follows the state's squatter rights rollback bill, which he signed in March.

House Bill 621 went into effect Thursday. Sheriffs are authorized to arrest unauthorized occupants and criminal penalties apply to those who falsify documents regarding their eligibility to reside on the premises.

A clip of DeSantis' Thursday appearance on Fox News was released Friday. In it, the governor declared that “the squatter scam is over in Florida.”

“What New York is doing, what California is doing, Florida will do the opposite. So the squatter scam ends today with our law,” he said.

“Today in Florida, you fill out a form, and the sheriff comes and evicts them from your property.”

In April, Georgia passed a law prohibiting people from taking over property and then claiming rights to the premises.

In March, Illinois resident Darthula Young told NewsNation Now that her late mother's home had been squatted and repossessed, and the process of evicting them was not as simple as an eviction.