If someone is living in your Florida home without permission, the fastest legal route is the sheriff-based removal process under Florida Statutes § 82.036, which took effect on July 1, 2024. You file a sworn complaint with the sheriff of the county where the property sits, and deputies can order the occupant out and arrest them if they refuse. This is how to remove a squatter in Florida when the property is a residence, the occupant was never your tenant, and no lawsuit is already pending between you. Other situations, like a former tenant or a squatter on vacant land, follow different rules covered further down.1Florida Legislature. Florida Code 82.036 – Limited Alternative Remedy to Remove Unauthorized Persons From Residential Real Property
When You Can Use the Sheriff Removal Process
The expedited process is narrow on purpose. All of the following must be true before the sheriff will act on your complaint:
- The property includes a residential dwelling. Vacant land and commercial buildings are excluded.
- The occupant is not a current or former tenant under any written or oral rental agreement you authorized.
- The occupant is not an immediate family member.
- There is no pending lawsuit between you and the occupant over the property.
- You have already directed the occupant to leave.
- The property was not open to the public when the occupant entered.
If any one of these fails, § 82.036 is off the table and you have to go through a standard court eviction or a trespass report instead.1Florida Legislature. Florida Code 82.036 – Limited Alternative Remedy to Remove Unauthorized Persons From Residential Real Property
How to File the Complaint With the Sheriff
The filing is a verified form called the “Complaint to Remove Persons Unlawfully Occupying Residential Real Property.” You or an authorized agent submits it to the sheriff of the county where the property is located. The form walks you through a series of sworn statements, each initialed, confirming that you own the property, that it’s residential, and that the occupant has no right to be there. Every statement is made under penalty of perjury.1Florida Legislature. Florida Code 82.036 – Limited Alternative Remedy to Remove Unauthorized Persons From Residential Real Property
Take the sworn part seriously. If you misrepresent the occupant’s status or your ownership, you face criminal perjury charges and civil liability. The statute lets a person who was wrongfully removed be restored to possession and recover actual costs and damages. This process is not a shortcut around a real landlord-tenant dispute.
What Happens After You File
Once the sheriff accepts the complaint, deputies serve a notice directing the occupant to vacate immediately. If the occupant refuses, the sheriff can arrest them for trespass, outstanding warrants, or any other applicable charge.2Florida Senate. Florida Code 82.036 – Limited Alternative Remedy to Remove Unauthorized Persons From Residential Real Property
After the occupant is out, you can ask the sheriff to stay on-site while you change the locks and move the occupant’s belongings to or near the property line. The sheriff can charge a reasonable hourly rate for that standby service, separate from the initial filing fee.3Florida Legislature. Florida Code 30.231 – Sheriffs Fees for Service of Summons, Subpoenas, and Executions The whole sequence, from filing to physical removal, moves in days, not the weeks a court eviction typically takes.
When the Sheriff Process Doesn’t Apply
Three common situations fall outside § 82.036, and using the wrong tool costs time.
Former tenants. If the person once rented from you under any written or oral agreement you authorized, they aren’t a squatter for purposes of this statute. You need a standard eviction under Florida’s landlord-tenant rules, even if they stopped paying long ago.
Family members. An immediate family member is excluded regardless of whether they ever paid rent or had permission. A court process is required.
Commercial property and vacant land. Section 82.036 covers residential dwellings only. For a business property or an empty lot, your options are a civil eviction action or reporting the occupancy as criminal trespass under § 810.08 or § 810.09.
Criminal Trespass Charges Squatters Can Face
Removal is a civil matter, but the underlying occupation is often a crime you can report.
Under Florida Statutes § 810.08, entering or remaining in a structure or vehicle without authorization is criminal trespass. The baseline offense is a second-degree misdemeanor, punishable by up to 60 days in jail. If another person is present in the structure when the trespass occurs, it becomes a first-degree misdemeanor with up to a year in jail. If the trespasser is armed with a firearm or dangerous weapon, the charge is a third-degree felony carrying up to five years in prison.4Florida Legislature. Florida Code 810.08 – Trespass in Structure or Conveyance
For trespass on land rather than a building, § 810.09 applies. Trespass on posted, fenced, or cultivated property is a first-degree misdemeanor, and being armed raises it to a third-degree felony.5Florida Legislature. Florida Code 810.09 – Trespass on Property Other Than Structure or Conveyance
The 2024 Property Owner Recovery Act also created a separate criminal offense for squatters who present forged or fraudulent leases, deeds, or other documents claiming a right to the property. That tactic sometimes gets used to turn a quick police removal into a drawn-out landlord-tenant argument, and Florida now treats the fake paperwork itself as a crime.6Florida Senate. House Bill 621 – Property Rights
What Not to Do
Do not try to remove the occupant yourself. Do not shut off the water, power, or gas to force them out. Do not change the locks while they are still inside. Self-help evictions expose you to civil liability even when the occupant clearly has no right to be there. Use the sheriff process or the courts.
If the occupant appears to be armed or is actively damaging the property, call 911 rather than confronting them.
Could a Squatter Actually Claim Ownership?
Long-term squatters can theoretically claim title through adverse possession, but the requirements are strict and most attempts fail. Florida Statutes § 95.18 requires seven continuous years of actual, open, hostile, and exclusive possession under a claim of title.7Florida Legislature. Florida Code 95.18 – Real Property Actions; Adverse Possession Without Color of Title Any significant abandonment resets the clock.
Beyond occupation, the squatter has to pay all outstanding property taxes and special assessments within one year of entering the property, and continue paying every year for the remaining six. Within 30 days of the first payment, they must file a return with the county property appraiser on a uniform Department of Revenue form, describing the property, when they entered, and how they’re using it. The form itself carries a bold notice that filing creates no enforceable legal interest.7Florida Legislature. Florida Code 95.18 – Real Property Actions; Adverse Possession Without Color of Title
They also have to show physical possession, either by enclosing the property with a substantial fence or wall or by cultivating, maintaining, or improving it the way an owner would.7Florida Legislature. Florida Code 95.18 – Real Property Actions; Adverse Possession Without Color of Title
For an owner, the practical takeaway is to check your county property appraiser’s records periodically. If someone has filed an adverse possession return on your parcel or has started paying your property taxes, that is the moment to act, not seven years later.
Keeping Squatters Out in the First Place
Squatters target properties that look empty. Fixing that visual signal is cheaper than any removal process.
Secure every entry point. Deadbolts on exterior doors, intact windows, and closed utility openings remove the easy invitation. A doorbell camera with real-time alerts often catches an unauthorized visitor before they settle in.
Visit the property, or pay someone to check on it, at least monthly. Overgrown grass, uncollected mail, and consistently dark windows advertise absence. Lights on a timer and a mowed lawn go a long way.
And check the property appraiser’s records. Catching an adverse possession filing early is far easier than unwinding one after years of tax payments.