Squatter Laws in Florida: HB 621 Removal & Adverse Possession

Florida squatter laws let a property owner remove most unauthorized occupants through the local sheriff’s office, often within days and without filing a lawsuit, thanks to a 2024 law that gave deputies direct authority to clear residential and commercial properties. The same framework still protects anyone who might legally qualify as a tenant, and it keeps intact Florida’s long-standing (and demanding) rules for adverse possession.

Figure Out What You’re Actually Dealing With

The label matters because it picks the process. A trespasser enters without permission and makes no claim to live there; police can arrest on the spot under Florida’s trespass statutes.¹ A squatter moves in intending to stay, often setting up furniture, changing locks, or putting utilities in their own name, and historically police treated that as a civil matter. The 2024 law changed that for most residential and commercial situations.

The category that trips owners up is the person who may have become a tenant. Someone who has lived there for a while, receives mail at the address, and pays something that looks like rent can qualify as a tenant even without a written lease. If a court finds that’s the case, the expedited sheriff process is off the table and you have to use standard eviction under Chapter 83.²

The Fastest Way Out: Sheriff Removal Under HB 621

In March 2024, Governor DeSantis signed HB 621, creating Section 82.036 for residential dwellings and Section 82.037 for commercial properties. These sections let a property owner or their agent file a complaint with the sheriff and request immediate removal of an unauthorized occupant. The sheriff serves a notice to vacate immediately, and if the occupant refuses to leave, the sheriff can arrest them.³

The sheriff charges a service fee equivalent to serving a writ of possession. If you also want deputies present while you change locks and move the occupant’s belongings out, the sheriff can charge a reasonable hourly rate on top of that.⁴

HB 621 also made it a crime to present a fake lease, forged deed, or other fraudulent document to claim a right to occupy, and squatters who damage a residential property can be charged with criminal mischief.³

The Transient-Occupant Affidavit Path

A parallel route under Section 82.035 covers transient occupants of residential property. You submit a sworn affidavit to any law enforcement officer laying out facts that show the stay has been brief, isn’t based on a lease, and was always meant to be temporary. Once the officer accepts the affidavit, they can direct the occupant to leave immediately.⁵

A transient occupant who refuses to leave commits trespass in a structure under Section 810.08, a second-degree misdemeanor. If someone else is in the dwelling at the time, the charge becomes a first-degree misdemeanor. If the occupant is armed, it’s a third-degree felony.⁶

Who Counts as a Transient Occupant

The more of the following factors apply, the stronger the case for using this path:

No ownership stake, financial interest, or lease giving them a right to be there.
No utility accounts in their name at the address.
No driver’s license, voter registration, or other government mail showing the property as their address within the last 12 months.
Little or no rent paid; contributions toward groceries or household supplies don’t count as establishing residency.
No room or area set aside as their own.
Few personal belongings on site.
A different place they actually live.

If the occupant has a driver’s license with your address, pays regular rent, and keeps a dedicated room full of their belongings, a court is likely to classify them as a tenant and send you to formal eviction under Chapter 83.

Handling the Belongings Left Behind

Removing the person doesn’t let you throw out their things. Under Section 82.035, the former occupant must be allowed to retrieve personal property at reasonable times and under reasonable conditions, with a baseline window of 10 days after the occupancy ends, as long as you or a trusted third party can be present.²

If the person has a history of violence, drug abuse, or intentionally damaged the property, you can impose stricter conditions, including requiring a law enforcement officer to be present or using a professional mover. If no one returns for the items within a reasonable time, you can treat them as abandoned.

When You Have to Go to Court Instead

The expedited sheriff process won’t work if the occupant produces something that looks like a valid lease, claims an ownership interest, or if the facts are genuinely in dispute. In those situations, the owner files an ejectment lawsuit under Chapter 66. Circuit courts have exclusive jurisdiction.⁷

Ejectment is different from eviction. Eviction ends a tenancy; ejectment decides who actually has the right to possess the property. You file a complaint, the occupant has to be formally served and given time to respond, and if the court rules in your favor, it issues a final judgment and a writ of possession directing the sheriff to remove the occupant.

This path is slower and costs more. Filing fees in circuit court generally run a few hundred dollars, a process server adds to the cost, and attorney fees pile up fast if the case is contested. One useful quirk: if the court later determines the person was actually a tenant, the judge can let you amend the case into a standard eviction rather than making you start over.²

What You Cannot Do, Even to a Squatter

Section 83.67 prohibits self-help removal regardless of whether the occupant has a lease. You cannot shut off utilities, change locks, remove doors or windows, or physically haul someone’s belongings out to force them to leave.⁸

The exposure is real. An owner who shuts off utilities faces liability for actual damages or three months’ rent, whichever is greater, plus the occupant’s attorney fees and court costs. Each separate violation triggers its own award, so cutting locks on Monday and power on Wednesday counts as two.⁸

This is where owners make their most expensive mistake. The sheriff process exists precisely so you don’t have to resort to self-help.

Your Exposure If the Removal Was Wrong

If the sheriff removes someone under the expedited process and the removal turns out to be unjustified, the person can sue the property owner for wrongful removal and seek injunctive relief and compensatory damages. The officer and their agency are shielded unless the officer acted in bad faith.⁵

Under HB 621’s provisions for Sections 82.036 and 82.037, the sheriff isn’t liable for loss or damage to the occupant’s property during removal, and the owner is similarly protected unless they wrongfully removed the belongings.³ That protection isn’t a blank check. A false statement in the sworn affidavit opens the door to both civil liability and perjury exposure. Get the facts right before you file.

Can a Squatter Actually Take Your Property?

Adverse possession is the mechanism, and in Florida it is hard to pull off. The route most owners worry about is adverse possession without color of title under Section 95.18, which requires the occupant to meet every one of these conditions:

Seven years of continuous possession, with no gaps; leaving and returning restarts the clock.
Payment of all outstanding property taxes within one year of entering.
Filing a Return of Real Property (Form DR-452) with the county property appraiser within 30 days of that first tax payment.
Payment of every subsequent tax bill for the full seven years.

⁹

Missing a single tax payment destroys the claim. And if the owner of record pays the taxes before April 1 of the year following the assessment, the owner’s payment takes priority over the claimant’s.

A separate route, adverse possession under color of title (Section 95.16), applies when the occupant entered under a written instrument that appears to transfer ownership, even one that turns out to be defective. It still requires seven years of continuous occupancy plus active use of the land, and for any claim starting after December 31, 1945, the instrument must be recorded with the clerk of the circuit court in the county where the property sits.¹⁰

How to Block an Adverse Possession Claim

The statute builds in a warning system for owners. When someone files a DR-452, the county property appraiser is required to mail a copy to the owner of record, along with a notice that the owner’s tax payment made before April 1 takes priority.⁹ The DR-452 form itself carries a prominent warning that filing it does not create any legal interest in the property.¹¹

The best defense is paying your property taxes on time every year, which keeps any claimant’s payment from counting. If you own vacant land or a secondary property, inspect it regularly. Adverse possession requires open and continuous use, so catching an unauthorized occupant and starting the removal process early keeps the seven-year clock from ever running out.

1
Florida Senate. Florida Code 810.09 – Trespass on Property Other Than Structure or Conveyance
2
The Florida Legislature. Florida Code 82.035 – Remedy for Unlawful Detention by a Transient Occupant of Residential Property
3
Florida Senate. House Bill 621 (2024)
4
The Florida Legislature. Florida Code Chapter 82 – Unlawful Detention of Property
5
Florida Senate. Florida Statutes 82.035 – Remedy for Unlawful Detention by a Transient Occupant of Residential Property
6
The Florida Legislature. Florida Code 810.08 – Trespass in Structure or Conveyance
7
Florida Senate. Florida Code 66 – Ejectment
8
The Florida Legislature. Florida Code 83.67 – Prohibited Practices
9
The Florida Legislature. Florida Code 95.18 – Real Property Actions; Adverse Possession Without Color of Title
10
The Florida Legislature. Florida Code 95.16 – Real Property Actions; Adverse Possession Under Color of Title
11
Florida Department of Revenue. Return of Real Property in Attempt to Establish Adverse Possession Without Color of Title (DR-452)