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Squatters and vacant property in Florida: what the law says

Florida is the state everyone points to, and the law is as strong as advertised. What it does not do is tell the sheriff how to check that the person swearing the affidavit is the owner. Every answer below is quoted from the statute it came from.

Every answer on this page is quoted from the statute it came from and linked to the source, so you can read the law yourself. Last checked against the statutes on 2026-07-14.

What to do now — this part is ours, not the law

There is no 30-day rule. Nobody becomes a tenant by standing in your house long enough — not in thirty days, not in ninety. They are not a tenant on day one and they are not a tenant on day ninety. What time does change is how hard they are to remove, and how much of your money it takes. That is a reason to move today, not a deadline you have already missed.

If someone is in the property right now

  1. Do not go in, and do not change the locks. It is the first thing everyone wants to do and it is how the owner becomes the defendant. Read that question above before you touch anything.
  2. Call the police non-emergency line. Ask them to look at it as a criminal trespass rather than a landlord–tenant dispute. Those are different outcomes and the words matter.
  3. Have your proof of ownership in your hand when they arrive — the deed, a recent tax bill, your ID. The officer's whole decision turns on whether he believes you own it.
  4. Photograph everything, and write down every date. When you last saw it empty. When you found them. What was said. Who you called, and when.
  5. Call a lawyer the same day. Not next week. The clock on every route above has already started.
The full checklist — what to record and what to ask →

If it has not happened yet

Everything on this page gets easier the earlier you do it. Photograph the property empty, keep the utility bills, and write down who is allowed inside — before you lock up and walk away. None of that is expensive. All of it is worth more than it looks at 2am.

The checklist for leaving a property vacant →

Is a squatter a tenant — and what rights do they have?

No — but only because a tenant is defined as someone with a rental agreement, and a squatter has none. Florida never says it outright, and a forged lease attacks exactly that definition.

›Read the law

If a trespasser counts as a tenant, the owner is routed into housing court and every fast option closes.

Fla. Stat. § 83.43(17) — Definitions

“(17) 'Tenant' means any person entitled to occupy a dwelling unit under a rental agreement.”

The closest thing to an express statement is what Florida puts in the OWNER's mouth, not the legislature's: § 82.036(3) requires the affiant to swear that 'any lease that may be produced by an occupant is fraudulent.' That is a sworn assertion the state drafted for you — not a declaration of law. Note the direction of that: Florida requires you to swear the lease is fake before anyone has checked, and § 82.036(6) punishes you with treble rent if you are wrong.

Read it at the source →

Can I just change the locks?

Not on your own — and never in another state. Florida allows it only after a sheriff has served a removal notice under its own procedure, and only with him standing there. Doing it any other way, or anywhere else, is how the victim becomes the defendant.

›Read the law

Lawful in a handful of states, a crime in most. Getting this wrong turns the victim into the defendant.

Fla. Stat. § 82.036(5)

“After the sheriff serves the notice to immediately vacate, the property owner or authorized agent may request that the sheriff stand by to keep the peace while the property owner or agent of the owner changes the locks and removes the personal property of the unlawful occupants from the premises to or near the property line.”

THIS IS LAWFUL IN FLORIDA AND A CRIME IN MOST STATES. It is lawful only through the § 82.036 channel, after the sheriff's verification and notice. We found no authority permitting an owner to do it unilaterally. Never carry this answer across a state line — in Pennsylvania and most others, the same act makes the owner the defendant.

Read it at the source →

If police do act, what is the charge — and can they arrest for it?

Only if he catches them there. Florida lets an officer arrest for a crime he sees happening — but for this charge, he has to see it. There is a separate route: the sheriff removing them on your sworn complaint.

›Read the law — 3 provisions

A charge that only supports a citation does not remove anyone from a house. This is the link that killed the previous market.

1 · Fla. Stat. § 810.08(2)(a)–(b) — the grading

“(2)(a) Except as otherwise provided in this subsection, trespass in a structure or conveyance is a misdemeanor of the second degree… (b) If there is a human being in the structure or conveyance at the time the offender trespassed… the trespass in a structure or conveyance is a misdemeanor of the first degree.”

Note what that means for a vacant house: it is the LOWER grade. A misdemeanor either way, unless a weapon is involved.

Read it at the source →

2 · Fla. Stat. § 901.15(1) — Warrantless arrest

“A law enforcement officer may arrest a person without a warrant when: (1) The person has committed a felony or misdemeanor or violated a municipal or county ordinance in the presence of the officer.”

We read all sixteen subsections of § 901.15. The only trespass exception in the whole statute is for a secure area of an AIRPORT. Nothing in it reaches residential trespass. Note also that § 810.08 criminalizes 'remains in' — whether an occupant still inside is therefore committing the offense in the officer's presence is a question of case law we did not verify.

Read it at the source →

3 · Fla. Stat. § 82.036(4)

“If appropriate, the sheriff may arrest any person found in the dwelling for trespass, outstanding warrants, or any other legal cause.”

Read it at the source →

These are the provisions, in order. We have not drawn a conclusion from them — that is not ours to draw.

What decides whether police arrest or walk away?

Whether the person was “authorized, licensed, or invited.” Florida has stripped away one of the occupant's arguments — but the officer still has to judge whether the owner's consent existed at all.

DeedProof solves this

We verify you own the property and file your notarized statement — that no lease exists and nobody may enter — where police can check it. How it works →

›Read the law — 2 provisions

Every other question here is downstream of this one. The whole encounter, in one decision, made in a doorway in the dark.

1 · Fla. Stat. § 810.08(1) — Trespass in a structure

“Whoever, without being authorized, licensed, or invited, willfully enters or remains in any structure or conveyance… commits the offense of trespass in a structure or conveyance.”

Read it at the source →

2 · Fla. Stat. § 82.035(3)(a)

“In any prosecution of a violation of s. 810.08 related to this section, whether the defendant was properly classified as a transient occupant is not an element of the offense, the state is not required to prove that the defendant was in fact a transient occupant, and the defendant's status as a permanent resident is not an affirmative defense.”

It removes one argument, not the underlying question. The state must still prove the person was 'without being authorized, licensed, or invited' — and a genuine lease means they WERE. The lease is not a defense, it is a denial of an element, and the officer at the door still cannot test it.

Read it at the source →

These are the provisions, in order. We have not drawn a conclusion from them — that is not ours to draw.

What is the lawful way to get them out?

The sheriff, on your sworn complaint — no court, no hearing. This is the strongest removal law in the country, and it is why Florida is the state everyone points to.

›Read the law

The route sets the real cost. A summary track is weeks; a full civil suit is months.

Fla. Stat. § 82.036(4)

“Upon receipt of the complaint, the sheriff shall verify that the person submitting the complaint is the record owner of the real property or the authorized agent of the owner and appears otherwise entitled to relief under this section. If verified, the sheriff shall, without delay, serve a notice to immediately vacate on all the unlawful occupants and shall put the owner in possession of the real property.”

Read the first sentence again. The sheriff 'shall verify that the person submitting the complaint is the record owner' — and the statute gives him no method, no data source, and no standard of proof. The only ownership evidence the complaint requires is 'a copy of my valid government-issued identification', which proves who you are, not that you own the building. The complaint is not even notarized: it is a perjury declaration, not a sworn affidavit. Florida removed the court. It did not remove the verification problem.

Read it at the source →

How long does it take, and what does it cost?

Days, not months. The sheriff can put you back in possession without a court — and the speed is bought by putting the risk on you.

›Read the law

The two numbers every owner wants, and the one nobody warns them about: you do not get it back.

1 · Fla. Stat. § 82.036(6) — wrongful removal

“A person harmed by a wrongful removal under this section may be restored to possession of the real property and may recover actual costs and damages incurred, statutory damages equal to triple the fair market rent of the dwelling, court costs, and reasonable attorney fees.”

This is the price of the speed, and it is the reason the affidavit's accuracy is not a formality. You swear the occupant has no lease; if you are wrong, you pay three times the rent plus their lawyer. The statute is fast precisely because it puts the risk on you.

Read it at the source →

These are the provisions, in order. We have not drawn a conclusion from them — that is not ours to draw.

Can a sheriff remove them on the owner's affidavit alone, with no court?

Yes, and it is the strongest in the country. The catch: the statute orders the sheriff to verify you are the record owner and gives him nothing to verify it with.

›Read the law

Where a state has passed this, it hands the owner the whole mechanism for free. This field tracks the existential risk.

Fla. Stat. § 82.036 (HB 621, 2024)

“Upon receipt of the complaint, the sheriff shall verify that the person submitting the complaint is the record owner of the real property or the authorized agent of the owner… If verified, the sheriff shall, without delay, serve a notice to immediately vacate on all the unlawful occupants and shall put the owner in possession of the real property.”

The section is § 82.036 — NOT § 82.035, which is the older 2015 transient-occupant remedy and a different mechanism. And note what the affidavit actually asks for: 'a copy of my valid government-issued identification', which proves who you are and says nothing about who owns the building. For property held in an LLC, an agent need only attach 'documents evidencing my authority to act on the property owner's behalf' — with no test of whether the entity holds the deed.

Read it at the source →

How long before they can claim they own it?

7 years — and they must pay every tax bill to get there. Florida also makes it a crime to occupy a home under a bare adverse-possession claim, or to rent one out.

›Read the law — 2 provisions

The thing an owner of an empty building actually fears. Pure state statute.

1 · Fla. Stat. § 95.18(1) — Without color of title

“…the property actually possessed is held adversely if the person claiming adverse possession: (a) Paid… all outstanding taxes and matured installments of special improvement liens levied against the property… within 1 year after entering into possession; (b) Made a return… of the property by proper legal description to the property appraiser of the county where it is located within 30 days after complying with paragraph (a)…”

Read it at the source →

2 · Fla. Stat. § 95.18(9)–(10)

“(9) A person who occupies or attempts to occupy a residential structure solely by claim of adverse possession under this section prior to making a return as required under subsection (3), commits trespass under s. 810.08. (10) A person who occupies or attempts to occupy a residential structure solely by claim of adverse possession under this section and offers the property for lease to another commits theft under s. 812.014.”

Subsection (10) is aimed squarely at the squatter-as-landlord scam. And the filing is not silent: the property appraiser must mail a copy of the return to the record owner, so a Florida adverse-possession claim announces itself.

Read it at the source →

These are the provisions, in order. We have not drawn a conclusion from them — that is not ours to draw.

This page is the law. What it costs you in Florida — the filing fee, the sheriff’s bill, the months, and whether you ever see the money again.

Your deed proves you own it. It does not prove you never rented it.

That is the officer’s real question, and the lease in their hand does not contradict your deed. You can swear it is a forgery — but a statement you write the morning after, against a lease dated last year, is worth very little. The version that counts has to already exist.

How DeedProof verifies owners and files the affidavit in advance →

› Every source on this page (6)

Fla. Stat. § 83.43(17) — DefinitionsFla. Stat. § 82.036 (HB 621, 2024)Fla. Stat. § 810.08(1) — Trespass in a structureFla. Stat. § 901.15(1) — Warrantless arrestFla. Stat. § 82.035(3)(a)Fla. Stat. § 95.18(9)–(10)

DeedProof is not a law firm and this page is not legal advice. We cite primary sources; we do not interpret them for your situation. Laws change — confirm current requirements with the relevant government office or a licensed attorney.