Last week, Gov. Rick Scott signed into law a bill protecting tenants living in foreclosed homes. The law was passed unanimously by both houses and takes effect immediately.
Renters living in foreclosed homes had previously been protected by a federal law that gave them 90 days or until the end of their lease to move out. But that law expired December 31. Without any comparable state law in place, Florida’s tenants were left with few legal remedies.
Alice Vickers, director of the Florida Alliance for Consumer Protection, which lobbied for the state law, says, “No tenant should ever be set out of their rental with 24 hours’ notice. I don’t care what the situation is.”
The new state statute now requires owners of foreclosed homes to give tenants 30 days’ notice before a sheriff can come and remove them.
Jeffrey Hearne is director of litigation at Legal Services of Greater Miami. He says the additional time gives tenants an opportunity to make alternate plans before being forced to leave their home.
“What they really need is time to gather their money, gather their resources, look for another apartment... It’s tough to find housing out there,” he says.
Hearne thinks foreclosures affect tenants across the board.
“You had people who were renting condos down on Brickell or apartment buildings in Liberty City that had been in foreclosure,” Hearne says. And people on both ends of the spectrum were impacted by — and benefited from — tenant protection laws.
With the Florida real estate market back on the upswing, however, Hearne expects the law to benefit mostly low-income tenants.