‘Squatters rights’ hit roadblock in Florida thanks to new bill

all right so the issue of squatting now has been on the rise all across the country that's where people take over vacant homes they or they rent a a property and never leave can you imagine you own a property you can't get rid of somebody that's in your house often times it could take the property owners months or even years to get the squatters thrown out well now the State of Florida is taking action Governor Ronda santis just signed legislation that gives police the right to remove squatters

as soon as they are found and makes it a felony to do more than $1,000 worth of damage to a home while squatting take a look at this well today in the State of Florida uh we say very simply uh what what passes muster in New York and California is not passing muster here uh you are not going to be able to commandeer somebody's private property uh and expect to get away with it we are in the state of Florida ending the squatter scam once and for all and it is a scam I know somebody in New York 4 a

nd a half years a squatter stayed in somebody else's house now the governor Florida also recently signed a bill Banning any children in the state under the age of 14 from having a social media account after years of research has now revealed the serious dangers that these online platforms are posing to our kids anyway joining us now Florida Governor Ronda Sanz Governor great to uh have you you know I doubt when you got into politics that you ever imagined a day where you'd be hearing story after

story after Story of you know people just commandeering other people's homes and then the courts protecting them I I know a case in New York it went on 4 and a half years before they were finally legally allowed to take back their home is this is this America this doesn't sound like the America I know what no Sean and I mean you know you think about things like you know this idea of squatting when when Americans were settling like the old west you'd go M you didn't know who owned it there weren

't records so if people started a community there then someone came six or seven years later and claimed it was theirs well that was different it's an adverse possession it was never intended that you could just go into some subdivision and break into a house and start living there and then all of a sudden have all these rights vested in New York uh there was a case and it was reported where the homeowner went when someone had taken over her house and the police did not evict the squatters the p

olice ended up arresting the homeowner what kind of a country is is that and so like on so many issues what New York does what California does Florida will do the opposite and so the squatter scam ends today with our legislation and and and it's important cuz Sean you know now being a Florida resident we've got people that will be here for seven months of the year and then they'll go to Michigan or New York or even Canada so what you come back after the summer and someone's in your house and the

n they just get to stay there for six months now in Florida you call up you fill out a form Sheriff comes and the sheriff kicks them out of your property yeah and by the way and I've owned property in Florida for over 20 years now I am a domiciled resident permanent resident of Florida have my Florida licensed Tove it if you want to see it and and every other legal thing that I had to do but it's even worse than that people can start out maybe they'll pay the first month's rent then they'll neve

r pay again and if you try to kick them out you're right the home that you were describing was a c that was over a million dollars that property and they arrested the homeowner and I'm I'm thinking to myself what country is this that they arrest the homeowner and the squatter gets to stay in that person's house you can't make that up well and it's like the private property rights that's the Bedrock of a free society and a constitutional republic and what I think the left is doing what some of th

ese activists are doing heck even the illegal aliens are going on social media and talking about squatting and urging other foreign Nationals to come to this country illegally and command deer property um you know if we don't have private property rights we will not have a free Society so it is the Bedrock Florida stands by that we're proud to do it and you know Sean it's like yet another reason uh why people are going to choose to flee from the New Yorks and the California and end up coming dow

n here to the Sunshine State let let me tell you you have baby boomers that have yet to retire uh people that have just gotten fed up with the crime the high taxes uh the way of life they're going to be leaving in droves for the next two decades I don't think this migration is ending anytime soon uh let me ask you about social media and kids and 14year olds and because there is a lot of danger there are predators out there that are targeting our children online um you're very successful with thi

s legislation I think it's been misconstrued by some in the media not a big shock to you but your reaction Yeah so basically look I'm a dad Sean I've got a first grader kindergarten a preschooler uh so my wife and I are thinking as they get older you know what is this landscape going to even look like and the reality is it's hard for parents to keep up with everything that's out there and so what our legislation says is for 14 and 15year olds social media companies cannot issue them their own so

cial media account unless the parent consents so then this way the parent can kind of know the dangers and then make that decision 13 and under social media companies cannot issue you uh in account and here's the thing under 13 is already prohibited under federal law it's just not enforced so you do have 8-year-olds and 10-year-olds uh who have these what we've said is we're not really regulating the use I mean if a 12-year-old has something it's not really about that it's about holding the soci

al media companies accountable if a parent wants to have a social media account and let their 11-year-old use it they are free to do it under there so I think it strikes the right balance to try to help parents navigate this really perilous landscape and you're right the Predators you used to have to worry about the Predator if you know the kids out in the neighborhood and someone would come by in like a van now the Predator can come right into your house the kid can be there your kid can be you

know just just safe as can be and then through that internet and through those social media apps so I think we struck a good balance here uh and here's the thing Sean we're not talking about the content we're talking about apps and social media networks that have addictive qualities so if they don't have the addictive qualities then the bill doesn't even apply in that situation you know I I know a group of parents that actually have all come to an agreement no cell phones for their kids until 8

th grade I actually thought it was a great decision and many of the parents what they have decided to do I haven't had a landline in years I don't know about you Governor but I don't even know what one looks like anymore and um they just decided if they do if they allow any phone use it's going to be a landline in their house that they can hear the conversation in uh thought pretty creative it's interesting Sean so last year we did a bill that I signed that said school districts could say no cel

l phones during class time there was a huge uproar about that people were saying that somehow this was you know too restrictive and yet what's happened this school year the kids are learning better everyone's happier because the attention is on what's happening in the classroom I'd also say just as a parent my wife and I have talked about this our kids are too young to have any phones we've decided that when they do get a phone probably not going to be a smartphone it's going to be one of those

old flip phones that we used to have where they can make a call if they need anything from us but we don't have to worry about all the hundreds of different apps and here's the thing Sean too apart from all the really significant harms with the Predators it's not healthy to have kids buried in their phones 8 hours a day thanks for being with us Governor Ronda santis hey Sean Hannity here hey click here to subscribe to Fox News YouTube page and catch our hottest interviews and most compelling ana

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