Global Courant 2023-05-07 13:30:19
A Florida landlord is launching a website to help other property owners with squatters after spending thousands of dollars removing illegal residents from her own property.
“My goal is to enforce state and federal laws to treat squatters as criminals and expedite the review of fraudulent leases,” Patti Peeples, 61, told Fox News.
Earlier this year, Peeples and her business partner Dawn Tiura evicted two female squatters from their home after illegally moving in for more than a month and causing thousands of damages.
SCRATCHES TAKE OVER 34 DAY HOUSE IN FLORIDA
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The website, PushOutSquatters.org, will launch later this week and will intentionally use the abbreviation “POS.”
“So many who commented on news articles used that abbreviation, so I went for double entendres,” says Peeples, a retired entrepreneur with experience in marketing.
The website will be both informative and community-oriented, she said.
“The purpose of the website will be to showcase the risks of cracking, the increase in frequency and provide resources for those trying to get squatters out, including everything from security resources to legal resources about reviewing state statutes,” said Peeples. .
Logo for Patti Peeples’ new resource website for property owners dealing with squatters. (Courtesy of Patti Peeples)
She added that other squatter victims can share their stories on the website so that others can learn from those experiences.
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Peeples plans to also sell hats and t-shirts with the website’s logo showing a stick figure kicking another stick figure out of a house.
“We will use the money to lobby state legislators for better laws,” Peeples said.
Although Peeples successfully removed the two squatters from her Jacksonville, Florida investment property, they illegally occupied it for 34 days and left behind $38,000 in damages. During the ordeal, Patti lost an interested buyer in the house, was physically pushed out of the house by the squatters, and decided she had had enough of working in real estate.
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“This is my retirement, and so any kind of income I’ve relied on to live on this year has been reduced because of this theft,” Peeples told Fox News. “That’s essentially what they did – they stole my house from me.”
The house in Jacksonville illegally occupied by squatters for 34 days. (Courtesy of Crissie Cudd)
The squatters, who have a history of illegal occupation, produced a fraudulent lease when the police were called, allowing them to stay in the house until Peeples took them to court.
Peeples and Tiura were forced to pay $5,000 in legal fees to evict the squatters.
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Peeples said since her story went public, she’s seen positive impact, including former President Trump calling Florida squatters in a joke against Governor Ron DeSantis.
A home in Jacksonville was destroyed after squatters moved into it. (Courtesy of Patti Peeples)
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“Hundreds of people messaged me on social media,” Peeples said, adding that the stories about her plight have been seen by millions of people.
“The publicity has also encouraged our local sheriff’s office to pay more attention to this and pursue criminal charges if they can find the squatters,” she added.
Click here for more information about the squatters in Jacksonville, Florida.