New Florida Law Puts End To Squatting Crackpots Who Use Bogus Adverse Possession Claims As Free Housing Vouchers; Procedures Enacted Leave Cops Without Excuses When Asked To Conduct Trespassing Probes Into Deadbeats Who Purportedly Hijack Possession Of Vacant Homes

In Tallahassee, Florida, the South Florida Sun Sentinel reports:

• A squatter justifying his existence in a multi-million dollar home in Boca Raton went viral earlier this year, but it wasn't a laughing matter for the neighbors in Golden Harbour.
  
  Andre "Loki Boy" Barbosa occupied the house around Christmas and wasn't locked out until early February. The home at 580 Golden Harbour Drive was subsequently sold on May 6 for $2,229,900.
  
  "We felt it was important that no other neighborhood go through this," said Christine Cherepy, president of the Golden Harbour Homeowners Association.
  
  The community of 106 homes came together when this happened, Cherepy said. Led by 30 neighbors, "we contacted multiple representatives to try and change the law."
  
  That effort worked. Co-sponsored by State Reps. Jim Waldman, D-Coconut Creek, and Daniel Davis, R-Jacksonville, House Bill 903 was signed into law by Gov. Rick Scott on June 28 and went into effect on July 1.
  
  The state law prevents "acquiring title to real property by possession," according to the summary. The occupant would have to pay all taxes for seven years, file a return of the land for taxes, protect the property with an enclosure or cultivate it, and maintain and occupy the land.

For more, see No more adverse squatters as new law kicks in.