Squatters targeted

Coral Springs officials looking at possible ordinance

Coral Springs is considering introducing an ordinance to deal with squatters and those who illegally rent rooms in homes.

At a recent City Commission meeting, Mayor Skip Campbell asked staff to look at an ordinance passed by Coral Gables on this issue. Officials will discuss the issue further at a workshop before deciding on a course of action.

“I have been getting a lot of calls from a lot of citizens that there are squatters and people renting rooms in houses that shouldn’t be doing it,” Campbell said. “It seems to be more than a casual problem.”

An ordinance similar to Coral Gables’ would give police greater authority to go into homes and remove people from the property, Campbell said.

“I don’t want to have to go through an eviction process. We can use trespass [laws] to get them out of the property,” he said.

The mayor also sounded a warning to property owners who illegally rent out rooms to people.

“If you have [a] homestead exemption, we are going to seek that the homestead exemption be taken away,” he said. “If your homestead exemption is taken away, it is going to cost you a lot of back taxes.”

Commissioner Joy Carter, a real estate agent, asked staff to send out letters to real estate offices, encouraging them to reprogram combination lockboxes that they use.

Changing the factory code in lockboxes will stop people from illegally entering houses, she said.

The city has a program in which landlords have to register their single- or multi-family rental units with the city. The registration has to be renewed annually. City Manager Erdal Donmez said the city was open to the idea of amending its ordinance, if needed.