Florida squatter victim launches website to help other landlords with illegal residents

Rick Schindler

A Florida landlady is launching a website to help other homeowners with squatters after spending thousands of dollars removing illegal occupants from her own property.

“My goal is to advance state and federal legislation to treat squatters as criminals and expedite investigations into fraudulent leases,” Patti Peeples, 61, told Fox News.

Squatters seize Florida for 34 days

The PushOutSquatters.org website will launch later this week and will intentionally be abbreviated “POS”.

“So many who have responded to news articles have used that abbreviation, so I went with the double entender,” said Peeples, a retired entrepreneur with marketing experience.

The site will be both informative and community-focused, she said.

“The purpose of the site will be to showcase the risks associated with squatting and the increase in its frequency, and to offer resources for those trying to get squatters out, including everything from security resources to legal resources to review state laws,” Peeples said.

She added that other squatter victims can share their stories on the site so others can learn from those experiences.

Peeples also plans to sell hats and T-shirts with the site’s logo depicting a stick figure kicking another stick figure out of a house.

“We will use the funds to lobby state legislatures for better laws,” Peeples said.

Although Peeples successfully removed the two squatters from their investment property in Jacksonville, Fla., they illegally occupied it for 34 days, leaving $38,000 in damages. During the ordeal, Patti lost an interested buyer for the home, was physically pushed out of the home by the squatters, and decided she was fed up with working in real estate.

“This is my retirement, so any income I’ve trusted to live on this year will be diminished as a result of this theft,” Peeples told Fox News. “That’s essentially what they did — they stole my home from me.”

Peeples and Tiura were forced to pay $5,000 in legal fees to evict the squatters.

Peeples said she’s seen positive repercussions since publishing her story, including former President Trump’s mention of squatters in Florida in a jab at Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Pictures of a house destroyed by squatters with walls smashed in.

“Hundreds of people have messaged me on social media,” Peeples said, adding that the stories about their situation have been seen by millions of people.

“The public has also encouraged our local sheriff’s office to pay more attention and file criminal charges if they can find the squatters,” she added.