Miami Herald talked about a certain situation involving a tenant occupying a foreclosed property. A recent change in Florida's landlord-tenants law is supposed to have been designed to guarantee occupants at least 30 days after a property is sold to move out. This was meant to replace the Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act went into effect on June 3 this year. Furthermore, the law that was passed in 2009, at the height of the foreclosure crisis, though temporary, gave renters the right to stay in the homes until the lease expired or at least 90 days. Without such law the new owners can show up with a notice to vacate immediately.
Alice Vickers, founder and director of the Florida Alliance for Consumer Protection, believes that tenants must be protected from situations that would urge them to vacate a foreclosed property in such a short notice. Vickers said, "Frankly, in my opinion. No tenant should ever be set out of their rental with 24 hours' notice. I don't care what the situation is."
According to Miami Herald, Vickers had been trying to get a state tenant protection law passed for years and she saw a window when the federal law expired. This was the bottom line of what we hoped the legislation would provide," Vickers said. "Thirty days was compromise language." Vickers' principle is supported by Kenneth Pratt, an executive vice president for government relations at the Florida Bankers Association, which represents bankers' interests in Tallahassee and in Washington
He on the other hand said, "We want to see Florida's real estate industry... be vibrant. So what we proposed to the bill's sponsors was that 30 days would be a sufficient amount of time... in order for someone to be able to vacate the premises." Then he pointed out that banks don't have to evict anybody even after 30 days. Pratt said, "While there is an interest in getting the real estate back on the market, there is not an interest in having a renter that is disenfranchised."
