Bob Coffman, 66, was shocked to find nearly a dozen law enforcement at the door of his Pensacola home two weeks ago. A musician and automotive parts salesman, Coffman usually leads a quiet life with his wife, who recently suffered a stroke, and his 64-year-old sister, Debra Starling, who is a disabled widow.
They’ve been renting their Pensacola home for the past three years and were grateful to find an affordable place where they could live together comfortably, even if the house needed a lot of repairs that Bob made himself. It wasn’t ideal, but they were planning to leave in October anyway to be closer to family in Orlando.
Until the deputies came and told them they had to leave − right now.
“The deputy says, ‘You’ve been thrown out. You need to leave here in 15 minutes for squatting.’ I said, ‘No, no. I have receipts. We’re not squatters. We have electric and utility bills going all the way back to the time we got here. We’ve been here three years.’”
Bob’s protests were in vain. The Escambia Sheriff’s Office had an affidavit they said was from the legal owner of the home who wanted Coffman and his family out immediately because he claimed they were in the home illegally and without his permission. All it took to make them go was a two-page affidavit with 13 questions answered by 52-year-old Elester Lovely, who claimed to own the home.
“I’m like, what the hell is this?” Coffman recounted, still visibly upset. “It was just something Lovely signed, it wasn’t an eviction notice or anything. Here’s a guy who just initialed everything and everything he says in it is wrong. He said he bought the house in 1975, when he was 2 years old. He didn’t even own the house and the sergeant didn’t bother to see it. We had 15 minutes to get out.”
What is HB 621 or “Squatter’s Law”?
The process of kicking Coffman and his family out of the home was done legally under a new Florida law called HB 621 that went effect July 1. It was passed to give property owners a quick and simple way to deal with squatters while avoiding the delays that normally come with the legal process of eviction.
Under HB 621, known to some as the “Squatter’s Law,” a property owner can request law enforcement to immediately remove a squatter from their property if certain conditions are met such as someone who has entered and remains on the property illegally; the person was told to leave but didn’t; and the person is not a current or former tenant in a legal dispute.
The law essentially gives “squatters” no opportunity for recourse or due process to make their case before being removed from a property, but it does require due diligence on the part of law enforcement who are required to verify the person making the claim is telling the truth about the situation and is the actual homeowner.
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That didn’t happen in Coffman’s case. According to Escambia County property records, Elester Lovely does not own the Pensacola home. Although he insists it’s his house, records show it belongs to Lovely’s family members, including one who is deceased. Lovely himself was arrested for squatting in January. According to his arrest report, Pensacola police caught him staying in an unoccupied unit at Pensacola Village apartments.
When law enforcement removed Coffman and his family from the home on Fairfax Drive, they didn’t have time to take anything with them but the clothes on their back, some medications, and their two cats, Noelle and Punkin’. They say Elester Lovely immediately moved in and started selling their things, including their TVs, computer, tools and jewelry, and all they could do was watch helplessly because the law was not on their side.
“I called the police department and they’re like, ‘We can’t do anything about it. You should have got your stuff before you got out.’ So now I’m sitting out here, I’m watching him sell my stuff. People driving up here and getting my stuff and I’m like, ‘What’s going on here? And I’m going nuts,” said Coffman, who worried he would have a stroke from the stress.
The family stayed in Coffman’s sister’s truck the first night and then stayed in hotels the next nine nights. It took a toll on their health and their finances. Coffman’s sister, Debra Starling, is diabetic and was unable to refrigerate her diabetes medication and she became sick. Coffman’s wife is recovering from a stroke and struggling with the heat was a problem for all of them.
“He just got out of prison, and he was homeless,” Coffman’s sister, Debra Starling, said about Lovely. “And so, he signed an affidavit saying that we were squatters and we’ve been paying rent. We did not deserve what we got, we were treated like squatters. This has been way too much. All because somebody lied, because somebody signed an affidavit saying that we were squatters. Nobody looked at the proof. They just kicked us out. But I spent all my money on hotel rooms and then $1,600 because I had to pay the bond for the judge.”
Getting back home
Coffman reached out to attorneys at Legal Services of North Florida (LSNF) for help. Their first step was figuring out what happened, because the law is so new they initially thought it was a normal eviction case gone awry. They soon realized Coffman lost his home under HB 621 and they took a closer look at Lovely’s claims and quickly realized his claim to the property wasn’t legal.
“The first thing we did was just looked at the Escambia County property record, and it was evident that the property is owned by two shares and the guy who signed the affidavit was not the owner,” said LSNF attorney Patrick Jennings. “So that’s the first thing that was not true. The second thing, it says he bought the house in ‘75. He was born in ‘72. He didn’t buy the house. The third thing, it says that they’ve never had a lease and entered unlawfully, which is not true.”
Coffman said they rented the home through a property manager and he and his family had receipts and text messages to back up their claims. LSNF filed a motion for injunctive relief and damages and the court granted their petition. Two weeks after Coffman and his family were evicted, police were again called to the Fairfax Drive home, but this time it was to remove Lovely and allow the family to move back in.
Starling said Lovely answered the door wearing her brother’s clothes and sunglasses.
“There were all the police officers, deputy sheriffs, the city police all standing out there, and Lovely says to me, ‘I’m gonna get you..b-i-t-c-h…I’m going to get you.’ We watched him walk off with our things. He took all kinds of stuff. He took bikes and tools and TVs and VCR’s and movies and jewelry. He took my wedding ring. My wedding ring. I can’t get that back. I don’t want to talk about that right now because I’m going to cry because he’s gone, you know? He’s gone. And that’s all I had to remember him by except pictures.”
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Elester Lovely is disputing their claims and has filed an unlawful detainer case against the family in county court, which is another legal option for eviction, saying he is the son of the property owners and is “entitled” to the home.
In the meantime, LSNF is seeking damages on behalf of Coffman and his family for the items they lost and the toll it took on them emotionally and physically. As far as the litigators know, this is the first case related to the HB 621, but similar cases are popping around the state and they’re sharing with other legal teams what they’ve learned.
“A lot of times we’re dealing with people who are vulnerable, and they get kicked out, and then they don’t make it to our office or to talk to an attorney. Hopefully there aren’t more cases, so we’ll see,” said LSNF attorney Carrie Cromey. “It was just heartbreaking to see them go through this and lose so much and struggle so hard. It was an injustice. Affordable housing is in such a crisis right now and then to see people who had housing lose it in these circumstances, this heart was heartbreaking.”
Coffman and Starling are grateful for the help. Without it, they say they would have been lost.
“They were compassionate, sweet, loving people,” Starling said with tears in her eyes. “They got us back in our house, thank God. And I want to thank the Lord, too, because we kept our faith.”
Coffman hopes others will learn from his experience and take steps to protect themselves in a rental situation, like keeping a lease handy as well as receipts.
“If nothing else comes of this, it would be a blessing if no one else ever has to go through this again,” said Coffman. “No one should ever have to lose their home without notice and walk out on the street. I’ve lost everything I ever worked for, and it can happen to you. It can happen to anybody.”
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Florida law HB 621 makes it easy to evict squatters but ripe for abuse
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