Florida Senate - 2016                                    SB 1406
       
       
        
       By Senator Braynon
       
       36-01456-16                                           20161406__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to landlords and tenants; amending s.
    3         83.60, F.S., relating to defenses to action for
    4         possession of a dwelling unit; providing conditions
    5         under which the court may waive the requirement that a
    6         tenant pay rent into the registry of the court;
    7         revising provisions relating to default judgment upon
    8         waiver of a tenant’s defenses; providing an effective
    9         date.
   10          
   11  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   12  
   13         Section 1. Subsection (2) of section 83.60, Florida
   14  Statutes, is amended to read:
   15         83.60 Defenses to action for rent or possession;
   16  procedure.—
   17         (2) In an action by the landlord for possession of a
   18  dwelling unit, if the tenant interposes any defense other than
   19  payment, including, but not limited to, the defense of a
   20  defective 3-day notice, the tenant shall pay into the registry
   21  of the court the accrued rent as alleged in the complaint or as
   22  determined by the court and the rent that accrues during the
   23  pendency of the proceeding, when due. The clerk shall notify the
   24  tenant of such requirement in the summons. The court may waive
   25  this requirement if the plaintiff does not have standing to file
   26  the action; the court does not have jurisdiction over the
   27  parties or the subject matter of the action; the landlord fails
   28  to comply with the requirements of s. 83.51; the landlord fails
   29  to comply with the requirements of applicable building, housing,
   30  or health codes; the landlord is acting in bad faith; or the
   31  landlord violates a provision of this part. Failure of the
   32  tenant to pay the rent into the registry of the court, or to
   33  file a motion to determine the amount of rent to be paid into
   34  the registry, or to file a motion to waive the requirement to
   35  pay the rent into the registry of the court within 5 days,
   36  excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays, after the date
   37  of service of process constitutes an absolute waiver of the
   38  tenant’s defenses other than payment, and the landlord is
   39  entitled to an immediate default judgment for removal of the
   40  tenant with a writ of possession to issue without further notice
   41  or hearing thereon. A tenant who files a motion to determine
   42  rent or to waive the requirement to pay the rent into the
   43  registry of the court is entitled to a hearing. If a motion to
   44  determine rent is filed, documentation in support of the
   45  allegation that the rent as alleged in the complaint is in error
   46  is required. Public housing tenants or tenants receiving rent
   47  subsidies are required to deposit only that portion of the full
   48  rent for which they are responsible pursuant to the federal,
   49  state, or local program in which they are participating.
   50         Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2016.