Florida Senate - 2021                                    SB 1090
       
       
        
       By Senator Torres
       
       
       
       
       
       15-01764-21                                           20211090__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to payments made into the registry of
    3         the court; amending s. 83.60, F.S.; removing a
    4         provision that waives a tenant’s defenses other than
    5         payment and entitles a landlord to an immediate
    6         default judgment for removal of a tenant if the tenant
    7         fails to take certain actions in an action by the
    8         landlord for possession of a dwelling unit; providing
    9         an effective 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. Failure of the tenant
   25  to pay the rent into the registry of the court or to file a
   26  motion to determine the amount of rent to be paid into the
   27  registry within 5 days, excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and legal
   28  holidays, after the date of service of process constitutes an
   29  absolute waiver of the tenant’s defenses other than payment, and
   30  the landlord is entitled to an immediate default judgment for
   31  removal of the tenant with a writ of possession to issue without
   32  further notice or hearing thereon. If a motion to determine rent
   33  is filed, documentation in support of the allegation that the
   34  rent as alleged in the complaint is in error is required. Public
   35  housing tenants or tenants receiving rent subsidies are required
   36  to deposit only that portion of the full rent for which they are
   37  responsible pursuant to the federal, state, or local program in
   38  which they are participating.
   39         Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2021.