Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis extended the statewide moratorium on evictions and foreclosures sparked by the coronavirus pandemic to July 1, just hours before it was set to expire.
The month-long extension was publicly announced as an executive order at 7:45 p.m. Monday, after no previous mention from DeSantis regarding the issue. The moratorium would have expired at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday.
The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office was planning to serve writs of possession starting Tuesday, for the cases reaching the final stages of eviction. These court orders grant full possession of property back to an owner or landlord – served tenants would have had 24 hours to vacate their property.
The moratorium would have expired at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday.
Tom Scherberger, spokesman for the Office of the Hillsborough Clerk of the Circuit Court, told the Tampa Bay Times there were about 180 of these cases.
Unemployed workers are now also facing problematic virtual waiting rooms in the state of Florida’s unemployment website.This story originally appeared in our sister paper Creative Loafing Tampa Bay.
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This article appears in May 27 – Jun 2, 2020.
