Some evictions records could be expunged under bill
Rep. Vance Aloupis
Tenants who have been evicted could have those court records sealed and their names removed from docket listings if they meet certain conditions under a bill under consideration in the Florida House.
HB 1193 by Rep. Vance Aloupis, D-Miami, passed the House Civil Justice and Property Rights Subcommittee on March 18. Aloupis said the bill stemmed from his experience as a law student working for Legal Services of Greater Miami doing intake on its homeless project and more recently as a board member of Miami Homes for All.
“Families who have been evicted often struggle with finding residential mobility and replacement housing that is both affordable and habitable,” Aloupis said, noting that sometimes landlords will not rent to a person who has been evicted. “What HB 1193 does is create an opportunity for an individual who has been evicted to have their eviction expunged based on explicit terms that are listed within the bill.”
Those conditions include that the tenant and landlord filed a joint stipulation, the case was dismissed, the case was resolved by a joint agreement and the tenant satisfied conditions of the agreement, the tenant satisfied any monetary awards included in a default judgment, or a judgment was entered against the tenant at least five years before the expungement motion and the tenant has satisfied any monetary award in that judgment.
The bill would apply to both rental housing and mobile home parks.
The expungement motions would have to be granted if both parties file a joint stipulation or if the case is dismissed.
On court dockets, if the expungement motion is approved, the tenant’s name would be changed to the word “tenant.”
The bill would become effective July 1, and apply retroactively.
Rep. Anna Eskamani, D-Orlando, said the bill is a good first step in addressing the housing crisis by allowing tenants who work out their problems with landlords to have the eviction record expunged.
“Tenants can become homeowners, but an eviction can really hurt their ability to do that,” she said.
Rep. Mike Gottlieb, D-Sunrise, said he was concerned because while the bill would allow expunging a record, companies that daily “sweep” the internet for court records that they compile and sell to others would still have the unredacted records.
That could lead to a person saying in an application or other form they had not been evicted and when “somebody sees it from the purveyor of that public data information they turn that person into a liar.”
Gottlieb said that’s a problem with all types of expunged records, including in criminal cases.
“I 100% support this because we’re helping people but we need to do something on the front end to stop these data mining companies from ruining peoples’ reputations when they don’t deserve to have them ruined,” he said.
The bill passed 18-0, as did a companion bill, HB 1195, which would exempt the expunged records from the state’s Sunshine Law with a sunset provision of October 2, 2026, unless extended by the Legislature.
HB 1193 next goes to the Government Operations Subcommittee and then the Judiciary Committee. Its Senate counterpart, SB 1746 by Sen. Shevrin Jones, D-Miami Gardens, has not been heard but has been assigned to the Judiciary, Appropriations, and Rules committees.
