SB264: The Law That Could Change Florida Forever

Watch Roy describe in detail SB264: The Law That Could Change Florida Forever.

 

Full trancript:

Hi. Attorney Roy Oppenheim here for Oppenheim Law. Something dramatic is gonna be occurring starting July 1 in the State of Florida as it relates to the real estate market, and I want everyone to be aware of it, especially if you’re a real estate professional. If you’re a realtor, a broker, a real estate lawyer, a title company, a surveyor, a mortgage broker, a developer. If you’re in any way involved with real estate, you need to understand what’s coming here because it’s really like a tidal wave, and I wanna explain this very, very, very carefully. In June, the Florida Legislature, and Governor Ron DeSantis signed what is called Florida Senate Bill 264. It’s now been codified as Florida Statute 692. And it basically puts enormous restrictions on people who are from the People’s Republic of China, the Russian Federation, the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Cuba, the Venezuelan regime of Nicolás Maduro, and the Syrian Arab Republic.

If anyone is somehow affiliated or associated with those countries, meaning that they’re a citizen or they’re here just on a tourist visa, they will not be able to necessarily ordinarily purchase real estate in Florida. There are now enormous restrictions. The restrictions concern particularly the folks from China who are absolutely restricted from purchasing almost anything except for certain kinds of residences. But it has to do with not being able to purchase agricultural land or buying any kind of real estate that’s near any kind of critical infrastructure, which could include obviously, airports, electric power plants, water treatment facilities, almost anything. National Guard facilities and, of course, military installations. And so, you cannot be within 10 miles of those kinds of facilities. So, in terms of Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach Counties, for example, and other urban areas, it’s gonna be very difficult to find property that will fulfill that criteria.

Now, there are no maps yet that have been created. The real estate industry is flatfooted right now. And they’re really counting on, frankly, the federal courts to step in in the next 72 hours before July 1st to basically stop and camp down this bill from going into effect because it has so many statutory and unconstitutional components to it. And being that I’m not necessarily a constitutional lawyer, I’m not gonna go through them all, but even if you’re not a lawyer, it smacks of something that’s very un-American. And so whatever the government of the State of Florida is trying to achieve, it is way overkill, and it’s in violation of both the equal protection rights, the due process rights of people from these countries.

But if it does go into effect, it’s going to seriously, seriously slow down the economy, and probably throw the economy into a recession, certainly the real estate market, as people will not be able to continue to buy or even necessarily sell. And if they do and they do it illegally, not only will they be committing a crime, not only will the people who are assisting them committing a crime, but they will also possibly lose their property through confiscation. So there’s just enormous, enormous aspects of this. And if you’re buying or selling real estate, and you’re from any one of these countries, or you’re representing folks from these countries as a broker or as a realtor, please call us as we will navigate these waters for you. And it’s a very difficult situation. We’re counting on the federal government, the Justice Department from getting an injunction. We are not sure if that’s gonna happen or not. So, I want you all to be prepared. So, Roy Oppenheim from the trenches…