TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – A News 6 viewer couldn’t break her lease, even after showing a police report documenting the abuse she suffered at the hands of her live-in partner.
Across Florida, survivors can face an impossible choice: stay somewhere dangerous or walk away and absorb significant financial penalties.
Leaving with nothing
A separate survivor, who News 6 is not identifying to protect her safety, said she left while pregnant. “The final straw was really when he slapped me in my face. And I said, I can’t do this anymore.”
With no money and no plan, she made the decision to go anyway.
“No money, no nothing, just hop on the bus and just pray that the bus driver didn’t really ask for a ticket or anything,” she said.
A gap in the law
“A lot of people don’t think about this one in particular, that if you’re sharing the lease with someone who is abusing you, how do you get out of it?” said Michelle Sperzel, Harbor House CEO.
In June, state Senator LaVon Bracy Davis introduced a bill aimed at closing that gap. The legislation would have given survivors the right to break their lease early without financial penalty, required landlords to change the locks within a set timeframe, and hold the abuser, if also on the lease, financially responsible.
The bill never got a hearing.
“There wasn’t a huge appetite for that this session. And it’s unfortunate, there were other priorities from the committee chairs,” Senator Bracy Davis said.
What Florida did pass
Florida did pass several protections for domestic violence survivors this session, including:
- Stiffer penalties for repeat abusers
- Shielding victims’ personal information from public records
- Requiring nurses to be trained to recognize human trafficking
But advocates say the lease bill is the missing piece.
Senator vows to try again
Bracy Davis said she is not giving up on the legislation.
“We’re going to continue working it. We may edit it, file some amendments, and then we go back to Tallahassee and we give it another try,” she said.