Florida Statutes
Fla. Stat. § 697.08 (2025)
Equity skimming.
✓ 2025 Florida Statutes — current through the 2025 Regular Session
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697.08 Equity skimming.—
(1) It is unlawful for any person, with intent to defraud the owner of real property, to engage in equity skimming, which is, to:
(a) Purchase, within a 3-year period, two or more single-family dwellings, two-family dwellings, three-family dwellings, or four-family dwellings, or a combination thereof, that are subject to a loan that is in default at the time of purchase or within 1 year after the time of purchase, which loan is secured by a mortgage or deed of trust;
(b) Fail to make payments under the mortgage or deed of trust as the payments become due, regardless of whether the purchaser is obligated on the loan; and
(c) Apply, or authorize the application of, rents from such dwellings for the person’s own use.
Arrestable Offenses under F.S. 697.08
M = misdemeanor · F = felony · degree: F=1st S=2nd T=3rd§697.08EMBEZZLEEQUITY SKIMMING
Notes of Decisions
Cited in 3
cases, 1996–2007 · leading case: People v. Bell, 96 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 3660 (Cal. Ct. App. 1996).
People v. Bell, 96 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 3660 (Cal. Ct. App. 1996). “( Fla. Stat. Ann. § 697.08 .) In Kansas it is a misdemeanor when, with the intent to defraud, a purchase is made of a one- to four-family dwelling, which is subject to a loan then in default or in default within a year of the purchase, secured by a mortgage, and there is a…”
Citation Mortg., Ltd. v. Rc of Ret. Living Ltd., 753 So. 2d 777 (Fla. 5th DCA 2000). “" Florida had no statutory or common law cause of action prohibiting equity skimming at the time of the assignment of rents or the transfer of the assignment to appellants, and section 697.08, Florida Statutes, enacted in 1994, which now makes equity skimming a crime, applies…”
Minalla v. Equinamics Corp., 954 So. 2d 645 (Fla. 3d DCA 2007). “02(1), Florida Statutes (2005); in Count IV a quiet title claim; and in Count VI[sic] seeks declaratory relief on the basis that enforcing the SLO as a "sale lease option" would enforce an illegal equity skimming contract in violation of section 697.08, a third degree felony,…”
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