State Rep. Fabian Basabe, a Miami Beach Republican, has used taxpayer money to pay about $2,700 a month to rent a legislative office in Little Haiti. The landlord, Shiloh Properties LLC, is a company Basabe has listed as a source of income on his public financial disclosures.
Public records obtained by documentary filmmaker Billy Corben show a two-year lease signed in November 2024 for office space at 327 NW 54th St., totaling $63,900. Expense records show monthly payments of $2,662.50 since at least November 2025. Earlier records list payments for “office space” at the same rate back to the start of the lease.
Miami New Times visited the building on a Monday afternoon and found the door locked. No hours were posted, no one answered repeated knocks, and the building had no parking. Corben told the newspaper the office has never been staffed and lacks the facilities to be used as one.
Basabe told Corben at a recent town hall that the office seemed closed because a legislative aide had resigned. He did not say whether the office had been regularly staffed. In a text to New Times, he said he followed House rules, that he had offered the space free of charge, and that he was told a paid lease at fair market value was required.
The lease raises questions under Florida’s ethics statute on public officials and business transactions. The records reviewed by New Times do not, on their own, establish a violation. Basabe is also running for reelection and is appealing a July civil jury verdict in Tallahassee that found him liable for sexually harassing former aides.
