1. EVICTION PROCESS
IN FLORIDA - A
LAWYER'S
EXPLANATION
Via Richard Zaretsky, Florida Real Estate Attorney (Richard
P. Zaretsky P.A. - Board Certified Real Estate Atty):
Attention Lakeland Fl homeowners who are landlords! This is
a great article by Florida Real Estate lawyer Richard Zaretsky
which talks about the eviction process in Florida in layments
term. Easy to understand for anyone who is a landlord and
tenant.

2. While many blog writers, including
myself, often focus on
homeowners in financial distress,
Tenants are often victims of either
their own financial distress or the
financial distress of their
landlord. This article will examine
the eviction process from a
lawyer’s viewpoint for both the
landlord and the tenant.

3. Since I am a Florida board certified
real estate attorney, I will focus on
the landlord tenant law in
Florida. And because this article is
written at the request of Laura
Pearlman, who handles mostly
residential transactions, I will focus
on the residential part of the
Florida Law.

4. The Rights and Obligations of
Landlords and Tenants Regarding
Eviction –
• The laws governing residential landlord-tenant relationships is
codified (it is written as law) in Florida Statutes at Section 83,
Part II. There are a few exceptions as to what type of
residencies do not fall within this law – the most notable for
most discussions being when the tenant and the landlord are
such because of a contract for the purchase or sale of the
property. This exception is typically where there is a pre-
closing occupancy agreement or a post-closing occupancy
agreement incident to a purchase contract. This would not
include an option contract, however (such as a lease with an
option to buy), which tenancy is still governed by the statute.

5. Attorney Fees – Who Pays
for the Eviction? -
• The first thing to understand in a landlord – tenant eviction is
that the winning party in the eviction or other enforcement
proceeding will be entitled to attorney fees. I find that most
people underestimate what total attorney fees will be for
“something so simple”. The reality is “simple” is in the eyes of
the beholder. Actually doing the work, dealing with the
pleadings and the actions of the person being sued (or the
work of defending the case) can be consuming, and what is
thought of as 30 minutes of work can easily be several
hours. Attorneys charge generally charge from $150 an hour
for a budget attorney (usually very new with very little
overhead and experience) to more than $400 an hour for an
experience attorney. Don’t let the numbers fool you – paying
for experience can often be the less expensive route.

6. The point being made with attorney fees is that any
landlord-tenant dispute is going to be expensive for the
one who loses, since the loser pays his own attorney fees
and the prevailing party’s attorney fees.

7. Why Is There an Eviction?
• Evictions are typically brought by landlords because the
tenant either failed to do something, like pay the rent, or did
something wrong like keeping 5 cousins living in the house, or
violating the association rules too many times, or like getting
arrested for growing marijuana in the rented property (just
happened to my landlord client). Evictions are often brought
because the lease term has matured and the tenant has
refused to vacate.
• If your lease term is finished and you stay in the property
without the landlord’s WRITTEN consent, you are going to
responsible to the landlord for TWICE the amount of your
usual monthly rent. This is called “holdover rent” and it is
governed by Section 83.58.

8. If the tenancy is month to month or quarter to quarter or
year to year, without a specific end point, and the
landlord or tenant wants to end the tenancy the party
that wants to end the tenancy must give the other party
advanced notice of 15 days prior to the end of the
monthly period; or 30 days prior to the end of the
quarterly period; or 60 days prior to the end of any
annual period.
If the failure is paying the rent timely, only 3 days notice
must be given but the 3 days notice must give the
tenant the opportunity to pay the rent before the eviction
becomes “ripe” for the court to accept the filing of the
eviction complaint.

9. If the breach of the lease is because of some
other matter that is curable – like having
abandoned cars in the driveway, then the notice
is 7 days to cure the beach. If the matter is
incurable or the tenant should not be given the
opportunity to cure the breach or the breach is
the second breach within 12 months, then the
notice is 7 days to vacate. See Section 83.56.

10. The Procedure In Court
When Landlord Evicts -
• After either the 7 day notice to vacate or cure (and not cure
was done) or after 3 days for not paying the rent and the
delinquent rent is not paid, the landlord will take a copy of the
notice provided to the tenant and make it an exhibit to the
complaint for eviction that is filed with the court. Usually the
written lease will also be attached. The Clerk will receive the
complaint, sometimes called an action for eviction or
possession, and issue a summons. The summons will be
served upon the tenant usually by a process server, but also
by posting on the property. The tenant is given 5 days to
answer the portion of the complaint regarding non-payment of
the rent, and 20 days for other portions of the complaint, like
other reasons for eviction or for money damages. For non-
payment of the rent the only defense is that the has been
paid.

11. For any other reason the disputed rent has to be paid
to the clerk of the court within the 5 days or a motion
has been filed by the tenant for the court to
determine how much the tenant must pay to the clerk
of court as the disputed rent, or the court will
automatically issue the eviction order. The eviction
order is coupled with a writ of possession, which is
an instruction to the Sheriff to dispossess the tenant
from the property. See Section 83.60.

12. If the tenant has provided a written defense to the court in
a timely manner, the court will likely have scheduled a
hearing at which time the tenant can argue its case
against eviction. Remember, if the tenant does not have a
defense that would protect it from having to have first paid
the rent to the clerk of the court, the court will grant the
eviction. This does not mean that the tenant does not
have some defenses for the damages that the landlord
may also be seeking against the tenant. But these
defenses are not a substitute for paying the rent, and
therefore eviction will usually be granted.

13. What If the Landlord
Breached the Lease?
• Defense to a possession action by the landlord can be based
upon a material non-compliance by the landlord of its
responsibilities under Section 83.51 or retaliatory conduct
under Section 83.64.
• Landlords that do not pay their mortgage or association fees
are particularly problematic for their tenants. See two articles
on this issue at, TENANT PROTECTION LAW AND
FORECLOSURE PROBLEMS and COMMUNITY
ASSOCIATION AS LANDLORD - WHO GETS THE RENT?

14. Landlord responsibility includes complying with all
building and health codes, maintaining the roof,
windows, screen, doors, floors, porches, exterior
walls, foundations, all in good repair, and the
plumbing in working condition. There are other
responsibilities depending on whether the property
rented is a home or duplex, or a multifamily building.
To be able to raise a defense based upon the
landlord’s failure to abide by its responsibilities, the
tenant must have first provided 7 days advanced
written notice to landlord of its breach of responsibility
and the landlord must have failed to have corrected
the breach. So bringing up a landlord breach for the
first time at a trial on a tenant eviction is not going to
work unless the landlord was given the statutory 7
day advance notice.
Don’t forget to see other responsibilities of the
landlord and the tenant as may be contained in the
written lease agreement.

15. Timing –
• Landlord Tenant actions generally are in the County Court
division of the court system. The County Court has a much
faster schedule than the Circuit Courts and therefore you can
expect cases to proceed quickly. In addition, the eviction
process is governed by the “summary procedure” rules of the
court and eviction cases are advanced to the front of the
court’s calendar. Most response times are cut from the typical
20 and 10 days in circuit court, to just 5 days in the summary
procedure rules. Essentially, a tenant eviction case can be
resolved start to finish in just two weeks. Often times this
theoretical timeline will be exceeded, but as you can see this
is a fast procedure.

16. Other Ways to Evict -
• Sometimes a special situation may result where eviction in the
usual sense is not the proper way to proceed. If there was an
installment sale contract the remedy may be foreclosure. If
there was some dispute on ownership or claim to some
special equity, the remedy may be Ejectment. The
procedures for these other eviction remedies are substantially
different than the procedures in a simple lease based landlord
- tenant relationship eviction.

17. Summary –
• Landlord Tenant issues can be complex or simple. The only
true statement is that if the tenant does not pay the rent it will
be evicted – barring some material misconduct by the
landlord. Trying to provide a defense can be expensive, and if
the eviction is for non-payment of rent, defenses may be
barred if there is no payment of the past due rent to the clerk
of the court.
• If the landlord is a corporation or entity, they will generally
need an attorney to represent them in court. Tenants that are
natural persons can represent themselves, although they
should consider getting an attorney especially if they believe
they have a defense.

18. Copyright 2012 by Richard P. Zaretsky, Esq.
Be sure to contact your own attorney for your state laws, and
always consult your own attorney on any legal decision you
need to make. This article is for information purposes and is not
specific advice to any one reader. Richard Zaretsky, Esq.,
RICHARD P. ZARETSKY P.A. ATTORNEYS AT LAW, 1655
PALM BEACH LAKES BLVD, SUITE 900, WEST PALM
BEACH, FLORIDA 33401, PHONE 561 689
6660 RPZ99@Florida-Counsel.com - FLORIDA BAR BOARD
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19. Petra Norris - REALTOR®, SFR
Managing Broker - CDV TransAtlantic, Inc.
(863) 619-6918