What is the first step to evict a tenant in Florida?
The first step to evict a tenant in Florida always starts with the landlord giving the tenant a written notice.
Attorney Tom Olsen: What is the first step for a landlord to evict a tenant in Florida?
Attorney Rob Solomon: In Florida, landlords who want to evict tenants, the process always begins one way or the other with a notice. Before you even think about filing a lawsuit to evict somebody, you have to give the appropriate kind of notice. If they're failing to pay rent, that's called a three-day notice and there's a way to do that in a way to structure it that's in the statute. If they're doing something like bringing extra people in or bringing a pet in that wasn't agreed upon or breaking things, the notice that precedes an eviction for that is called a seven-day cure notice.
If your lease is simply at an end and they're month-to-month tenants and you want to bring that month-to-month say to an end, you need to give a notice at least 15 days before the end of a rental period to say that the rental period is coming to an end, the tenancy is coming to an end. Depending on what the purpose and the reason why you want them to leave then the notice is different but always, there's a notice that precedes these lawsuits. After that, you're filing a lawsuit.
Attorney Tom Olsen: How is that notice delivered to the tenant?
Attorney Rob Solomon: The statute doesn't require you to do this in a very specific way, these types of notices. There's good ways and bad ways nevertheless. When I have them done, it's easy for me because I'm a lawyer, I do it with a process server. Process servers are cheap, they're available, you can find them online and they are officers of the court. If they say they hung a three-day notice on the door or gave it to the tenant, that's the end of that story there's no debate about it. This is as if the judge gave it to them.
We use process servers but you don't have to. You can tape these on the door you can or you can hand them to the tenant themselves.