EVICTIONS: MY TENANT BROKE THE LEASE

"Eviction" is the word for the legal process that removes tenants who have not complied with your lease agreement from your property.   

What does it mean to have a Lease? A lease is an agreement with another person or company (in the case of commercial evictions) where the Tenant agrees to pay a specific amount of money on a set date (weekly, monthly, quarterly, annually...) to the owner of the property or someone assigned to do so on their behalf. A lease also contains restrictions on the use of the property such as: number of occupants, pets, actions the tenant can and cannot take, ways in which the property must be kept, smoking bans, noise restrictions, parking restrictions, restrictions on making alterations or modifications to the property, and more.

The owner or their designated agent is called the Landlord. Our firm only represents Landlords in eviction proceedings.  

Must a lease be in writing to be valid? Yes and no. A lease for a term longer than one year must be in writing. Otherwise, leases can be oral agreements.  When a lease is oral, Florida law becomes the lease terms.

Am I putting myself at risk with having only an oral agreement? Yes! If an agreement is oral and you have to remove a tenant through the courts, it becomes a he-said/she-said battle, making litigation much more expensive and lengthy.  It is far harder to prove that your tenant was only supposed to have three occupants and a small dog if nothing is in writing.

What if I downloaded a lease I found on the internet, is that ok? Not necessarily. While it helps to have terms like the rent amount owed in writing, many leases available online are not specific to Florida law requirements and may mislead you and your tenant into terms that are not legal in Florida.  Foreign leases may state that you have to give as much as "90 days" notice to terminate a lease, may have automatic renewal provisions, and they may give protections to tenants that Florida does not require.

What if I have a Florida lease that a Realtor gave me? Florida realtors have access to the latest Florida Bar/Florida Association of Realtors lease agreements. A realtor can only provide you with these lease agreements if they are actually representing you or the tenant in the leasing transaction, otherwise they are engaging in the unlawful practice of law. Realtors cannot advise you as to the terms unless they represent you in the transaction. To learn more about Realtor's duties to parties in leases, click HERE.  

Evictions are litigation, which means the rules of civil procedure, rules of evidence, constitutional due process requirements, and statute of limitations apply. Too often, Landlords can be misled by well-meaning friends and colleagues who think its a "simple process" but then end up in 6+ months of litigation when trying to litigate it themselves. The reality is that it will be at least 3x more expensive to fix a DIY eviction, than to have an experienced eviction attorney handle everything from the beginning.  

Is there anything I need to do before filing an eviction if my tenant breaks the lease agreement? Yes! You must provide written notice that complies with the law, or with your written lease agreement.  

Can I prepare the notice myself? Even if you are very experienced with preparing non-payment of rent notices, breach notices are very different and require different time periods. If this is your first eviction proceeding, it is much better to have an experienced eviction attorney prepare the notice of breach of the lease. 

I have seen wrong dates, missed specifications, waivers of actions that are breaches, and wrong references to Florida law, all cause major delays for clients that come to our office after they tried to do an eviction themselves.  

Can I accept partial or all rent when a tenant breaches the lease? Sure, but only if you want your eviction case to have to start over. Accepting partial rent tells the court that you are waiving the tenant having broken the lease agreement. You'll end up with your case getting dismissed. 

For successful and speedy evictions based on breaches of the lease, make it a habit to never accept partial rent and promptly return any partial rent payments as soon as received.  

What if I use an app like Venmo, Cash App, or Zelle to receive rental payments, does that put my eviction at risk? Yes. Any application which automatically accepts any payments, even if they are partial payments, is putting you at risk of getting an eviction case kicked out. If you use these applications, monitor them daily and reject/return any partial payments.  

How long does an eviction for breach of the lease take? It depends. The notice periods are significantly longer than the 3+ days typical for non-payment of rent. After the notice periods pass, it can take as little as 3 weeks (if the tenant does not answer, and the clerk immediately grants your request, and the judge immediately grants your relief, and the sheriff isn't overwhelmed with other writs to serve). 

On average, with the reality of how long it takes clerks to grant requests, then judges to sign, then sheriffs in Hillsborough, Pasco, Pinellas, and Polk counties to serve writs on tenants, it is about a 7 week process.   You may be thinking "SEVEN weeks?!" This is incredibly fast for litigation. To put this into perspective, the average Personal Injury lawsuit takes 2 years to resolve.  

Can LCO Law prepare my eviction notices? Yes! Our eviction notices are designed to close 99% of loopholes and we partner with local process servers that know exactly how to get eviction notices posted and catalogued so that if the tenants do not correct their breach or leave after the eviction notice period, your eviction case will be as strong as possible.  

Are there any local laws prohibiting evictions due to COVID-19? Not at this time.  

Are there any federal laws prohibiting evictions due to COVID-19? No, and the prior laws were ruled as "Unconstitutional" by the United States Supreme Court.  

What do I need to do to hire LCO Law to take over my needs to have an eviction for breach of the lease? Email Natalia@lcolawfl.com or call 813-480-2106.