FAQ

First the tenancy must be terminated. Either the lease has ended or the landlord has terminated it with a notice of non-renewal, a 3 day notice demanding the payment of rent, of a 7 day notice to cure lease violation. All of these forms are available for free on this website. Next, the landlord files an eviction case in county court . Once the tenant is served, they have 5 business days to file their defenses. Then the judge will rule

This is the notice you are required by law to use to demand payment of rent in Florida. You can get this form for free on this website. Generally, this form must be hand delivered to the tenant

The filing fee is $185. Summons costs $10 to issue. The sheriff charges $40 to serve it. Private process servers charge $55. The sheriff’s fee for the writ of possession is $90 ($115 in Dade)

Unlawful detainer is used to remove a guest or a relative who will not leave and is not a tenant.

Yes. As of July 1, 2025, Florida law allows a 3 day notice to be sent by email,  but only if  both parties have signed a written agreement for email delivery in advance. 7 and 30 day notices may be emailed without an agreement. You can get these form for free in the website.

It gives the recipient 7 calendar days to cure a lease violation.

Yes. A real estate attorney ensures legal protection, reviews contracts, and handles title and closing issues.   Title companies do not have a fiduciary duty to their clients but attorneys do

Tenants have the right to safe housing,  the right to defendant themselves in court,  and the return of their security deposits under Florida law.

Eviction is a lawsuit to determine the right of possession only.  An ejectment also determines the ownership of the property.

The landlord is required to mail a claim to the tenants best known address by certified mail postmarked no less than 30 days from the end of the tenancy. The claim must contain specific language ( you can get the correct form on this website). If the tenant has not provided a forwarding address, the claim should be mailed to the vacated unit. Exceptions: 1) if both parties have executed an electronic delivery agreement, the claim may be emailed. 2) the tenant vacates prematurely and has not provided the landlord a forwarding address by certified mail or personal delivery 7 days in advance.

When there is no written lease, the duration of the lease is determined by what rent is paid. If the tenant pays rent for a month, the lease term is one month. This monthly tenancy automatically renews until either party issues a notice of non-renewal. Under the current law, this notice must be provided no less than 30 days before the lease rollover date. So it is called a 30 day notice. You can get this form for free on Browardlandlord.com‍ ‍ on the free forms page.

Broward County is unique in that the eviction case must be filed at the court house closest to the landlord’s attorney, rather than closest to the rental property like the rest of the state. There are four court houses in Broward: Hollywood in the South. Plantation, in the West, and Deerfield in the north. These are called the satellite court houses and have a couple of judges each. However, the main court house is in Fort Lauderdale and has over a dozen judges. If your lawyer is in fort Lauderdale, your case will be at the main court house.

§83.67 Florida Statutes “Prohibited Practices” aka “constructive eviction” or “self-help eviction” provides that if the landlord directly or indirectly interferes with the tenancy such as interrupting utilities or interfering with tenant’s access to the premises, this is punishable by 3 month’s rent or actual damages. Whichever is more.

When the landlord is not performing their duties under the lease such as repairs and maintenance, the tenant must give the landlord a seven day notice to cure. There is no required method of delivery. Then the landlord has seven calendar days to make a reasonable effort to complete the repair. If not, the tenant may stop paying the rent until the repair is completed. If the property is not habitable, the tenant may declare breach of lease and move out. You can get the form on the forms page on Browardlandlord.com

Florida Statutes chapter 83 Part 2 is the Florida residential landlord tenant act. This sets out the rights and duties of the landlord and tenant. No lease may change its terms. You can read the act HERE

While both use a 3 day notice to demand payment of rent, non-renewal of a month to month tenancy is 15 days for commercial and 30 days for residential. Notice to cure non-compliance is 20 days for commercial and 7 days for residential. Also commercial does not have a penalty for an illegal lock out, whereas residential fines the landlord 3 month’s rent

Where the tenancy is month to month Florida Statutes §83.57(3) provides that 30 days written notice prior to the end of the monthly rental period is required to terminate the tenancy

The preparation of legal documents, such as a lease, can only be done by a licensed attorney.  Realtors may not draft lease agreements. Non-attorneys may fill in the blanks on documents prepared by the Florida Bar, such as the FAR/BAR  standard residential lease agreement.  If you want a customized lease,  you must use an attorney to prepare it.  At Browardlandlord.com,  we are landlord tenant attorneys located in Fort Lauderdale, Broward County, Florida

The law office of Alexander Patrick Johnson PL is located in Fort Lauderdale Florida and we stand ready to help tenants recover their security deposits, make landlords maintain the leased premises, and sue for damages for illegal lockouts. Florida law provides that the prevailing party in a landlord tenant law suite may be swarded their attorneys fees.

In 2025 the State of Florida enacted statute 83.505‍ ‍that allows the e-mail deliver of certain notices, but only if the tenant signs an agreement consenting to email delivery. This may be freely revoked. Otherwise claims on security deposit may only be sent by certified mail within 30 days of the end of the tenancy,

Florida Statutes Section 83.56(2) provides that destruction, damage, or misuse of the landlord’s or other tenant’s property by intentional act or a subsequent or continued unreasonable disturbance constitutes noncompliance of a nature that the tenant sho0uld not be given an opportunity to cure. Therefore the landlord may issue a notice that the lease is terminated and the tenant has 7 days to vacate.

Florida law heavily regulates the residential landlord tenant relationship. For every issue, the State of Florida has issued a form that you are required to use to deal with it. If the landlord is not doing something he or she is supposed to be doing, or is doing something that they are not suposed to be doing, you have to give the landlord a seven day notice to cure. This can be emailed or sent in any manner. Then the landlord has seven days to remedy the problem. If the landlord does not make a reasonable effort to remedy the problem in the 7 days the tenant can stop paying rent. If the proprty is not habitable, the tenant can legally move out. You must use the official seven day notice form though. Just complaining does not give you the right to withhold rent or move out.

No. You may retain the law office of Alexander Patrick Johnson PL simply by emailing us your lease and the notice you used to terminate the tenancy i.e 3 day notice to pay rent, 7 day notice to cure lease violation, 30 day notice of non-renewal. We will then email you a retainer agreement for e-signature. The retainer is then paid electronically. The eviction will then be filed by us, often the same day. There is nothing else the landlord has to do other than meet the sheriff at the property to change the locks. If there is a court hearing, it will be on Zoom.

A 7 day notice is a notice to cure lease violation. The tenant is accusing you of breach of the lease terms. This may be a repair that is needed, or a breach of their right to “quiet enjoyment.” The landlord’s duty is to address the issues in a reasonable manner. Some issues can not be resolved in 7 days. You just have to act reasonably. If you do not, the tenant has two choices: 1) stop paying rent until the repair is completed or 2) move out if the property is uninhabitable. If the property is not uninhabitable and the tenant moves, then the tenant is breaking the lease. The tenant does not get any rent refunded, moving expenses, hotels, restaurants, or any other damages.

There are two main areas where a tenant attorney in Fort Lauderdale can help you: 1) make the landlord perform repairs 2) get my security deposit back.

Make the landlord repair something: Florida law requires the tenant to give the landlord a 7 day notice. You may email the 7 day notice to the landlord. Then the landlord has seven days to make a reasonable effort to make the repair. If the landlord does not, your remedy is to stop paying rent until it is done. Or if the property is not habitable, the tenant may move out.

Get my security deposit back: you will have to sue the landlord. If the amount is $8000 or less: small claims court. More than $8000, County Court. If the judge swards you any money back, the landlord will also have to pay your legal fees.

Who to name on the notice:  Name all persons named on the lease and any others who are responsible for paying the rent  or who have paid rent.  Do not name minors.

 Amount claimed:  You must state the amount of RENT due on the notice. Do not include any item that is not “rent” as defined in the lease.  I.e. do not include late fees, utilities, security deposit due, unspecified fees, attorney’s fees, court costs, or sheriff’s fees in the rent due.

The notice is defective if the rent claimed as due is too much, the notice is not defective if the rent demanded due is too little.  A valid notice is a prerequsite to filing an eviction complaint.  Therefore if your notice is deemed defective, you stand to loose the eviction suit and as the loosing party you are liable for the tenant’s legal fees!

When can you serve the notice? The 3 Day Notice can not be served before the rent is past due. I.e. if the rent is due on the first, you can not serve the notice before the 2nd.  Note that a grace period before a late fee is imposed does not mean that the rent is not late, so you do not always have to wait until the expiration of grace periods before serving the 3 Day Notice.  Check the wording of the lease carefully.    Post the notice on the door, do not mail the notice.  If you can not post the notice, hire a process server to post it.

Calculating the 3 days:  You must write the due date on the notice.  The three days are days that court is in session in the county the property is located in, not counting the day the notice is delivered.  Check  with the Clerk of Court for your county as each county celebrates different holidays.   A holiday schedule for Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach Counties is on the top of the landlord forms page on this website.  Example of calculating the 3 Days:  Rent is due  January 1, 2025, the rent is late on  Thursday January 2nd  and a 3 day notice may be issued that day.  Weekends do not count, so the 3 days are Friday,  Monday,  and Tuesday.  Therefore the due date is Tuesday January 7th.

 Landlord info:    You must put the landlord name as it appears on the deed or the lease.  If there are multiple landlaord names,  put all of them.  The landlord address must be a physical address in the same county as the rental proprety.  If the address is out of county or a post office box,  you must add five calendar days to the 3 days in calculating the due date for rent payment.

Flaws:  The 3 Day Notice is the document that actually terminates the tenancy,  so you can not  file  an eviction until you have served the tenant a property completed 3 day notice.  Until July 1, 2013 a defective notice would result in the dismissal of the case.  The new law suggests that the court will allow you submit a revised 3 day notice,  but this will still delay your case.

Common mistakes on the 3 day notice

Ÿ        Failure to state that Weekends and Holidays are excluded in the three days

Ÿ        Failure to state the amount of rent due.

Ÿ        Including fees that are not rent in the amout claimed.

Ÿ        Failure to include landlords name and address and phone number

Ÿ        Using a post office box as the landlord address.  It must be a physical address in the same              county.

Tenant tenders the rent:

Once the 3 Day Notice has been posted the tenant has until close of business on the due date to bring the rent to the landlord address on the notice.  If the tenant tenders the full amount of the rent during the 3 days the landlord must accept the payment. The landlord may demand payment in certified funds though.  If Landlord accepts any rent after 3 day notice, the three day notice is cancelled and a new one must issue before an eviction can be filed. The landlord may not hold a tenent’s tender of rental payment without being deemed to have accepted payment.  Acceptance of a check that bounces is still deemed acceptance of payment, which means a new 3 Day Notice would have to be issued after acceptance of a bad check.If the tenant has access to ACH payment of rent such as  Zelle, check your accounts for deposits.

The landord may reject a partial payment.  If the landlord accepts a partial payment, the landlord has to issue a new 3 Day Notice for the balance.  It is usually best to accept whatever payments you can get and issue a new  3 Day Notice for the balance due.   3 Day Notices are  free on  this website.

Florida law does not provide for a grace period. If you are renting month to month with no lease, the rent id due on the first of each month and late on the second. Florida law also does not provide for late fees. So in order for there to be a late fee you will have to have a written lease.

You must review the lease carefully as to the grace period. There are two versions it could take: 1) the rent is late after one day, but you have a grace period before you are assessed a late fee, or 2) you have a grace period and the rent is not late until after the grace period expires. The difference is subtle, but important as the landlord can not issue a 3 day notice until the rent is late. If an eviction is filed based on a 3 day notice was was issued too early, the tenant has grounds to have the case dismissed.

If some one is living in a residence that you either own, or on the lease and they are not paying you rent - they are not your tenant, but they are your guest. You can tell a guest to leave. Since the guest is not a tenant you do not give the guest any tenant forms like a 3 day notice to pay rent or a 30 day notice of non-renewal of a month to month oral tenancy. You just file a unlawful detainer law suit

a 7 day notice to cure lease violation is used where either the landlord of the tenant is violating the terms of the lease. This may be unauthorized pets, additional occupants not on the lease, loud parties etc. You must use the form issued by Florida Statues. You can get the free seven day notice form on our forms page. If the violation is not cured within the seven days, or is repeated after the seven days and within one year, the landlord may file the eviction

No. Florida Statutes are very clear in the procedure the tenant must follow and the remedy the tenant is entitled to.

To request repairs, the tenant must issue a 7 day notice to cure to the landlord. No other notification has any legal effect.

If the landlord fails to make a reasonable effort to complete the repairs in the 7 days, Florida law give the tenant a choice of either 1) moving out or 2) going on rent strike. Thats it. The tenant does not get to sue the landlord, does not get a refund, does not get a free hotel, does not get to do your own repairs and deduct from the rent.

You have a dispute with your landlord and you were smart enough to contact an eviction attorney in Broward. Now are you smart enough to listen to what the attorney has to tell you? Sadly, in many cases, the tenant is not smart enough to accept legal advise from an expert and argues with the attorney and gets angry at the answers. That is a tenant that is about to be evicted. A good landlord tenant attorney will give you the facts. Sometimes it is not good news, but there is no point going into a state of denial, when the sheriff is at your door step, its all over. Prepare for it.