Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Florida

Dear Sir/Madam:

You will have to evict the person. You have two options.

1 is for nonpayment of rent if that is the case in which case you have to give him a 3 days notice (business days). However if he pays you the rent you are back to where you started. He will have 5 days to pay it and if not you can obtain a default judgment. With the judgment issued you can request a writ of possession and evict him with the sheriff. Sheriff will give him 24 hours to vacate.

2. You can also give him a 15 days termination notice (if the rent is paid month to month). After the 15 days you can file in your county clerk an action for eviction and serve it to the tenant via sheriff and/or process server. The tenant will have 15 days to respond. Since there is no written lease he will have no defense and you will obtain a final judgment of eviction. After that you will have to request from clerk a writ of possession which will be executed by the sheriff who will give you tenant 24 hrs to vacate or throw his property in the street.

In either situation the process is not complicated but it should be handled by a knowledgeable attorney as there are many details that have to be considered. The tenant has some defenses and you might have to also go to mediation.

I handle evictions in Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties. If you need help you can contact my office we charge $400 for an eviction plus filing fees which are 185 filing, 10 summons, 40 service, 115 sheriff for writ.

Best of Luck!

Sincerely yours,

Daniel Lenghea

Abandonment of the premises can terminate the lease agreement as well. Your facts are not detailed enough to determine if that occurred. It would be best to evict but not necessarily required. seek some legal advice with all the relevant facts.