Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Florida

Re: Landlord/tenant in foreclosure

An eviction can be done within a week of you holding over (holding over means staying when the lease is up). It can take longer, but it's a safe bet that it will over within 2 weeks. The steps are:

1) court case gets filed by the bank and paperwork gets served on you

2) there will be a hearing 5 days after you get served with the paperwork (20 days if they are suing for money and not just to get you out; they can get double rent for the time you are there after your lease ends)

3) at the hearing the judge will issue an order for you to be out within 24 hours (unless you show why you shouldn't be evicted)

4) the sheriff watches while the landlord has you move out and takes the property back

A lease does not have to be written in order for you to be a tenant and get rights as a tenant. If the bank has accepted a monthly payment but you do not have an agreement with the bank as to when the lease ends, then you are the bank's tenant on a month-to-month rental. To end the lease, the bank must give you 15 days notice before the end of a monthly period. If the bank has accepted a rental payment from you and did not give you the 15 days notice, then that is a defense that you can raise in court at the hearing to evict you. If so, then presumeably, the bank would give you the appropriate amount of notice and then evict you. (If you pay rent on a weekly basis and the bank has accepted rent, then the bank has to give you only 7 days notice, which they've done.)