The following article will briefly overview the eviction process in Charlotte County, Florida. As a landlord tenant lawyer based in Venice, Florida I routinely handle evictions in Charlotte County. The specific steps in Charlotte County are generally no different than any other County in the State of Florida, however, there are little differences from Sarasota and Manatee. I won’t dive too deep into the nitty gritty, but will provide a basic overview.

As always, this article is for information purposes only. Reading this article does not create any sort of attorney-client relationship. Consult with an attorney before attempting your own eviction.

Begin with Your Notice

Typically to evict a tenant in Florida you need to provide them with some sort of notice. Usually it’s a 3-Day notice for non-payment of rent, but you also have 7-day notices for material noncompliances other than non-payment of rent, and then you have the at least 30-day notice to terminate a month-to-month lease for holdover tenant evictions.

Regardless of the specific notice required for your case, it is hugely important that the notice is properly drafted per Florida statues and is properly served on the tenants. I like to draft all of the notices on the cases I work on, and I have all notices served via a professional process server. That way there is no question that the notice was drafted and served properly. I sometimes see landlords attempt to cut corners in the notice department by serving the notice themselves or mailing the notice. I think that is a mistake that could cost the landlord a lot of time and money in the long run. I recommend spending the time and money to do this right to avoid potential heartache down the line.

Once the notice is properly served, you have to give the tenants time to respond to the notice. Again, care needs to be taken to comply with this requirement, especially with 3-day notices where weekends and Court holidays are not part of the 3 day waiting period. If the tenants fail to respond to the notice, then the next step is to file a lawsuit.

Filing The Lawsuit

If your notice goes unanswered (as they sometimes do), the next step in the process is to prepare a lawsuit and file it with the Charlotte County Clerk of Court. The heart of your lawsuit is the complaint, a document that outlines the nature of your lawsuit. I custom draft each complaint based on the situation. A non-payment of rent case is different from a holdover case. Regardless of who drafts it, the complaint needs to meet the requirements of Florida law, the Florida Rules of Civil Procedure, and sufficiently outline who the parties out, spell out what is going on, and the relief requested. Again, it is important to take the time out to draft a coherent complaint so that the Judge understands what happened (or didn’t happen), and can award the appropriate relief at the end of the case.

Along with the complaint the Clerk will need to issue one or more summonses. The summons is used to notify the defendant that a lawsuit has been filed against them and provides them with instructions on how to respond.

You will have to pay a filing fee to open the case, and you will have to pay a small fee for each summons issued. Once your complaint has been filed and your summonses have been issued it is time to call the process server back again and have the complaint and summons served on the tenant. Once the complaint and summons have been properly served, the tenant will have 5 business days to respond to the complaint.

Next Steps

The tenant has 5 days after being served with the complaint and summons to respond to the eviction lawsuit. If the tenant fails to respond the landlord can proceed with obtaining a Default Judgment of Possession. This is just what it sounds like: the landlord wins by default. If the tenant does respond, they need to do so in accordance with Florida law. At this point my office will file some sort of motion in response to the tenant’s response.

Ultimately the Judge will either decide the case based on the paperwork filed, or set the matter for a hearing. At this point the case can go in any number of directions. This is why it’s really important to spend the time to make sure the notice is properly drafted and served, the complaint is correct, etc. Usually it takes about 3 weeks to get to this point in a typical non-payment of rent case, so if it turns out there is a problem with an initial notice then a bunch of time (and money) is wasted.

Obtaining a Judgment for Possession

If the case has been properly set up, eventually the Landlord will obtain a Judgment of Possession. This is the ultimate goal of the case. A Judgment of Possession is a piece of paper that the Judge signs granting the landlord possession of the property. With this Judgment the landlord can obtain a Writ of Possession that will order the Sheriff to remove the tenant (after the landlord pays the Sheriff $90.00). Ultimately someone will need to meet with the Sheriff at the property to inspect the premises and have the locks changed.

I always recommend that the landlord execute the Writ of Possession, even if the tenant has already left, and to remove any personal property left behind by the tenant at the time the Writ is executed by the Sheriff. This helps insulate the landlord from liability.

Charlotte County Evictions – Final Thoughts

I hope this overview of the eviction process in Charlotte County was useful. Generally, for a non-payment of rent case you are looking at a minimum of 3.5 weeks to remove a tenant. Sometimes it takes 6 weeks if there is a hearing, and if the process is screwed up for whatever reason I have seen it take months. That is why I always recommend to my clients that they move quickly with problem tenants in order to minimize their damages and to hire an attorney who is familiar with landlord tenant law.

Also, you will notice that there is no mention of seeking back rent from the tenant in this article. This is because seeking back rent is rarely feasible for the landlord. Often tenants who can’t afford to pay the rent are uncollectible and it’s not worth it to pursue a small money judgment against them. The best thing to do is move quickly and decisively.

And again, this article is for information purposes – consult with a lawyer if you are thinking about evicting a tenant. That lawyer doesn’t have to be me, but of course I would greatly appreciate the opportunity to speak with you. I am always more than happy to help you weigh your options and discuss your case. Please feel free to call my office at (941)-882-4367 or send me an email at dan@danpolicastrolaw.com.

If you are a landlord renting property the bedrock to that landlord/tenant business relationship is the lease. You need a lease that protects your interests and your property. You need a lease that clearly defines the rights of the parties and remedies in the event of a breach, and you need a lease that conforms to Florida law. Ideally, you also want a lease that is easy for everyone to understand and not written in a bunch of legal mumbo jumbo.

As a landlord tenant attorney here in Sarasota County I review leases and litigate landlord tenant disputes on a daily basis. I hate to say it, but I have had some ugly leases cross my desk. Whether they are form leases improperly filled out, “custom” leases cobbled together from who knows where, or a handwritten lease, all manner of residential leases cross my desk. These contracts represent thousands of dollars of rental payments, with people’s property and livelihoods hanging in the balance.

If you run into a problem with your tenant and the matter has to go to court, a vague or unclear lease is read in the light least favorable to the party that drafted it. Typically the landlord drafts the lease, so if there is a section of the lease that could go “either way” the Judge is going to read it in the tenant’s favor. A poor lease is a liability and a problem waiting to happen. It can also be very difficult and expensive to undo a bad lease.

I’ve also picked up a number of tricks as I’ve seen the pain points of residential leases get tested to the breaking point. I’ve attended hearings, conducted trials, and heard the hard truth from the Judge’s mouth about how certain clauses are interpreted. I’ve gotten money judgements and judgments for possession. I’ve removed all kinds of people from all kinds of property. And as someone dealing with the hairiest landlord tenant disputes I’ve also seen some pretty interesting problems. After all, no one is going to pay my rate to handle a cream-puff landlord tenant problem; typically I only get called in when the client is in trouble and the chips are truly down. Abandoned property, self-help evictions, tenants stealing appliances, tenants who haven’t paid rent for months, people dying in the subject property, drugs, prostitutes, wild animals, toaster fires burning down the entire building… you can’t make this stuff up. The list stretches on, and the law gets updated every year, and I work to best serve the interests of my clients.

Here are a few areas of the lease that I see a lot of landlords get wrong:

• Lease Duration
• Security Deposits (the statutes were updated in 2014 with new mandatory language that needs to be included in every lease)
• Late fees
• The Landlord’s responsibilities for maintenance and repair
• The Tenant’s responsibilities for maintenance and repair
• Liquidated Damages
• Early Termination
• Tenant’s personal property in the event of abandonment
• Termination in the event of damage to the unit (whether it’s the Tenant’s fault or not)
• Inspection Provisions

I can’t say that an airtight lease will ensure that the rent is timely paid, but I can say that having a good lease in place starts things out on the right foot, and a bad lease can really hurt the unwary landlord.

This is why I offer residential lease drafting services. To be clear about this: I do not provide forms. I draft custom leases tailored to my clients’ specific needs, and I provide my clients with .pdf and editable versions of the documents. Typically these services are performed for a modest flat fee. Sure you could save a few hundred dollars trying to play lawyer and write your own lease, but for savvy business owners a professionally drafted lease is a prudent investment and a cost of doing business.

Feel free to call (941) 882-4367 or email dan@danpolicastrolaw.com to discuss your specific rental situation and to draft a lease tailored to your needs.