A common pitfall to avoid when trying to evict a tenant in Broward County

Any landlord who has had the misfortune of having their eviction lawsuit dismissed will tell you that if you don’t properly receive the 3-Day Notice, you risk having to spend more money to refile your lawsuit and pay the landlord’s attorney fees. tenant. There are many nuances to this filing that will lead to your lawsuit being dismissed, but for the purposes of this article, we will specifically address when the Broward County Court requires an 8-day Notice instead of the standard 3-day version.

Chapter 83, the Florida statute that all property owners should be familiar with, provides legal guidance for filing a 3-day notice in Florida. Although the statute is designed to be simple, many jurisdictions have interpreted it in different ways, making it difficult for someone other than an attorney to successfully evict a tenant. Broward County is one of those jurisdictions where the judges are divided.

In Broward County, some judges will dismiss your case if you don’t add an extra 5 days to the 3-day notice. Depending on which judge you get, this could end up costing you a lot of money. If your case is dismissed, you may have to pay the Tenant’s attorney fees in addition to the cost of refiling. This is different than prevailing case law in Palm Beach, Miami-Dade, and most other Florida counties that closely follow Chapter 83 guidelines.

Although the statute clearly states that you must give the tenant 3 days’ notice, several judges in Broward County will require the tenant to have an additional 5 days for mailing if you and the tenant live in different cities, such as West Palm Beach , different counties, or different states. In one case, the tenant and landlord lived 2.3 miles apart. However, because they lived in different counties, the judge dismissed the case and ordered the landlord to pay attorney’s fees, even though the landlord complied with the statute. This may seem counterintuitive or unfair to property owners, but it is the state of the law in Broward County.

The solution seems clear to homeowners trying to evict in Ft. Lauderdale and Broward County in general. If you are not sure whether to post the 3-Day or 8-Day Notice, consider whether you and the tenant live in different cities, counties, or states. It is better to serve 8 days notice and have a successful eviction, rather than risk having your case dismissed and paying the tenant attorney’s fees.