The Florida 3-day notice: what it must say
Section 83.56(3) supplies the wording. The notice states the amount owed for rent, the address of the unit including the county, a demand for payment or possession within 3 days excluding Saturday, Sunday and legal holidays, the exact expiration date, and your name, address and phone number. Only court-observed holidays count as legal holidays.
Demand rent only. Adding late fees, utilities or other charges that the lease doesn’t define as rent invites a defective-notice defense. The court must let you fix a defective notice or pleading before dismissing under 83.60(1)(a), but that costs time.
- Count from the day after delivery, and skip weekends and court holidays.
- Put the expiration date in the notice. A notice delivered on a Tuesday expires at the end of Friday.
- Deliver it by mail, by hand, by e-mail if the tenant agreed in writing under 83.505, or by leaving it at the unit if the tenant is absent, under 83.56(4).
The 7-day notices for lease violations
Section 83.56(2) has two versions, each with required wording. The curable version gives 7 days to fix problems such as unauthorized pets, guests or vehicles, or failing to keep the unit clean. If the same conduct recurs within 12 months, you can file without another notice.
The non-curable version terminates the lease and gives 7 days to vacate. It covers intentional damage to property, fraudulent entry of a dwelling under 817.537(2), a continued unreasonable disturbance, or a repeat of a violation within 12 months of a written warning.
Partial rent and waiver
Accepting rent with knowledge of a violation waives your right to evict for that violation under 83.56(5)(a), but accepting partial rent does not. If you take partial rent after posting a 3-day notice, you must do one of three things before or when you file: give the tenant a receipt showing the date, amount, agreed due date and balance; put the partial payment in the court registry when you file; or serve a new 3-day notice for the new balance.
For subsidized tenants, waiver doesn’t apply to the agency’s share of the rent, but you waive the violation if you don’t file within 45 days of learning about it, under 83.56(5)(c).
Ending a month-to-month tenancy
A month-to-month tenancy ends with at least 30 days’ written notice before the end of a monthly period under 83.57(3), a change made in 2023. Week-to-week tenancies need 7 days. Florida has no statewide just-cause rule, and the rest of the notice and deposit rules are in our Florida landlord-tenant law guide.
Filing the eviction in county court
File a complaint for possession in the county court where the building is located under 83.59(2). Your property manager can sign and file the initial complaint, but after that only an attorney can act for you in the case. Evictions get the summary procedure of 51.011, and the court is directed to advance the case on its calendar.
You can join a claim for unpaid rent with the claim for possession. The tenant is served with an eviction summons that explains the registry requirement, because 83.60(2) says the clerk must give that notice in the summons.
The 5-day answer and the court registry
The tenant has 5 days, excluding Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays, after service to respond. If the tenant raises any defense other than payment, including a defective 3-day notice, the tenant must also pay the rent alleged in the complaint into the court registry, or file a motion to determine rent with supporting documents, and keep paying rent into the registry as it comes due, under 83.60(2).
Missing that deposit is an absolute waiver of every defense except payment, and you’re entitled to an immediate default judgment with a writ of possession, without further notice or hearing. Under 83.56(5)(b), the court can’t even set mediation or trial until the deposit requirement is met. Subsidized tenants deposit only their share.
Trial, new trial and appeal deadlines
If the tenant deposits and contests, the case goes to mediation or trial. Under 51.011, either side can demand a jury within 5 days after the case comes to issue, a motion for new trial is due within 5 days after judgment, and a notice of appeal must be filed within 30 days of the judgment.
A tenant’s habitability defense needs a written 7-day notice to you before rent was withheld, under 83.60(1)(b). Retaliation is a defense under 83.64, but it fails if you show good cause, such as a good-faith nonpayment case.
The writ of possession and the tenant’s belongings
After judgment, the clerk issues a writ to the sheriff, who posts it on the unit. The sheriff can put you in possession after 24 hours, and weekends and holidays don’t pause that clock under 83.62(1).
When the writ is executed, or any time after, you or your agent may move the tenant’s property to or near the property line. You can ask the sheriff to stand by while you change locks and clear the unit, at the sheriff’s hourly rate, and neither you nor the sheriff is liable for the property after removal under 83.62(2).
Self-help is a costly mistake
Under 83.67, you can’t cut off utilities, change the locks, use a boot lock, remove doors, windows or the roof, or take the tenant’s belongings outside of a lawful eviction, surrender or abandonment. The penalty is the greater of actual and consequential damages or three months’ rent, plus attorney’s fees, and repeated violations bring separate awards.
Abandonment is presumed only after an absence equal to half the rental period with rent unpaid and no notice from the tenant, under 83.59(3)(c).
Federal rules: CARES Act notice and the SCRA
For a building with a federally backed mortgage or in a covered federal program, 15 U.S.C. 9058(c) bars requiring a tenant to vacate until 30 days after notice. The moratorium in that section expired in 2020, but courts are split on whether the 30-day notice still applies, so serving 30 days at a covered building is the safer course. Before a default, file the military status affidavit required by 50 U.S.C. 3931.
Florida eviction timeline
Minimum periods in a nonpayment case. Clerk, judge and sheriff processing time comes on top.
| Step | Deadline | Rule |
|---|---|---|
| 3-day notice for unpaid rent | 3 days, excluding weekends and court holidays | Fla. Stat. 83.56(3) |
| 7-day notice, curable or non-curable | 7 days from delivery | 83.56(2) |
| Month-to-month termination | 30 days before end of a monthly period | 83.57(3) |
| Tenant answer and registry deposit | 5 days, excluding weekends and legal holidays | 83.60(2); 51.011(1) |
| Default if no deposit | Immediate, no hearing | 83.60(2) |
| Motion for new trial | 5 days after judgment | 51.011(4) |
| Notice of appeal | 30 days after judgment | 51.011(5) |
| Sheriff’s posted notice | 24 hours, weekends included | 83.62(1) |
| Waiver for subsidy tenants | File within 45 days of knowledge | 83.56(5)(c) |
Worked example: a Florida nonpayment eviction in March
Assume a two-bedroom renting for $1,900 a month in a 20-unit Orlando building, rent due Monday, March 1, 2027, and an assumed $1,000 flat fee for an uncontested eviction. You deliver the 3-day notice on Tuesday, March 2. It expires at the end of Friday, March 5.
You file Monday, March 8, and the tenant is served Tuesday, March 9. Five business days run through Tuesday, March 16, with no answer and no deposit. Assume the court enters default and the clerk issues the writ on Thursday, March 18, and the sheriff posts it the same day. You get the unit back Friday, March 19.
That is 18 days from the due date. At $62.47 a day, the lost rent is $1,124.38, or $2,124.38 with the fee. If the tenant deposits the rent and contests, assume trial three weeks later. The registry deposit should cover most of the gap, but if it doesn’t, the floor rises to 39 days and $3,436.16.
| Scenario | Days to possession | Lost rent | With fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| Default, no registry deposit | 18 | $1,124.38 | $2,124.38 |
| Contested, trial three weeks later (assumption) | 39 | $2,436.16 | $3,436.16 |
Payment plans and cash for keys
If you agree to a payment plan after the notice, handle the partial rent rules in 83.56(5) first, or the plan can undo your notice. Put the schedule in writing and state that the notice remains in effect.
Cash for keys is a signed agreement where the tenant leaves by a set date in exchange for a payment at key return, often with a mutual release of the unpaid rent. It is useful when a tenant can afford the registry deposit and a contested case would take longer.
Selling a Florida building with an eviction pending
A pending eviction doesn’t stop a sale. The buyer takes subject to the leases, and the contract should say who continues the case, who pays the attorney and who receives money in the court registry. Provide the notice, proof of delivery, the complaint, any partial rent receipts and tenant estoppel certificates for the rest of the rent roll.
Selling your Florida apartment building to Skyline
Skyline Capital Investments buys apartment buildings with five or more units across Florida, including occupied buildings with tenants in default or evictions already filed. Send the address and unit count using the form on this page or call (469) 660-2977. We typically respond within 48 hours.
