Three Day Notice in Palm Beach County
Posted: February 19th, 2014
Evictions in Palm Beach County
by Glenn Gurvitch
Evictions in Palm Beach County can be tricky but as long as you follow the Florida Statutes to a tee then you should be fine. At our company we have a system set up with the following rules in a place to ensure that we issue a proper three day notice early in the month so a tenant does not use the court system as a way to live rent free. Rent is due on the first of the month and is generally considered late if not paid by the fifth of the month. We would like to say that all of our tenants pay rent on time but thats not the case every time as life's events sometimes cause tenants to be delayed in making payment. If we do not receive rental payments at our office or via our online portal system by the 6th of the month we will begin the eviction process.
Three Day Notice
Three day notices are important and must be followed precisely. This is not legal advice and if legal advise is sought please call your attorney. Common pitfalls that owners fall into is that they do not put the correct dates on the three day notices. The day of servicing does not count as one of the days and neither do weekends and legal holidays. If you are concerned about legal holidays you can search what holidays are observed by the Palm Beach County Courthouse.
Calculating how many days the tenant has to make a pay of leave the home is very important. If you calculate the three day incorrectly then the judge could ultimately dismiss the case and the eviction process will have to be started from the beginning.
The chart below illustrates when a proper 3 day notice expires. See below:
|
Day Served |
Notice Expires Midnight of |
|
Monday |
Thursday |
|
Tuesday |
Friday |
|
Wednesday |
Monday |
|
Thursday |
Tuesday |
|
Friday |
Wednesday |
|
Saturday |
Thursday |
|
Sunday |
Thursday |
What happens after the Three Day Notice
After the third day has elapsed we will the lease and a copy of the Three Day Notice to one of our qualified eviction attorneys. The law office will contact you for payment which is usually $200 for their services and around $300 for court fees and process servicing ( This amount will vary depending on how many tenants there are ). The law office will file a complaint for tenant eviction and file with the Court. Once the tenant has been served with the legal proceedings they will have 5 business days to respond or place funds in the Court registry. Most of the time the tenant will not contest the eviction proceedings and the eviction will run its course and after 2-3 weeks and the clerk will issue a default against the tenant. If a tenant contests the eviction then a hearing will likely be scheduled with the tenant and our attorney. The attorney's we use charge about $375 to prepare for and attend the hearing. At the hearing if the judge sides with the landlord then a default will be entered and then the tenant will have a few days to remove their belongings so we can take over the premises.
What happens when a Writ of Possession has been issued?
After the writ has been issued the Sheriff ( if a Sheriff Information has been filled out correctly ) will call the property manager to meet at the property to execute the writ of possession and if there are tenants or belongings at the property they will be escorted off the premises along with their belongings.
General Summary ( these are averages and not guarantees of cost or time for evictions )
Uncontested Evictions
Three day notice posting: Free by My Area Realty
Cost: $200 Attorney Fees and $300 Court Costs
Time: 3-4 Weeks
Contested Evictions
Three day notice posting: Free by My Area Realty
Cost: Attorney Fees + 1 Hearing $595 and $300 in Court Costs
Time: 4-6 Weeks
If you have any questions please call me at 561.516.5283.