Landlord gives a 7-day notice to tenant to cure default or vacate

Attorney Tom Olsen: Christy, one of the things that we often help people back with here in the state of Florida is landlords who have tenants that are not complying with the terms of the lease and the landlords want to know, Tom, what are we going to do to make them comply? Florida Statutes is very clear on that. They have what's called a seven-day notice to comply or otherwise move out of the property. We often use that here in the office.

Attorney Christine Merrill: We do. We are happy to help you, landlords, if you are in that situation. We have the attorneys and team here to be able to help you anywhere in the state of Florida.

Tom: Yes. There are some common situations where you find that a tenant is not complying with the terms of the lease. One might be, for example, that your tenant is obligated to mow and maintain the grass and the grounds around the house and you're a landlord, you're driving around and it looks pretty shabby over there and got to give them a seven-day notice to get that lawn mowed and get things cleaned up around there. Another one often is that your lease might say that the tenant is allowed to have one dog and usually when you do that, you say one dog, describe the type of dog it is and it weighs 25 pounds and no other pets. Next thing you know your tenant's got other pets, dogs and cats living there, maybe because they let somebody move in with them and that somebody has pets of their own. That's another situation where you give the tenant a seven-day notice to cure, get rid of those additional pets, failing to do so, you'd be allowed to evict that tenant if you needed to.

Christy: Very important information for landlords out there to know that there is a remedy.

Tom: Yes. Now when you do the seven-day notice to cure to tenants and let's just say that the lease provides that they can have one pet, but the next thing you know there's three pets living there. Yes. You got to give them a seven-day notice, a seven-day opportunity to cure. If they don't cure within that seven days, yes, as a landlord, you can start doing the eviction. You're only obligated to give them only one opportunity to cure. If they cure and three months later, all of a sudden now there's four dogs living there when there's only supposed to be one, you don't have to give them another opportunity to cure. You, as a landlord, you can go straight to an eviction this time.

Christy: Important. Very important to know that.

Tom: By the way, the Florida statutes defines in what situations a landlord is obligated to give that tenant an opportunity to cure. One for example, is you got too many pets living there, but there are some situations where a landlord does not need to give the tenant an opportunity to cure. That is when the tenant is doing destruction to the property. With destruction to the property, if you went into the house and man, you can see the tenant got angry and punched a hole in the door. You don't have to give them an opportunity to cure when they're doing destruction to your property as a landlord. You can go straight to an eviction process.

Christy: Very important to understand the distinction, the difference. I think too, when you're talking about the pets and I think that the example, Tom of one pet was approved, but now there's two or three or four that also goes to the lease and how important it is that the proper lease identifies exactly what your criteria is for the pet. Then now fast forward to again, where they can be noticed and have to cure that they need to comply with their lease at one pet. Now they have four that could be grounds for an eviction.

Tom: Yes. By the way, if you're a landlord, when you're putting together your lease, you should definitely be talking about pets. By the way, you're going to find out there that most people do have pets. If you're a landlord and saying, I'm not going to rent to anybody with pets where you're knocking out 80% of the field of people that might want to rent your property. The fact of the matter these days is you've got to pretty much, if you want to rent it, you got to allow pets, but you should take an inventory of what the tenants have. They've got a Bernedoodle that's 45 pounds, that's named Max. You should literally be identifying what pets are bringing into it and into the property. Then you say no additional pets without the landlord's permission because you might have approved a 45-pound Bernedoodle, but you can't just say one dog because next thing the Bernedoodle is gone, but they got 110-pound pit bull in your house. Those are two completely different pets.

Christy: Correct. My understanding is too, that more and more landlords, they are putting in the pet in the lease. You're correct, Tom. They're saying 45-pound Bernedoodle named Max is in the lease.

Tom: Exactly. We recommend it.

Christy: That's what will give the protection for what you were talking about, which is the Bernedoodle goes away, but now there's a 200-pound dog. By having that particular breed, kind, size, even name of the pet in there also is, what is it doing? It's just helping more to protect you as the landlord.

Tom: Exactly. While we're on the point about pets and what pets and how many pets can be in the house, if you're a landlord, your lease should definitely be identifying how many people can live in the house, how many adults and how many children.

Christy: Correct.

Tom: Because what you don't want to do is release the two people and next thing you got seven people living in the home and leave me that can and does happen.

Christy: It does.

Tom: You don't want it because it's putting all kinds of wear and tear on your property that you were not expecting and the rent for two people is completely insufficient when you talk about seven people that might be living in the property.

Christy: That's right.

Tom: If you're a landlord, it is important for you to have a good lease and I would suggest to you that you may want to have your lease reviewed here at the Olsen Law Group. We're going to review that for you. Now, if Olsen Law Group, if we help you to draft a good lease, you're going to use it for these tenants and hey, you can use that form going down the road for your next tenants. The point is you want to start with a good lease as a landlord. If you are a landlord and you're having problems with your tenant, call the Olsen Law Group or contact us through our website, our phone number 407-423-5561. Our website, olsenlawgroup.com. Hey everybody, thanks so much for all your great calls and questions. We do so much appreciate it. My name is Tom Olsen. The name of the show is Olsen on Law.

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