Ejectment Possession Actions Law In Florida

If you own a property in Florida that you rent out, you need to be aware of a variety of different legal actions that you might need to take against a renter to force them to move out. There are also times when someone moves into a property without permission or in relation to a former tenant and will not leave. There are specific legal actions that are required to be used in each kind of circumstance, and landlords need to follow these laws to the letter when removing unwanted parties from their property.

The Florida Ejectment Law exists for a very specific set of circumstances. Due to the complexities of the situations that might require the use of this law, having a skilled lawyer working on your case can be a big benefit to you as a landlord. Lopes Law Group has years of experience working on these kinds of cases and can defend your rights as a property owner with attention to detail.

What is an Ejectment?

The ejectment law in Florida exists to make sure that landlords can force people who did not engage in a proper lease or rental agreement to move out of a property. The most common reason that this situation arises is when family or someone like a significant other has moved into a property along with a documented renter or lessee. When the person who has the contract with the landlord moves out, the other parties want to stay and refuse to leave.

This law can be used to remove someone who has taken up residence without permission as well, such as a squatter. There are various possible remedies to this situation that can be pursued in relation to the ejectment action. You might elect to try and demand that the current resident enter into an official rental contract and become a tenant, or you can elect to demand that the person remove from the property as soon as the ejectment order is finalized.

What is an Ejectment Possession Action?

In the state of Florida, an Ejectment Possession Action is used to gain possession of the property from a person who has taken up residence without permission. This is not the same as an eviction, as the party involved did not enter into a formal contract with you before moving in. You can use the possession action to get your property back from someone who has decided to squat on your property without being granted the right to do so or to move out people who moved into the home with a documented renter who has since left.

This law requires that you prove a few things about the property in question in order to access its benefits to compel someone to move out. You will need to show that:

1.       You hold legal title to the subject property
2.       2. The person who is on the property is in the wrong and was not granted permission to reside there.

As the plaintiff, you will actually bear the burden of proving that the person who is in residence should not be living on the property and needs to remove from it. While this might seem like it is not fair, the party who is in residence might have legal rights to live there. There are instances where ejectment actions cannot be brought against a tenant or resident despite the desires of the owner of the property.

In some cases, this law can be helpful if there is extended family or other parties who might believe that they have a legal right to live on a property. In these cases, even if the person is a relation of the property owner, they might not have any legal right to live on the property. Ownership of the property is key in these kinds of disputes, and the determination of who can reside on the property is up to the legal owner of the property in question. Even family relations might not have a legal right to reside somewhere if they do not own the property.

In other situations, one person involved in a marriage or romantic relationship owns a home in their name alone. When the relationship ends, the other party might try to claim that they have the right to remain on the property because they have helped pay the mortgage or the rent. However, in these cases, ownership of the property is again the default requirement to determine who should remain on the property and who needs to remove per legal order.

Even if you have helped to pay for the upkeep of a property, the rent to live there, or other costs related to the household, if you do not own the property in question or have a valid rental agreement that names you as a tenant, you cannot remain on the property once the landlord or owner asks you to leave.

Who Brings the Suit for Ejectment in the State of Florida?

The person who owns the property is the person who can bring forward an ejectment action against an unwanted resident. Legal precedent in all states indicates that all named renters will have the right to dispute the ejectment action, but all parties who are not named on the rental agreement or who are not named owners on the mortgage are not allowed to remain in residence following an ejectment order.

In cases where one party has wrongfully taken an ouster action against another renter or owner, ejectment can be the only resolution that can end the dispute. These situations are quite common when there are disputes between the parties who own or rent out a property, but there is no legal precedent that allows one party to change the locks or prevent entry to another owner of the property.

Either party could bring suit in a case where there is joint ownership of a property involved, but typically the party who was locked out or who was prevented from accessing the property will be the one who brings a suit. These kinds of legal situations can be quite complex, and the team at Lopez Law can help defend the rights of those who have had an ouster action committed against them.

Is an Ejectment the Same as an Eviction?

There is an important distinction between Ejectment law and evictions. Evictions are legal actions that are taken against proper tenants who have signed a lease or rental agreement to live on the property. There is an entire, completely separate process that is used to evict a tenant who has gone against the rental agreement in some fashion and needs to leave a property.

Ejectment law is distinct from eviction law due to the fact that it is meant to remove parties with no written contract, which allows them to be a resident on the property. There are various situations where ejectment can apply, and in these situations, the various kinds of notification that are required for eviction are not necessary.

If you are not sure which situation requires which kinds of actions, you will want to secure a skilled lawyer to help you to navigate the ejectment process. Make sure that you do not take actions such as changing the locks or removing the property of the person who is in residence before the ejectment process is complete. These kinds of errors can cloud the case and can make it harder for someone to be removed from a property so that you can get back to renting to proper tenants.

If you have taken actions that you should not have taken against the current resident, you might run into issues with regard to the betterment part of the ejectment. During this phase of the ejectment process, you are able to seek compensation for damage to the property and cleanup that needs to be done related to the party in residence who was not legally entitled to live there. If you have taken actions that are not allowed under Florida law prior to seeking an ejectment order, you might not be allowed to seek betterment to get your property back to the condition it was in before the unwanted guest caused damage.

Working With a Skilled Legal Team Matters

If you are attempting to remove someone who has no legal right to live on your property, you will want to be sure that you secure the help of a skilled legal team. The team at Lopez Law Group has years of experience in these kinds of cases and can ensure that you can seek a favorable outcome in your case. Removing someone who should not be in residence on your property can be a complicated process without the support of a legal expert.

Contact us today and come in for a consultation. We will help gather the facts necessary to work on removing someone from your property who should not be in residence. Navigating ejectment possessions actions and ejectment law is much easier with a skilled legal expert on your side.

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