Evictions and non-payment in Tampa

Versaggi Management, a Tampa company led by Russ Versaggi, takes your call about missed rent at 813-254-5338.

We manage single-family homes, condominiums, townhomes and apartment buildings in Hillsborough and Pinellas counties. Call us or tell us the address and the amount owed in a proposal request, and Russ will talk through your rental with you. For unpaid rent we follow a step-by-step legal notification process, and the owner must approve an eviction before we proceed with legal means. Once the owner approves, Versaggi files the eviction and serves the legal Notice to Vacate to retake possession. If the tenant has not left, the owner pays about $500 in process server and writ of possession fees, which vary slightly. Cleaning and repairs after a move-out cost the same as after any ordinary move-out. A separate lawsuit for unpaid rent can need an attorney, and we avoid one whenever we can.

A written notice demanding the rent or possession within 3 days, not counting Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays.

Section 83.56 of the Florida Statutes sets a form for it. The notice states the amount owed, identifies the rented address and county, gives a deadline date and carries the landlord's name, address and phone number. If the rent is still unpaid when the deadline passes, the landlord may file for possession in county court. A lawyer can check that a notice is correct before it is delivered.

The law sets minimums for each step, and the total depends on whether the tenant answers and on the court calendar.

The notice runs 3 days and the tenant then has 5 days after service to respond and pay the rent into the court registry (83.60). If the tenant does neither, the landlord may get a default judgment and a writ without a further hearing. Once the writ is posted the sheriff may act after 24 hours (83.62). Because a hearing adds time, no company can promise a date.

No. Section 83.67 forbids both, and the tenant may recover damages.

A landlord may not interrupt water, heat, electricity, gas or other utility service, and may not block a tenant's access by changing locks or using a bootlock. The tenant can recover actual and consequential damages or 3 months' rent, whichever is greater, plus costs and attorney's fees. Removal of a tenant goes through the court and the sheriff, whether the owner or a manager handles the rental.