Q: Im a landlord. I need to try to evict a tenant
A:
Knowing how to evict a tenant is Landlord 101. Here's what I recommend that you do:
1. Hire an attorney to handle this tenant removal from start to finish. We can't get you up to speed in a Q&A forum.
2. Assuming the attorney you hire is someone whom you will want to use in the future, do that. When you have a question to which you cannot find the answer on your own, ask that attorney. You might have to pay for that sort of service but it is more than well worth the $$ spent. Hire him or her on the next tenant removal.
3. Educate yourself by reading chapter 83, Florida Statutes. Keep a copy of the documents form this eviction case for reference. Join landlord groups online or in person. This is a business, just like owning an auto repair shop or owning a trucking company. You have to know your business and how to run it. If you treat landlording as a side business, you are going to suffer the consequences of bad decisionmaking because you would be foundering around in the dark. We don't want that to happen to you. We want you to know how to pick good tenants, to have a good and enforceable lease (this is where having an attorney is critical), and how to terminate the lease properly so you are not exposed to liability.
4. As to this situation - DO NOT under any circumstances, change the locks, cut off water, electricity, or heat, or internet, or anything else. Do not hang around the property, contact the tenant incessantly, etc. Good luck!
Barbara Billiot Stage and Terrence H Thorgaard agree with this answer
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