How Long Does it Take to Evict a Florida Tenant?

At Dispute, users are often asking us "How long does the eviction process take in Florida?" In our experience, it takes approximately 20 - 40 days to complete the eviction of a resident of your rental property in Florida.

The pandemic caused a considerable backlog of cases, particularly with the eviction moratorium ending, so you may experience a delay depending upon your local court. The process can also take longer if your resident contests the eviction.

For example, if the resident believes you didn’t meet the obligations for keeping the property in good repair or if you changed the locks on them illegally.

That said, these are our best estimates of the typical time spent on each step:

1. Serve eviction notice: 3 - 7 days
2. File eviction lawsuit: 2 - 7 days
3. Serve eviction papers: 1 - 4 days
4. Await a response: 1 - 7 days
5. Court enters a default judgment or assigns a hearing date: 5 - 7 days
6. The clerk of court enters a writ of possession: 1 - 4 days
7. Sheriff executes the writ of possession: 3 - 7 days
   1. Total: 15 - 43 days

Other Frequently Asked Florida Eviction Questions:

• After I give notice through my unlawful detainer, what do I do?
  • Once notice has been provided, the next step is to file a complaint for eviction and then request that the Clerk issue a Summons. This will then need to be delivered to the Sheriff or process server for service on the Defendant.
• Can I enforce my lease if it's oral?
  • In our experience, oral agreements can be subject to misunderstandings or difficulties of proof. But you can certainly try to get the court's assistance.
• What is a “Writ of Possession”?
  • A Writ of Possession is a directive issued by the court instructing the sheriff’s department to enforce a Court Order for possession by taking possession of a particular property and evicting those named in the order from the premises.
• What is a Sheriff's Lockout?
  • This term refers to the actions when the sheriff will forcibly remove the tenant per the court's order if they do not leave by the date set by the judge. 
• Do I need an attorney?
  • It is not required by the state to have an attorney on hand to file and process this kind of case. If you have more questions, can review our guide on how to file an eviction without an attorney.

Check out our guide on how to file and serve an eviction notice if you have additional questions about this process, as well as our guide on how to begin the process by getting an unlawful detainer document started.