You have made the difficult decision to proceed with giving your tenant an eviction notice. Now comes the even more difficult task of informing them of your intentions. How exactly are you going to do it? Do you give them a call? Do you post a notice on their door? Do you send a letter? How about an e-mail? Can you be certain that they have received the notification? Does that even matter?
Preparing a Lease
When you prepare a lease for a potential tenant, including a clause that concerns tenant eviction is essential. This clause should state what actions by the tenant can cause tenant expulsion and how the intent to evict should be communicated. In this clause, you and your corporation can put almost whatever you want—it is the responsibility of the tenant to read and understand that clause. For example, should you write that a tenant can be evicted with a single letter as notice after not paying two months worth of rent; you can proceed with an eviction of that kind no matter how much the tenant will protest.
Evicting a Tenant
A very important thing that you will have to remember is that you cannot evict a tenant without giving notice. The law is very clear when it comes to tenant eviction, especially in Miami. You have to at least make a reasonable effort to inform an occupant of your intent to evict and give them sufficient time to refute your claims. A reasonable effort can include a letter, and e-mail, a phone call, or a notice on the door. Basically, you just have to make a little more effort than showing up one day and telling the tenants that they have to leave immediately. If you try something like that, you will find caught up in all sorts of civil liberties issues, which is a whole other mess entirely.
There are a lot of different ways to deliver notices of tenant eviction. You will want to figure out what works best for your rental agency and how you can most effectively get the message delivered to your tenants. You have to do it, so just get it over with, and move on with finding better clients to take over your Miami rental space. Hopefully you won’t have to deliver these messages too often, but it’s best to have a plan in place when you do.