How to Evict a Roommate in Florida: Notices, Filing, and Writ

To evict a roommate in Florida, you have to use the same court process a landlord uses: identify what kind of occupant the person legally is, serve the correct written notice, and if they still won’t leave, file an eviction or unlawful-detainer case in county court and let the sheriff enforce the judgment. You cannot lock them out, move their things to the curb, or shut off the power. Skipping the formal process is what turns a manageable dispute into a lawsuit against you.

Start by Classifying Your Roommate

Your first job is figuring out which category your roommate falls into, because that determines whether you can file anything at all and which procedure applies.

Co-tenant. Both of you signed the same lease with the landlord. Neither co-tenant can evict the other. Only the landlord has standing to file.¹
Subtenant. You hold the lease with the landlord and your roommate pays rent to you. You act as their landlord and can serve notices and file for eviction.
Licensee. Your roommate lives there with your permission but has no lease and pays no rent. A partner who moved in, a friend staying indefinitely, a family member on a long visit. You can revoke permission and pursue eviction or an unlawful-detainer action if they won’t leave.
Transient occupant. Someone whose stay was always meant to be temporary, with no lease, no ownership interest, and no established tenancy. Florida provides a faster removal process for this category under Chapter 82.

Florida does not set a magic number of days after which a guest becomes a tenant. Courts look at how rooted the person is in the property: whether they use the address on a driver’s license or voter registration, receive mail there, keep substantial belongings, have their own room, and have no other apparent residence.² The more of those apply, the more likely the person is treated as a tenant entitled to the full eviction process.

Faster Path for a Transient Occupant

If the person really is a transient occupant, Florida gives you a shortcut. You can file a sworn affidavit with law enforcement stating that the person is unlawfully staying in your home and laying out facts that meet the statutory criteria. An officer can then direct the person to leave.³

If they refuse, or if there’s any dispute about their status, you can file an unlawful-detainer action in county court. It uses the same summary procedure as an eviction but doesn’t require advance notice before filing. If the court decides the person is actually a tenant, the case isn’t dismissed. You’ll be allowed to serve the required notice and amend your complaint to proceed as a regular eviction.³

The Written Notice You Have to Serve First

For a subtenant or an established licensee, Florida requires a written notice before you can file anything in court. The type of notice depends on the reason.

Three-Day Notice for Unpaid Rent

If your roommate owes rent, serve a three-day notice stating the exact amount due and warning that the agreement terminates if they don’t pay. Saturdays, Sundays, and court-observed holidays do not count toward the three days.⁴

Seven-Day Notice for Lease Violations

For a curable problem, such as an unauthorized pet or a cleanliness issue, serve a seven-day notice describing the violation and giving them seven days to fix it. If the same type of violation happens again within twelve months of a prior written warning, you can skip the cure period and move to termination.⁴

For serious, non-curable violations like intentional property damage or repeated disturbances, serve a seven-day unconditional notice. The roommate gets no chance to fix the problem and simply has seven days to vacate.⁴

Thirty-Day Notice to End a Month-to-Month Arrangement

If there’s no specific violation and your roommate pays by the month, give at least 30 days’ written notice before the end of a monthly period.⁵ The notice must expire at the end of a rental period, not 30 days from whenever you happened to write it. If rent runs from the first of the month and you give notice on January 10, the earliest the arrangement ends is the last day of February.

How to Deliver It

Florida allows four delivery methods: handing the notice to the roommate directly, mailing it, emailing it if both parties have agreed in writing to electronic delivery, or leaving a copy at the residence if the roommate is absent.⁴ These notice requirements cannot be waived in the rental agreement. Even if your sublease says otherwise, you still have to provide proper written notice.

Filing the Eviction Case

If the notice period expires and nothing changes, you file an eviction complaint in the county court where the property sits. The complaint describes the property, states your grounds, and identifies any unpaid rent.¹ Florida eviction cases use a summary procedure, so they move faster than a typical lawsuit.

Filing fees start around $185 for a possession-only eviction and can climb to $300 or more if you also claim money damages.⁶ You’ll also pay for service of process, typically $65 to $150.

Once you file, the clerk issues a summons. That summons and a copy of your complaint have to be formally served on the roommate, usually by a sheriff’s deputy or a certified process server. From service, the roommate has five business days (excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays) to either pay any back rent into the court registry or file a written response. If they do neither, the court can enter a default judgment ordering removal and issuing a writ of possession.⁷

The Writ of Possession and the 24-Hour Clock

Winning in court doesn’t mean the roommate is out yet. After the judge rules for you, the clerk issues a writ of possession directed to the county sheriff. The sheriff posts a 24-hour notice at the property. Weekends and holidays do not pause that clock.⁸

When the 24 hours run out, the sheriff physically restores possession to you or your landlord. At that point you can remove any personal property the roommate left behind, placing it at or near the property line. You can also ask the sheriff to stay on-site while you change the locks and clear things out, for an hourly fee. Once the writ is executed, neither you nor the sheriff is liable for damage to or loss of removed property.⁸

When Your Roommate Signed the Same Lease

If both of you signed the lease with the landlord, none of the above is available to you. Co-tenants have equal rights to the property, and only the landlord can file for eviction.¹

Your practical option is to document the problems in writing (unpaid share of rent, lease violations, disruptive behavior) and bring them to the landlord. The landlord decides whether to serve notices and pursue eviction. Watch the joint-liability trap: most leases hold all co-tenants responsible for the full rent, so if the landlord files for nonpayment, you can be evicted alongside your roommate unless you’ve paid everything owed. Talk to the landlord before the situation becomes a nonpayment default on your record.

Do Not Try to Force Them Out Yourself

Florida flatly prohibits self-help eviction, and it’s the single fastest way to flip a roommate dispute into a lawsuit against you. You cannot:

Change or add locks to keep the roommate out
Shut off or interfere with utilities, including water, electricity, gas, and garbage collection
Remove doors, windows, or walls
Move the roommate’s belongings out before a lawful eviction is completed

These prohibitions apply no matter how badly the roommate has behaved. If you resort to any of them, the roommate can sue you for actual and consequential damages or three months’ rent, whichever is greater, plus attorney’s fees and court costs. Separate incidents create separate damages.⁹ A court can also order you to restore access immediately.

Realistic Timeline and Cost

An uncontested eviction generally wraps up in three to six weeks from the date you file the complaint.¹⁰ That doesn’t include the pre-filing notice period. Add the three-day, seven-day, or 30-day notice window, and you’re realistically looking at four to eight weeks minimum. A contested case can double or triple that.

Budget for filing fees starting around $185, process server fees of roughly $65 to $150, and attorney’s fees if you hire one. Uncontested evictions can run a few hundred dollars in legal fees; a fought case runs substantially more.

Two Situations That Can Stall the Case

Bankruptcy

If your roommate files for Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy, an automatic stay freezes most collection actions the moment the petition is filed, and that includes an eviction in progress that hasn’t yet produced a judgment for possession. The stay does not apply if you already have a judgment for possession before the bankruptcy was filed, though the roommate can delay the eviction up to 30 days by filing a certification and depositing rent with the bankruptcy court, provided they actually cure the full default in that window.¹¹ Where the stay does block your case, you can file a motion asking the bankruptcy court to lift it. Judges routinely grant those in residential eviction cases, but expect the detour to add weeks.

Active-Duty Military

If your roommate is an active-duty servicemember, the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act bars eviction from a primary residence without a court order at any rent level that covers ordinary residential rentals.¹² Even with a court order, the servicemember can request a stay of up to 90 days if military service has materially affected their ability to pay rent, and the court must grant it. The judge can also adjust rent obligations during the stay. Knowingly violating SCRA eviction protections is a federal misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in prison.¹³

1
Justia Law. Florida Code 83.59 – Right of Action for Possession
2
The Florida Bar. What Are You: A Hotel Guest, Tenant, or Transient Occupant?
3
The 2025 Florida Statutes. Florida Code 82.035 – Transient Occupants of Residential Property
4
Justia Law. Florida Code 83.56 – Termination of Rental Agreement
5
Justia Law. Florida Code 83.57 – Termination of Tenancy Without Specific Term
6
Pasco County Clerk & Comptroller. Landlord/Tenant Eviction Fees and Costs
7
Justia Law. Florida Code 83.60 – Defenses to Action for Rent or Possession
8
Florida Senate. Florida Code 83.62 – Restoration of Possession to Landlord
9
Florida Senate. Florida Code 83.67 – Prohibited Practices
10
Hillsborough County Clerk of Courts. Eviction Process
11
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 362 – Automatic Stay
12
Federal Register. Publication of Housing Price Inflation Adjustment
13
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 50 USC 3951 – Evictions and Distress