An unlawful detainer in Florida is a fast-track civil lawsuit under Chapter 82 of the Florida Statutes that lets a property owner remove someone who is living on the property without a lease and without paying rent. It is not an eviction, which only works when there’s a landlord-tenant relationship, and it is not an ejectment, which is for fights over who actually owns the property. Florida also offers a separate, even quicker path through law enforcement for short-term guests and squatters who qualify as “transient occupants,” a category added by a 2024 reform.
When You Can Use It
The rule is simple: the person on your property has no lease and is not paying you rent. Chapter 82 does not apply to residential tenancies under Chapter 83, mobile home tenancies, or transient lodging arrangements.1Florida Senate. Florida Statutes Chapter 82 – Forcible Entry and Unlawful Detainer If the occupant signed a lease or has been handing you money for the space, you need a standard eviction instead.
Section 82.04 covers a person who entered peacefully and legally but stayed after their right to be there ended and after you told them to go.1Florida Senate. Florida Statutes Chapter 82 – Forcible Entry and Unlawful Detainer The typical situations:
- A houseguest who refuses to leave when asked.
- A family member living rent-free with no agreement to pay.
- A former owner still in the home after a foreclosure sale.
- A seller who hasn’t vacated after closing.
What links all of these is the absence of any agreement to exchange rent for occupancy. Entry was legal; the continued presence turned unlawful once you revoked permission and the person refused to leave. You have three years from the date possession was first withheld from you to file.1Florida Senate. Florida Statutes Chapter 82 – Forcible Entry and Unlawful Detainer
Where the fight is really about who owns the property or has superior title, Chapter 82 is not the right tool. Those disputes belong in an ejectment action in circuit court under Chapter 66.2Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes Chapter 66 – Ejectment
The Faster Option: Removing a Transient Occupant
A 2024 reform (HB 621) added section 82.035, which lets law enforcement remove certain occupants without a lawsuit at all.3Florida Senate. House Bill 621 (2024) It applies to “transient occupants,” meaning people whose stay was short, not based on a lease, and intended to be temporary.
The statute lists seven factors to establish transient occupant status:
- No ownership, financial, or leasehold interest in the property.
- No utility subscriptions in their name at the property.
- No government-issued mail or ID showing the property as their address within the past 12 months.
- Little or no rent paid.
- No designated personal space such as a bedroom.
- Few or no personal belongings at the property.
- An apparent permanent residence somewhere else.
You submit a sworn affidavit to a law enforcement officer describing the facts and which factors apply. The officer then directs the occupant to leave, and refusal can be charged as trespassing under section 810.08.4Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 82.035 – Remedy for Unlawful Detention by a Transient Occupant of Residential Property
Be careful with this route. A person who is wrongfully removed can sue the owner who filed the affidavit for compensatory damages and injunctive relief. The officer who carried out the removal is shielded from liability unless they acted in bad faith.4Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 82.035 – Remedy for Unlawful Detention by a Transient Occupant of Residential Property If the occupant has utility accounts, government ID at the address, or months of residency behind them, skip the affidavit and file the court action described below.
Filing the Complaint
Florida law does not require you to give the occupant any written notice before filing an unlawful detainer action.5Florida Senate. Florida Statutes 82.03 – Remedies You can go straight to the courthouse without serving a notice to vacate or waiting out a notice period.
Your complaint should include the full legal name of the owner, the full name of the person being removed, and a complete legal description of the property from your deed. In the body, explain how the person came to be there, when and how your permission ended, and why their continued presence is unlawful.
File it with the clerk of court in the county where the property is located. The statutory filing fee in county court is $180.6Florida Senate. Florida Statutes 34.041 – Filing Fees for Trial and Appellate Proceedings Some counties add local surcharges, so the clerk’s window total can be a little higher. The clerk will issue a summons for each defendant named.
Serving the Papers
A sheriff’s deputy or a certified private process server has to deliver the summons and complaint. You cannot serve them yourself.
If the defendant can’t be found at the property after at least two attempts spaced at least six hours apart, and no one age 15 or older is at the defendant’s usual residence in the county, the sheriff can post the papers in a visible spot on the property. When that happens, you also give the clerk two extra copies and two prestamped envelopes addressed to the defendant’s last known home and business addresses, and the clerk mails them by first-class mail. Service runs from whichever happened later, the posting or the mailing, and at least five days must pass after that date before the court can enter a final judgment.7Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 82.05 – Service of Process
The Five-Day Response Window
Because this is a summary procedure, the defendant has just five days after being served to file a written answer.8Florida Senate. Florida Code 51.011 – Summary Procedure Weekends and legal holidays don’t count under Florida’s rules for short time periods. No other pleadings are allowed, so there is no motion-to-dismiss stage and no drawn-out briefing.
If no answer comes in on time, you can ask the court for a default judgment awarding possession. If the defendant answers, the court sets a hearing. Either way, the case is built to move quickly.
What You Can Recover
Section 82.03 lets you recover money on top of possession.5Florida Senate. Florida Statutes 82.03 – Remedies If the court finds the detention was willful and knowingly wrongful, it must award double the reasonable rental value of the property for the entire period from when the unlawful occupation began until you get possession back. You can also recover damages for waste, meaning physical harm the occupant caused.
You can split the trial into two phases, one for possession and one for damages.5Florida Senate. Florida Statutes 82.03 – Remedies That way a damages fight doesn’t hold up getting the person out.
After You Win: Writ of Possession and Belongings
If the court rules for you, the judgment awards possession, damages, and costs, and the court issues a writ of possession that the statute says must be executed without delay.1Florida Senate. Florida Statutes Chapter 82 – Forcible Entry and Unlawful Detainer The sheriff uses the writ to physically remove the defendant and their belongings. If the defendant wins instead, the only consequence is that the defendant recovers court costs; there is no automatic counterclaim for damages unless raised separately.
After the sheriff executes the writ, the former occupant’s belongings may still be on the property. Section 715.104 requires written notice to the former occupant describing the property, where it is being stored, and how to reclaim it. The notice has to give at least 10 days if hand-delivered or 15 days if mailed before you can dispose of the items.9Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 715.104 – Notification of Former Tenant of Personal Property Remaining on Premises You can charge reasonable storage costs before returning items. Photograph everything and keep a written inventory in case the former occupant later claims something was missing or damaged.
What the Judgment Means for the Occupant
The judgment becomes part of the public court record. Tenant screening companies routinely search housing court records and include removal cases in their reports,10Consumer Advice. Tenant Background Checks and Your Rights and under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, civil judgments can appear on screening reports for up to seven years. For the occupant, that makes renting harder down the line, which is also why many will leave voluntarily once they see a filed complaint. If you’re on the receiving end, don’t let the five-day window pass without responding.