EVICTING FOR NOISE AND DISTURBANCES

 

Often our office is asked to evict a tenant or tenants due to noise, partying, or other disturbances. These are all grounds for eviction if the tenant has been given a proper Seven Day Notice of Noncompliance with Opportunity to Cure and the noncompliance continues and you can prove this in a court of law.  Proof is where the problem lies.

 

In order to serve a Seven Day of Noncompliance Notice of Termination, you need to have hard core solid proof that you will be able to submit into court to completely and without a doubt prove to the judge that the tenant is engaged in actions which are seriously bad.  Most property managers do not have this solid proof and feel that a lot of small occurrences add up to being able to evict. They do not.  We need a serious noncompliance or noncompliances to be successful and we need proof. If we are not provided with this, we will not file the eviction case as it puts the owner and management company at a serious liability for losing the case and for having to pay the tenant’s attorneys fees which often average $3000.00.  Losing a Noncompliance case can also result in a Federal Discrimination case against the owner if the tenant is of a protected class. Frequently we are asked to evict tenants who live in condos for alleged violations of the lease or Florida law. MORE OFTEN THAN NOT, the condo residents or association have little or no proof but are raising a big stink about the tenant. These are our toughest cases. No proof, and we will not file the case.

 

The main proof we need to prevail in a Noncompliance case is a serious occurrence or occurrences which took place SINCE YOU LAST ACCEPTED RENT. If a tenant does something seriously wrong and you accept rent, THE TENANT IS FORGIVEN in the eyes of the law.

 

PROOF WE NEED TO PREVAIL IN A NOISE OR DISTURBANCE TYPE CASE

Police reports

Police who will appear in court

Courtesy officer reports

Multiple neighbor witnesses

Multiple neighbors who will appear in court

Property management witnesses

Property management witnesses who will appear in court

Multiple noncompliances

Serious noncompliances

Arrest for noise

Citations for noise

Dates and times of each occurrence

Photos proving parties

Audio tapes of noise

All other proof to convince the judge

NOTE: WRITTEN STATEMENTS BY POLICE OR NEIGHBORS ARE NOT ADMISSIBLE IN COURT. THIS IS INADMISSIBLE HEARSAY. THE PERSON WHO WROTE THE STATEMENT MUST APPEAR IN COURT.