Unlawful occupants

What the sheriff process requires

1. You own the property, or are authorised to act for the owner.
2. The occupant entered and remains without permission, and was directed to leave.
3. There is no tenancy and no genuine landlord and tenant dispute — this is the condition that disqualifies most cases.
4. The occupant is not a current or former owner, nor a family member with a claim to be there.
5. You submit a verified complaint to the sheriff in the county where the property is, setting all of that out under penalty of perjury.

Where it applies, the sheriff serves a notice to vacate and may remove the occupant without a court hearing. That is a dramatic change from the position before 2024, and it is why the conditions are drawn as tightly as they are.

The liability that comes with it

an owner who wrongly uses the process against someone lawfully entitled to be there can be liable for damages^†. If you use the process against someone who turns out to have been a tenant — including an informal one, including one whose rent was paid to a relative — you have removed a lawful occupant without process, and the exposure runs the other way. Take advice before filing if there is any history of payment, any messages about rent, or any lease however scrappy.

Note also what remains unlawful whichever process applies: a landlord may not shut off utilities, change the locks, or remove doors, roof, windows or the tenant’s belongings to force a tenant out^†. Changing the locks yourself does not become lawful because the occupant has no right to be there. The remedy is the sheriff, not you.

The fraudulent document problem

A recurring pattern in Florida is the occupant who produces a lease from someone with no authority to grant one, or a deed that was never valid. Since 2024, presenting a false deed or false lease to obtain possession of a property is a criminal offence in its own right^†. That matters practically as well as legally: it means the paperwork an occupant waves at the sheriff is itself something to report, rather than an obstacle you have to litigate around.

What to do, in order

1. Do not enter into a confrontation. Nothing about this is worth a physical dispute, and an altercation weakens your position in every forum.
2. Document what you can from outside. Photographs, dates, what you observed, any correspondence.
3. Establish whether money ever changed hands, in either direction, and who let them in. This single question decides which process you are in.
4. Call the sheriff’s office and ask for their form. Counties administer this differently and they will tell you what they require.
5. If there is any tenancy history, file an eviction instead — a non-payment case begins with 3 days, excluding weekends and legal holidays^† and a breach case with 7 days^†.
6. Tell your insurer. Occupancy status affects cover, and damage caused by an unlawful occupant is a claim you may need to make.

Preventing it, which is far cheaper

• Do not leave a property visibly empty. Mail piling up and an unkempt lawn are the selection criteria.
• Have someone physically attend on a schedule, and record that they did.
• Keep the utilities in your name where practical — an occupant who cannot get services connected rarely stays.
• Watch the public record for any document recorded against your property that you did not sign.
• Screen properly and document every tenancy, because an undocumented informal arrangement is precisely what turns a removal into a lawsuit.

The removal process for unlawful occupants sits in §82.035 of the Florida Statutes, with related offences in §82.036, both effective 1 July 2024. Evictions of tenants remain governed by Part II of Chapter 83. Sheriffs administer the process county by county — ask yours for its form and requirements.