Delray Beach Landlord Tenant Attorney

The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team represents landlords, property investors, business tenants, and residential tenants in Delray Beach and across Palm Beach County and Broward County, handling lease disputes, evictions, unpaid rent claims, and the larger real estate conflicts that sometimes sit behind them. A Delray Beach landlord tenant attorney is often called in when a notice has already been served, when partial rent has been accepted and nobody is sure what that did to the case, or when a commercial lease dispute has turned into a fight over money and possession of a building.

Florida’s landlord-tenant statute runs on short, rigid clocks, and a notice that is defective on its face can cost a landlord weeks or force the case to start over. For tenants, the same rigidity cuts the other way: a tenant who ignores a notice or misreads what it demands can lose possession quickly. Our work starts with the document in front of you, the lease and whatever notice has been delivered, because the next move depends almost entirely on what those papers say and when they were delivered.

Where Landlord and Tenant Disputes Actually Break Down

Most people picture an eviction as a single event. In practice the dispute usually follows one of a few distinct paths, and each path has its own notice requirements and its own risks. Nonpayment of rent is the most familiar. A landlord delivers a written demand for payment or possession, and if the default continues for three days after delivery, not counting Saturdays, Sundays, or court-observed legal holidays, the landlord may terminate the rental agreement. That exclusion of weekends and court holidays is a detail landlords miscount often, and a miscount can invalidate the notice.

Non-rent violations work differently. If a tenant’s breach can be fixed, such as an unauthorized occupant or a lease-prohibited use, the landlord’s notice must give the tenant seven days from delivery to correct the problem, and it must say that the rental agreement will be terminated if the problem is not corrected. Some conduct is treated as incurable: intentional destruction or misuse of the landlord’s or other tenants’ property, and a repeated or continuing unreasonable disturbance, for example. There the landlord can deliver a notice of intent to terminate that gives the tenant seven days to vacate, with no chance to cure. The same seven-day termination notice applies to a repeat violation within twelve months of an earlier written warning.

Tenants have remedies too. When a landlord materially fails to meet its maintenance obligations or the terms of the rental agreement, and the failure continues seven days after the tenant gives written notice, the tenant may terminate the rental agreement. How that notice is written and delivered matters as much as it does for a landlord.

Why Choose the Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team for Lease and Possession Disputes

The Andrew M. Andrew M. Schwartz, the firm’s founder, was admitted to The Florida Bar in 1989, earned his undergraduate degree at Emory University in 1986 and his law degree at the University of Miami in 1989, and has spent 37 years in litigation. The firm serves clients in Delray Beach, Boca Raton, West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale, and throughout Palm Beach County and Broward County, along with clients from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut who own property or businesses in South Florida.

Andrew is joined by Sundeep Nath, Senior Counsel, a Northwestern-trained litigator with years of experience in business and real estate cases in state and federal courts. The firm works as a true team: everyone handling a matter knows the file, and a strict 24 hour return call policy applies when an attorney is in court. That matters in a possession dispute, where a delayed answer can mean a missed deadline.

Landlord-tenant work at this firm sits inside a broader real estate and contract litigation practice, and that shapes how we handle it. Many of these disputes involve commercial leases, where the question is whether a guaranty is enforceable, whether a buildout dispute excuses rent, or whether co-owners of a property are fighting over who controls the landlord’s side of the lease. In November 2024 the firm announced a final judgment, issued after a five-day bench trial in Broward County Circuit Court, awarding our client specific performance of a commercial real estate contract. The judgment ran 32 pages, and it reflects the kind of document-intensive trial work that a contested lease or property dispute can require. We are also experienced in mediation and arbitration, and we look for the resolution that fits a client’s goals and budget rather than prolonging a case for its own sake.

Landlord and Tenant Matters We Handle

• Nonpayment of Rent Evictions: Preparing or answering the written demand for payment or possession, counting the three-day period correctly, and handling the court filing when a tenant stays after the notice period runs.
• Lease Violation Terminations: Distinguishing curable breaches, which require a seven-day cure window, from incurable conduct that supports a seven-day notice to vacate, and documenting the violation so the notice holds up in court.
• Partial Rent Problems: Accepting part of the rent after a nonpayment notice has been posted creates traps. The landlord must issue a receipt stating the amount, date, and balance, deposit the partial payment in the court registry when filing, or post a fresh notice for the new balance. Accepting partial rent does not by itself waive the right to terminate.
• Commercial Lease Disputes: Rent defaults, personal guaranties, operating-cost and common-area charges, and tenant improvement disagreements involving shops, offices, and mixed-use space in and around downtown Delray Beach and the Atlantic Avenue corridor.
• Month-to-Month and Periodic Tenancies: A tenancy with no fixed duration ends by written notice delivered in the manner the statute requires, and getting the form of that notice wrong can delay possession.
• Tenant Claims Against Landlords: Written notice of material maintenance failures, the seven-day response window, and the tenant’s right to terminate when the landlord does not respond.
• Unpaid Rent and Damages Suits: Money claims that follow possession, which may be filed in small claims, county court, or circuit court depending on the amount in controversy.
• Co-Owner and Investor Disputes Behind the Lease: Cases where a lease problem is really a fight among owners of the rental property, sometimes ending in a partition action or a title dispute.

What to Do When a Notice Has Been Served or a Lease Is Failing

Start by finding the notice and noting precisely when and how it was delivered, because every deadline in this area runs from delivery. A landlord should confirm that the notice fits the type of default: a rent demand, a seven-day cure notice, or a seven-day termination notice are not interchangeable, and using the wrong one is the most common reason an otherwise sound eviction stalls. A tenant should read the notice for what it demands and by when, and should gather the lease, payment records, receipts, texts, and any written maintenance requests before doing anything else.

Stop and think before accepting or tendering partial rent. For a landlord, taking money after posting a notice triggers the receipt, registry, or reposting rules described above. For a tenant, handing over partial payment does not erase the default and should not be treated as a cure. Communicate in writing wherever you can, since the statute turns on written notices, and keep copies of everything.

Where the case ends up depends on the amount at stake and the type of claim. Eviction filings and money claims within the county court’s limits are heard in county court, and small claims covers the lowest tier of money disputes, which remain capped at a modest amount. Larger claims go to circuit court. A Delray Beach property sits in Palm Beach County, where the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit has jurisdiction, and the Palm Beach County court system maintains a courthouse in Delray Beach as well as its main courthouse in West Palm Beach. If a related dispute involves a Broward County property, that case falls under the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit, which has its own complex business division for larger commercial matters. Federal court enters the picture only occasionally, through the Southern District of Florida, which sits in West Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale among other places.

Timing is the main thing to protect. Contract-based claims, such as a suit on a written lease for unpaid rent, generally carry a five-year limitations period, while claims not founded on a written instrument carry four years. Those periods are long compared with the notice windows, which is why the notice stage is where cases are most often won or lost. If a possession dispute is tied to a bigger conflict, such as a business partner who stopped paying the entity’s rent or co-owners who disagree about the property, bring that to the first conversation, because it changes which claims are available and which court makes sense.

When a Lease Dispute Is Really an Owner Dispute

Some of the hardest landlord-tenant cases are not between a landlord and a tenant at all. A commercial tenant is owned by two partners who have stopped speaking, and the rent is unpaid because one of them controls the bank account. A rental property is held by siblings who inherited it, and one wants to sell while another collects the rent. An LLC that owns an income property is deadlocked on whether to renew a lease. These situations are the center of what the firm does. They can involve claims for an accounting, breach of fiduciary duty, judicial dissolution of an entity, or a partition of the property, and sometimes emergency injunctive relief to keep rents or assets from being moved while the case is pending.

Florida’s partition statute allows a court to divide jointly owned land or, when division is not practical, order it sold and the proceeds shared in proportion to each owner’s interest. Where inherited family property is involved, a separate statute governing heirs property may control how the case proceeds. For entities, Florida’s LLC statute lists grounds for judicial dissolution, including deadlock that threatens irreparable injury and misappropriation or waste of assets. We evaluate whether the right path is a negotiated buyout, a court action, or a narrower fix to the lease problem that lets the business keep operating.

Questions Delray Beach Landlords and Tenants Ask

How many days does a tenant have after a notice for unpaid rent?

After the landlord delivers a written demand for payment or possession, the tenant has three days to pay or leave. Saturdays, Sundays, and court-observed legal holidays are not counted, so a notice delivered late in the week usually stretches into the following week.

Can a landlord evict a tenant for breaking a lease rule other than rent?

Yes, but the process depends on whether the problem can be fixed. For a curable violation the landlord must give seven days to correct it and state that the rental agreement will be terminated if it is not corrected. For conduct that cannot be cured, the landlord may deliver a notice of intent to terminate giving the tenant seven days to vacate.

What conduct counts as a violation with no chance to cure?

The statute gives examples including intentional destruction, damage, or misuse of the landlord’s or other tenants’ property, and a repeated or continuing unreasonable disturbance. A second violation of the same kind within twelve months of a written warning is also treated as noncurable.

Does accepting partial rent ruin a landlord’s eviction case?

Not automatically. Accepting partial rent does not waive the right to terminate or sue, but the landlord must handle it correctly: give a receipt stating the amount, date, and remaining balance, place the partial rent in the court registry when filing, or post a new three-day notice for the reduced amount. Skipping these steps creates a defense the tenant can raise.

How does a tenant end a month-to-month tenancy?

A tenancy without a set term ends by written notice delivered as the statute prescribes for termination notices. The form and delivery of the notice matter, so a casual text or verbal statement is a risky way to do it.

Can a tenant leave if the landlord won’t make repairs?

A tenant may terminate the rental agreement if the landlord materially fails to meet its maintenance obligations or the lease terms and the failure continues for seven days after the tenant’s written notice. The tenant should keep a copy of the notice and proof of delivery.

Which court handles a landlord-tenant case in Delray Beach?

Possession and money claims are filed in the Palm Beach County court system. Smaller money claims go to small claims, mid-range claims go to county court, and larger claims are heard in circuit court. The Palm Beach County courts operate a courthouse serving Delray Beach, with the main courthouse in West Palm Beach.

How long do I have to sue for unpaid rent under a written lease?

A claim founded on a written instrument generally has a five-year limitations period. A claim based on an oral or implied agreement has four years. Waiting is rarely wise, since evidence and the tenant’s ability to pay both tend to deteriorate.

I’m a commercial landlord and my tenant is a business with partners fighting each other. Does that change anything?

It can. A deadlocked or dysfunctional tenant entity may be unable to pay or to negotiate, and the landlord may need to look at guarantors, the individual owners, or the entity’s assets. Because the firm regularly handles partnership and LLC disputes, we can address both the lease claim and the ownership conflict that is driving it.

I live in New York or New Jersey and own a Delray Beach rental. Can you handle everything locally?

Yes. We regularly represent out-of-state owners with South Florida property, handle the local court appearances, and keep you informed so you do not have to travel for each hearing.

Is it worth hiring a lawyer for a straightforward eviction?

Often, yes. The notice and filing rules are strict enough that a small error can restart the process, and a lawyer’s cost is usually small next to the rent lost during a delay. If the matter settles through mediation, a lawyer can also make sure the agreement is enforceable.

Do I have to go to trial to resolve a lease dispute?

No. Many are resolved through negotiation, mediation, or arbitration, especially commercial disputes where both sides want to preserve a business relationship or avoid prolonged vacancy. We pursue the route most likely to meet your goals efficiently and are prepared to try the case when that is what the situation calls for.

Serving Landlord and Tenant Clients Across Delray Beach and South Florida

We represent clients in Delray Beach and the surrounding communities of Palm Beach County, including Boynton Beach, Boca Raton, Highland Beach, Gulf Stream, Ocean Ridge, Lantana, Lake Worth Beach, Greenacres, Royal Palm Beach, Wellington, and West Palm Beach. Our reach extends north through the county’s other communities and south into Broward County, where we work with clients in Fort Lauderdale, Deerfield Beach, Pompano Beach, Coral Springs, Parkland, Hollywood, and Plantation.

Within Delray Beach, that means owners and tenants of downtown retail and office space, apartment communities, single-family rentals, and investment properties throughout the city and the neighborhoods that surround it. We also serve clients in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut who own rental property or operate businesses in these markets and prefer to have a Florida litigator handle the local proceedings.

Speak With a Delray Beach Landlord Tenant Lawyer Before the Deadline Runs

When a notice has been delivered, a lease is falling apart, or co-owners cannot agree on what happens to a rental property, the next few days often set the course of the case. The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team brings decades of South Florida litigation experience to landlord and tenant disputes in Delray Beach, Palm Beach County, and Broward County. Call to speak with a Delray Beach landlord tenant lawyer about your lease, your notice, and the options in front of you.