Lauderhill Landlord Tenant Attorney

The deadline on a Florida eviction notice is shorter than most landlords and tenants expect, and one misstep in how the notice is written or delivered can force a landlord to start over or leave a tenant with days to act. If you need a Lauderhill landlord tenant attorney, the Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team handles residential and commercial landlord-tenant disputes for owners, investors, and tenants in Lauderhill, throughout Broward County, and across Palm Beach County.

Lauderhill has a large rental market, with apartment communities, townhome developments, small investor-owned duplexes, and commercial storefronts along its main corridors. That mix produces a steady range of disputes: nonpayment, lease violations, withheld repairs, holdover tenants, and conflicts between co-owners of a rental property over who collects rent and who answers to the tenant. Each of these runs on notice rules and short statutory clocks, and the first document a party sends often decides how the rest of the case goes.

How Florida Notice Rules Shape a Lauderhill Eviction or Defense

Florida’s residential landlord-tenant statute sets different clocks depending on the kind of problem. For unpaid rent, the landlord must deliver a written demand for payment or possession, and the tenant has three days to pay or leave. Saturdays, Sundays, and court-observed legal holidays do not count toward those three days. If the landlord files before that period has truly run, or the notice is defective in how it is worded or delivered, the case can be dismissed and the clock starts over.

Lease violations other than rent work differently. When the problem can be fixed, such as an unauthorized pet or unapproved occupant, the landlord’s notice must give the tenant seven days from delivery to correct it, and must say that the lease will be terminated if the tenant does not. When the violation cannot be cured, such as intentional damage to the property or a repeated unreasonable disturbance after a written warning within the prior twelve months, the landlord can instead deliver a notice of intent to terminate that gives the tenant seven days to vacate, with no chance to cure. A tenancy with no fixed term, such as month-to-month, is ended by a written notice delivered in the manner the statute prescribes.

Partial rent adds a trap that catches careful landlords. A landlord who takes part of the rent after posting a nonpayment notice does not give up the right to evict, but must handle it correctly: give the tenant a dated receipt stating the amount received and the balance due, deposit the partial payment with the court registry when filing for possession, or serve a fresh three-day notice for the new amount. Skipping that step hands the tenant a defense.

Tenants have their own statutory lever. If a landlord materially fails to meet the maintenance obligations in the statute or the lease, the tenant can give written notice, and if the problem is not fixed within seven days the tenant may terminate the rental agreement. Using that right without following the written-notice requirement can backfire into an eviction for abandonment or nonpayment, so the sequence matters.

Why Choose the Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team for Landlord and Tenant Disputes

The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team is a business and real estate litigation firm serving Lauderhill, Broward County, Palm Beach County, and South Florida. Founder Andrew M. Schwartz has spent 37 years in litigation, was admitted to The Florida Bar in 1989, and earned his undergraduate degree from Emory University and his law degree from the University of Miami. Senior Counsel Sundeep Nath, a Northwestern-trained litigator, brings years of business and real estate case experience in state and federal courts.

Landlord-tenant work at this firm sits inside a broader real estate and contract practice, which matters because many of these disputes are really something larger. A lease fight may be one piece of a failed closing, a partnership breakup over who controls a building, or a dispute over missing rent collected by one co-owner. The firm handles commercial leases, purchase and sale contract disputes, partition actions, quiet title actions, and emergency injunctions, and in November 2024 reported a 32-page final judgment from a Broward County circuit court awarding its client specific performance of a commercial real estate contract after a five-day bench trial. That is the kind of document-driven trial work that landlord-tenant disputes can turn into when the lease language or the parties’ history is contested.

The firm also looks for the resolution that fits the client’s goals and budget, whether that is a negotiated move-out, a settlement through mediation, or a contested hearing. Attorneys are experienced in mediation and arbitration as well as courtroom litigation, and the firm’s outside general counsel program helps property owners and businesses with lease forms, compliance questions, and registered agent service so that disputes are less likely to start.

Types of Landlord-Tenant Disputes We Handle

• Nonpayment of Rent: The three-day notice, the court-day counting rules, and the partial-payment procedure all produce defenses and dismissals when handled badly. We represent landlords who need possession and a money judgment, and tenants who have a notice defect or a payment dispute.
• Lease Violations and Terminations: Curable violations carry a seven-day cure notice, while incurable ones such as intentional property damage allow a seven-day termination notice with no cure. We draft and defend against both kinds.
• Holdover and Month-to-Month Tenants: Tenants who stay past a lease term, or landlords who need to end a periodic tenancy, must follow the statutory written-notice method or the case can fail on service alone.
• Repair and Habitability Disputes: Tenants who withhold cooperation over unfixed conditions must give written notice and wait out the seven-day response period before terminating, and landlords facing these claims need a record of what they did and when.
• Commercial Lease Disputes: Retail, office, and industrial tenants in Lauderhill and nearby Broward communities face defaults, personal guaranties, build-out disputes, and renewal conflicts that turn on the exact language of the lease.
• Disputes Between Co-Owners of Rental Property: When partners, siblings, or former business associates own a rental together and disagree over rent collection, repairs, or sale, the fight often moves into partition, accounting, or injunction territory.
• Security Deposits and Unpaid Balances: Claims over deposits, unpaid rent after move-out, and damage charges require documentation of the unit’s condition and the lease terms, and may be heard in different courts depending on the amount.
• Failed Real Estate Contracts: Buyers and sellers who thought they had a deal on a rental property sometimes need specific performance or damages, claims governed by their own limitation periods.

What to Do Right Now If You Have Received or Need to Serve a Notice

Start by getting the paper in front of a lawyer and writing down exactly when and how it was delivered. The deadlines in Florida landlord-tenant law run from delivery, so the date a notice was posted, handed over, or mailed can decide whether it is valid. A tenant who has received a three-day or seven-day notice should not assume it is correct or that it can be ignored. Pay or cure if that is the right move, but do it in a way that creates a record: a receipt, a bank confirmation, or a written statement of the amount paid. A landlord who accepts partial rent should follow the receipt, registry, or new-notice route described above before filing anything.

Gather the lease and every amendment, the rent ledger, texts and emails about repairs or payment, photos of the unit’s condition, and any written warnings. Landlords should confirm that the notice names the right party, states the right amount, and describes the violation precisely. Tenants should save everything the landlord has sent and avoid abandoning the unit before understanding the consequences, since leaving can turn a defensible case into a judgment for rent.

Where the case is filed depends on the claim. Eviction and small money disputes in Broward County are heard in the county court system, and Lauderhill-area matters are handled through the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit, which sits in and for Broward County, with county civil matters heard at courthouses such as the North Regional Courthouse in Deerfield Beach, the South Regional Courthouse in Hollywood, the West Regional Courthouse in Plantation, and the Central Judicial Complex in Fort Lauderdale. County court hears money claims above the small claims ceiling up to its jurisdictional cap, while larger claims, and disputes involving injunctions, partition, or title, go to circuit court. The Seventeenth Circuit also has complex business divisions that handle larger business litigation. For properties in Palm Beach County, the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit and its county court handle the equivalent cases.

The most common mistakes are self-help measures and late action. Landlords who change locks, remove belongings, or cut off utilities to force a tenant out invite their own liability. Tenants who ignore a notice and a summons can lose by default. Waiting also costs money on both sides, because rent keeps accruing, possession is delayed, and evidence gets harder to reconstruct. Where a co-owner is diverting rent or a tenant is damaging the property, emergency injunctive relief may be available, and the sooner it is requested the more it can protect.

When a Lease Dispute Becomes a Larger Real Estate or Ownership Fight

Some of the most contested landlord-tenant cases involve ownership questions behind the lease. A property held by two or more owners may be rented by one of them without the others’ consent. Heirs may inherit a rental building and disagree over whether to sell or keep collecting rent. Florida law lets a co-owner ask a court to partition the property by dividing it or ordering its sale, and when the owners are relatives who inherited, special heirs property rules can apply, including steps designed to protect cotenants who want to keep their interest. A title cloud, such as a competing claim of ownership or a stale recorded interest, can be cleared through a quiet title action, which requires the plaintiff to trace title back at least seven years unless the court orders otherwise.

Business structure matters too. If the landlord is an LLC or a corporation and its members or shareholders are deadlocked, or one owner is draining rental income, the dispute may call for judicial dissolution, a court-supervised buyout, an accounting, or a receiver. These are tools the firm uses regularly in business divorce matters, and they often decide who has authority to evict, settle, or sell. Contract deadlines also run in the background. A written contract claim generally has a five-year limitation period, an oral or implied contract claim four years, and a suit seeking specific performance one year, so a landlord or tenant weighing a claim should not assume time is unlimited.

Lauderhill Landlord Tenant Questions Answered

How many days does a tenant have to pay after a nonpayment notice in Florida?

Three days, not counting Saturdays, Sundays, or court-observed legal holidays, after the landlord delivers a written demand for payment or possession. If the tenant does not pay within that window, the landlord may terminate the rental agreement and move toward an eviction filing.

What is the notice period for a lease violation that is not about rent?

When the violation can be fixed, the landlord’s notice must give the tenant seven days from delivery to correct it. When it cannot be fixed, or is a repeat of a problem warned about in writing within the prior twelve months, the landlord may deliver a notice of intent to terminate that gives the tenant seven days to vacate.

Can a landlord evict me if I pay part of the rent after getting a notice?

Possibly. Accepting partial rent does not by itself waive the landlord’s right to terminate or sue, but the landlord must issue a receipt showing the amount and the balance due, put the partial payment in the court registry when filing, or serve a new notice for the reduced amount. If none of that happens, the tenant may have a defense.

Can a tenant break a lease over unfixed repairs?

A tenant may terminate if the landlord materially fails to meet its obligations and does not fix the problem within seven days after receiving the tenant’s written notice. The notice must be in writing and the problem must be material, so a tenant should not walk away without confirming the requirements.

How do I end a month-to-month tenancy?

A tenancy without a set duration is ended by written notice delivered in the manner the statute prescribes. The rules for timing and delivery are strict, and a defective notice can force a landlord to restart the process.

Which court handles a Lauderhill eviction?

Evictions for properties in Lauderhill are filed in Broward County, within the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit’s county court system. Larger or more complex claims, including injunction requests, partition, and quiet title actions, belong in circuit court.

Do I need a lawyer for a small eviction case?

Not legally required in every case, but notice defects, partial-rent handling, and service problems are easy to get wrong, and a mistake can cost weeks or the whole case. A lawyer is especially worth considering when there is a counterclaim, commercial lease, or substantial unpaid rent at stake.

What if my co-owner rented our property without telling me?

You may have claims for an accounting of rent collected, breach of fiduciary duty if you are in a business together, or partition if you want out of the shared ownership. Where the conduct is ongoing, emergency injunctive relief can stop assets from being moved or spent while the case is pending.

Is a landlord allowed to lock me out or shut off utilities?

No. Eviction must go through the court process. A landlord who uses self-help to push a tenant out can face liability, so tenants who are locked out should document everything and contact a lawyer promptly.

How long does a contract-based lease dispute take to bring before time runs out?

A claim on a written lease generally must be filed within five years, while an oral or implied agreement has four years. These periods are separate from the days-long notice deadlines that apply during an eviction.

I live out of state but own rental property near Lauderhill. Can your firm help?

Yes. The firm regularly represents clients from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut with real estate in South Florida, handles the local court appearances, and keeps owners informed so they do not have to travel for every hearing.

Serving Landlords and Tenants Across Lauderhill and Broward County

The firm represents landlords, tenants, and property owners in Lauderhill and across Broward County. That includes neighboring Lauderdale Lakes, Plantation, Sunrise, Tamarac, North Lauderdale, Margate, and Coconut Creek, as well as Fort Lauderdale, Oakland Park, Wilton Manors, Pompano Beach, Deerfield Beach, Hollywood, Hallandale Beach, Pembroke Pines, Miramar, Davie, and Weston. In Palm Beach County, the firm serves clients in Boca Raton, Delray Beach, Boynton Beach, Lake Worth, and West Palm Beach, along with the surrounding communities. Whether a dispute involves a single apartment, a multi-unit building, or a commercial lease, we handle matters throughout South Florida and for out of state owners with property here.

Speak With a Lauderhill Landlord Tenant Attorney Today

If a notice has arrived or you need to send one, a short conversation with a Lauderhill landlord tenant lawyer can prevent a defective filing, a missed deadline, or an avoidable loss of rent or possession. Call the Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team to talk through your lease, your notice, and the options in front of you, from a negotiated resolution to a contested hearing in Broward County.