If you’re a landlord in Miami-Dade county, these are the exact steps to take when your tenant violates the rules of your rental agreement. A Word template of the Violation Notice is below.
These steps are for a violation of the lease rules, not for failure to pay rent. (See instead what to do if your tenant is past due on rent.)
So, this page is for when your Miami tenant is in violation of your rules. Some examples are having unauthorized pets, unauthorized guests, or unauthorized vehicles, parking in an unauthorized manner, or failing to keep the premises clean and sanitary. (Florida Statutes, 2025, § 83.56(2)(b).[1])
You have 2 choices, and I’ll explain the steps for each one below. Choose one:
Choice 1: Give the tenant a chance to fix the issue.
Choice 2: End the lease immediately and ask the tenant to move out, now. That is, terminate the lease immediately because their violation is so bad that they don’t get another chance, or because the violation is similar to something they were already warned about within the past 12 months. (Florida Statutes, 2025, § 83.56(2)(a).[1]).
Examples of violations that are so bad they don’t get another chance include, but are not limited to:
- destruction, damage, or misuse of the landlord’s or other tenants’ property by intentional act
- or a subsequent or continued unreasonable disturbance
Steps To Take if You Choose to Give Tenant a Chance to Fix Violation (Choice 1)
Step 1. Fill Out The Notice To Remedy a Lease Violation
To give your tenant a chance to fix the problem, the first step you must do is to fill out the Noncompliance Notice (the “Notice To Remedy a Lease Violation”). The full name of the notice is “NOTICE FROM LANDLORD TO TENANT – NOTICE OF NONCOMPLIANCE FOR MATTERS OTHER THAN FAILURE TO PAY RENT.” Here is an example image of this 7-day notice to remedy a lease violation:
We offer an editable template of that Notice which you can edit in Microsoft Word, Google Docs, Apple Pages, and LibreOffice Writer. You can purchase the editable template of the Notice To Remedy a Lease Violation here.
In our editable template for the Notice To Remedy a Lease Violation, you need to enter the tenant’s name, address, and describe the violation. You also need to enter the date you are sending the notice.
Step 2. Make a Copy of the Notice To Remedy a Lease Violation
Before you send out the completely filled out Notice, make a copy of it and put it in the tenant’s folder (this is a folder in your own records that you should keep for each tenant – either a digital folder on your computer or a physical folder in your file cabinet). This copy of the 7-day Notice To Remedy a Lease Violation will be needed if you later have to evict through court.
Step 3. Deliver the 7-day Notice To Remedy a Lease Violation
Deliver the Notice to the tenant, either by mail or in person. Or you can tape it to the door if they are not home. If you use mail, do Certified Mail so you have a receipt to show in court. As an alternative, instead of delivering by mail or in person, you can send this Notice by email to them, but only if the tenant has signed an agreement to receive email notices of time-sensitive rental issues. (Florida Statutes, 2025, § 83.56(4).[1])
Step 4. Calculate the Deadline Date for 7-day Notice To Remedy a Lease Violation
To figure out the deadline date for when the tenant needs to fix the violation, even though it says “7 days,” you need to add 5 additional days if you will send the Notice only by mail.[2]
Weekends and holidays are counted in a special way for this 7-day notice. These rules are different from the rules for 3-day notices. So, for this 7-day notice, you can’t start counting with day 1 on a weekend or legal holiday, and the deadline date itself cannot be a weekend or legal holiday, but you do count the weekends and holidays in the middle days. I will explain this exactly below depending on which way you’ll be delivering the Notice. (Florida Rules of General Practice and Judicial Administration 2.514(a)(1).[2])
So, consider how you’ll be delivering the Notice:
- If you’re going to deliver the Notice in person, or on the door of the rental property, or by email, start counting day 1 on the next business day after you deliver it, or on the next business day after you email it. So if the day after you send it is a weekend or holiday, you skip those days and count Day 1 as the next business day. Then you continue counting consecutive days, including counting weekends and holidays, until Day 7. If Day 7 is not a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday, then that is the deadline for this notice. Or, if Day 7 is a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday, skip ahead to the next business day and that is the deadline for this notice.
- If you’re going to send the Notice by mail only, instead of hand-delivery or email, you must add 5 more days in addition to the 7 days. So you must count 12 days to get the correct deadline date. And don’t count the day you mail it. Start the count on the next business day. So if the day after you mail it is a weekend or holiday, you skip those days and count Day 1 as the next business day. Then you continue counting consecutive days, including counting weekends and holidays, until Day 12. If Day 12 is not a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday, then that is the deadline for this notice. Or, if Day 12 is a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday, skip ahead to the next business day and that is the deadline for this notice. (Florida Rules of General Practice and Judicial Administration 2.514(b).[2])
Step 5. Wait Until The Deadline Date, 11:59 PM
If the violation is not fixed by the end of the 7-day deadline (the date as calculated in the previous step), then the lease is considered terminated. If they haven’t moved out by that day, the lease is considered terminated. Now you can either follow the steps below to give them a Termination Notice, or go straight to evict through court order. To evict through court, prepare the eviction package for Miami-Dade county and file it with Miami-Dade county. (Florida Statutes, 2025, § 83.56(2)(b), and § 83.59(1).[1])
(This completes the steps if you chose to give the tenant another chance. On the other hand, if you chose to end the lease immediately, then read the steps below.)
Steps To Take if You Choose to End Lease Immediately (Choice 2)
Step 1. Fill Out The 7-Day Notice To Vacate
If you choose to ask the tenant to move out now, that is, to end end the lease immediately, you can give the tenant 7 days to move out of the rental property. The first step you must do is to fill out the Notice of Termination For Noncompliance (the “7-Day Notice To Vacate”). The full name of the Notice is “NOTICE FROM LANDLORD TO TENANT—TERMINATION FOR NONCOMPLIANCE FOR MATTERS OTHER THAN FAILURE TO PAY RENT.” Here is a preview image of the 7-day notice to vacate:
We offer an editable template of that Notice which you can edit in Microsoft Word, Google Docs, Apple Pages, and LibreOffice Writer. You can purchase the editable template of the 7-Day Notice To Vacate here.
In our editable template for the 7-Day Notice To Vacate, you need to enter the tenant’s name, address, and describe the reason that the lease been terminated. Be sure to mention the actual noncompliance, like the violation that took place, or the repeat-violation. You also need to enter the date you are sending the notice.
Step 2. Make a Copy of The 7-Day Notice To Vacate
Before you send out the completely filled out Notice, make a copy of it and put it in the tenant’s folder (this is a folder in your own records that you should keep for each tenant – either a digital folder on your computer or a physical folder in your file cabinet). This copy of the Notice of Termination For Noncompliance (7-Day Notice To Vacate) will be needed if you later have to evict through court.
Step 3. Deliver The 7-Day Notice To Vacate
Deliver the Notice to the tenant, either by mail or in person. Or you can tape it to the door if they are not home. If you use mail, do Certified Mail so you have a receipt to show in court. As an alternative, instead of delivering by mail or in person, you can send this Notice by email to them, but only if the tenant has signed an agreement to receive email notices of time-sensitive rental issues. (Florida Statutes, 2025, § 83.56(4).[1])
Step 4. Calculate the Deadline Date for 7-Day Notice To Vacate
To figure out the deadline date for when the tenant needs to have moved out from the rental property, even though it says “7 days,” you need to add 5 additional days if you will send the Notice only by mail.[2]
Weekends and holidays are counted in a special way for this 7-day notice. These rules are different from the rules for 3-day notices. So, for this 7-day notice, you can’t start counting with day 1 on a weekend or legal holiday, and the deadline date itself cannot be a weekend or legal holiday, the you do count the weekends and holidays in the middle days. I will explain this exactly below depending on which way you’ll be delivering the Notice. (Florida Rules of General Practice and Judicial Administration 2.514(a)(1).[2])
So, consider the way that you’ll be delivering this Notice of Termination For Noncompliance:
- If you’re going to deliver the Notice of Termination in person, or on the door of the rental property, or by email, start counting day 1 on the next business day after you deliver it, or on the next business day after you email it. So if the day after you send it is a weekend or holiday, you skip those days and count Day 1 as the next business day. Then you continue counting consecutive days, including counting weekends and holidays, until Day 7. If Day 7 is not a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday, then that is the deadline for this Notice. Or, if Day 7 is a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday, skip ahead to the next business day and that is the deadline for this Notice.
- If you’re going to send the Notice of Termination by mail only, instead of hand-delivery or email, you must add 5 more days in addition to the 7 days. So you must count 12 days to get the correct deadline date. And don’t count the day you mail it. Start the count on the next business day. So if the day after you mail it is a weekend or holiday, you skip those days and count Day 1 as the next business day. Then you continue counting consecutive days, including counting weekends and holidays, until Day 12. If Day 12 is not a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday, then that is the deadline for this notice. Or, if Day 12 is a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday, skip ahead to the next business day and that is the deadline for this notice. (Florida Rules of General Practice and Judicial Administration 2.514(b).[2])
Step 5. Wait Until The Deadline Date, 11:59 PM
If the tenant has not moved out by the end of the 7-day deadline (the date as calculated in the previous step), then you will need to evict through court order. To do this, prepare the eviction package for Miami-Dade County and file it with Miami-Dade County.
References
- Florida Statutes §§ 83.56(2)(a), 83.56(2)(b), 83.56(4), 83.59(1) (2025). (https://www.leg.state.fl.us/Statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0000-0099/0083/0083.html)
- Florida Rules of General Practice and Judicial Administration 2.514(a)(1), 2.514(b). (https://www-media.floridabar.org/uploads/2026/01/2026_07-JAN-Florida-Rules-of-General-Practice-and-Judicial-Administration-1-1-2026-2.pdf)
