Florida Statutes 723.061 – Eviction; grounds, proceedings
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(1) A mobile home park owner may evict a mobile home owner, a mobile home tenant, a mobile home occupant, or a mobile home only on one or more of the following grounds:
(a) Nonpayment of the lot rental amount. If a mobile home owner or tenant, whichever is responsible, fails to pay the lot rental amount when due and if the default continues for 5 days after delivery of a written demand by the mobile home park owner for payment of the lot rental amount, the park owner may terminate the tenancy. However, if the mobile home owner or tenant, whichever is responsible, pays the lot rental amount due, including any late charges, court costs, and attorney’s fees, the court may, for good cause, deny the order of eviction, if such nonpayment has not occurred more than twice.
Terms Used In Florida Statutes 723.061
- Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
- Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
- Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
- Division: means the Division of Florida Condominiums, Timeshares, and Mobile Homes of the Department of Business and Professional Regulation. See Florida Statutes 723.003
- homeowner: means a person who owns a mobile home and rents or leases a lot within a mobile home park for residential use. See Florida Statutes 723.003
- Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
- Lot rental amount: means all financial obligations, except user fees, which are required as a condition of the tenancy. See Florida Statutes 723.003
- Mobile home: means a residential structure, transportable in one or more sections, which is 8 body feet or more in width, over 35 body feet in length with the hitch, built on an integral chassis, designed to be used as a dwelling when connected to the required utilities, and not originally sold as a recreational vehicle, and includes the plumbing, heating, air-conditioning, and electrical systems contained therein. See Florida Statutes 723.003
- Mobile home lot: means a lot described by a park owner pursuant to the requirements of…. See Florida Statutes 723.003
- Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
- park: means a use of land in which lots or spaces are offered for rent or lease for the placement of mobile homes and in which the primary use of the park is residential. See Florida Statutes 723.003
- park owner: means an owner or operator of a mobile home park. See Florida Statutes 723.003
- registered mail: includes certified mail with return receipt requested. See Florida Statutes 1.01
- rental agreement: means any mutual understanding or lease, whether oral or written, between a mobile home owner and a mobile home park owner in which the mobile home owner is entitled to place his or her mobile home on a mobile home lot for either direct or indirect remuneration of the mobile home park owner. See Florida Statutes 723.003
- writing: includes handwriting, printing, typewriting, and all other methods and means of forming letters and characters upon paper, stone, wood, or other materials. See Florida Statutes 1.01
(b) Conviction of a violation of a federal or state law or local ordinance, if the violation is detrimental to the health, safety, or welfare of other residents of the mobile home park. The mobile home owner or mobile home tenant must vacate the premises within 7 days after the date the notice to vacate is delivered. This paragraph constitutes grounds to deny an initial tenancy of a purchaser of a home under paragraph (e) or to evict an unapproved occupant of a home.
(c) Violation of a park rule or regulation, the rental agreement, or this chapter.
1. For the first violation of any properly promulgated rule or regulation, rental agreement provision, or this chapter which is found by any court of competent jurisdiction to have been an act that endangered the life, health, safety, or property of the park residents or employees or the peaceful enjoyment of the mobile home park by its residents, the mobile home park owner may terminate the rental agreement, and the mobile home owner, tenant, or occupant must vacate the premises within 7 days after the notice to vacate is delivered.
2. For a second violation of the same properly promulgated rule or regulation, rental agreement provision, or this chapter within 12 months, the mobile home park owner may terminate the tenancy if she or he has given the mobile home owner, tenant, or occupant written notice, within 30 days after the first violation, which specified the actions of the mobile home owner, tenant, or occupant that caused the violation and gave the mobile home owner, tenant, or occupant 7 days to correct the noncompliance. The mobile home owner, tenant, or occupant must have received written notice of the ground upon which she or he is to be evicted at least 30 days prior to the date on which she or he is required to vacate. A second violation of a properly promulgated rule or regulation, rental agreement provision, or this chapter within 12 months of the first violation is unequivocally a ground for eviction, and it is not a defense to any eviction proceeding that a violation has been cured after the second violation. Violation of a rule or regulation, rental agreement provision, or this chapter more than 1 year after the first violation of the same rule or regulation, rental agreement provision, or this chapter does not constitute a ground for eviction under this section.
A properly promulgated rule or regulation may not be arbitrarily applied and used as a ground for eviction.
(d) Change in use of the land comprising the mobile home park, or the portion thereof from which mobile homes are to be evicted, from mobile home lot rentals to some other use, if:
1. The park owner gives written notice to the homeowners’ association formed and operating under ss. 723.075–723.079 of its right to purchase the mobile home park, if the land comprising the mobile home park is changing use from mobile home lot rentals to a different use, at the price and under the terms and conditions set forth in the written notice.
a. The notice shall be delivered to the officers of the homeowners’ association by United States mail. Within 45 days after the date of mailing of the notice, the homeowners’ association may execute and deliver a contract to the park owner to purchase the mobile home park at the price and under the terms and conditions set forth in the notice. If the contract between the park owner and the homeowners’ association is not executed and delivered to the park owner within the 45-day period, the park owner is under no further obligation to the homeowners’ association except as provided in sub-subparagraph b.
b. If the park owner elects to offer or sell the mobile home park at a price lower than the price specified in her or his initial notice to the officers of the homeowners’ association, the homeowners’ association has an additional 10 days to meet the revised price, terms, and conditions of the park owner by executing and delivering a revised contract to the park owner.
c. The park owner is not obligated under this subparagraph or s. 723.071 to give any other notice to, or to further negotiate with, the homeowners’ association for the sale of the mobile home park to the homeowners’ association after 6 months after the date of the mailing of the initial notice under sub-subparagraph a.
2. The park owner gives the affected mobile home owners and tenants at least 6 months’ notice of the eviction due to the projected change in use and of their need to secure other accommodations. Within 20 days after giving an eviction notice to a mobile home owner, the park owner must provide the division with a copy of the notice. The division must provide the executive director of the Florida Mobile Home Relocation Corporation with a copy of the notice.
a. The notice of eviction due to a change in use of the land must include in a font no smaller than the body of the notice the following statement:
YOU MAY BE ENTITLED TO COMPENSATION FROM THE FLORIDA MOBILE HOME RELOCATION TRUST FUND, ADMINISTERED BY THE FLORIDA MOBILE HOME RELOCATION CORPORATION (FMHRC). FMHRC CONTACT INFORMATION IS AVAILABLE FROM THE FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF BUSINESS AND PROFESSIONAL REGULATION.
b. The park owner may not give a notice of increase in lot rental amount within 90 days before giving notice of a change in use.
(e) Failure of the purchaser, prospective tenant, or occupant of a mobile home situated in the mobile home park to be qualified as, and to obtain approval to become, a tenant or occupant of the home, if such approval is required by a properly promulgated rule. If a purchaser or prospective tenant of a mobile home situated in the mobile home park occupies the mobile home before such approval is granted, the mobile home owner or mobile home tenant must vacate the premises within 7 days after the date the notice of the failure to be approved for tenancy is delivered.
(2) In the event of eviction for a change in use, homeowners must object to the change in use by petitioning for administrative or judicial remedies within 90 days after the date of the notice or they will be barred from taking any subsequent action to contest the change in use. This subsection does not prevent any homeowner from objecting to a zoning change at any time.
(3) A mobile home park owner applying for the removal of a mobile home owner, tenant, or occupant or a mobile home shall file, in the county court in the county where the mobile home lot is situated, a complaint describing the lot and stating the facts that authorize the removal of the mobile home owner, tenant, or occupant or the mobile home. The park owner is entitled to the summary procedure provided in s. 51.011, and the court shall advance the cause on the calendar.
(4) Except for the notice to the officers of the homeowners’ association under subparagraph (1)(d)1., any notice required by this section must be in writing, and must be posted on the premises and sent to the mobile home owner and tenant or occupant, as appropriate, by certified or registered mail, return receipt requested, addressed to the mobile home owner and tenant or occupant, as appropriate, at her or his last known address. Delivery of the mailed notice shall be deemed given 5 days after the date of postmark.
(5) A park owner who accepts payment of any portion of the lot rental amount with actual knowledge of noncompliance after notice and termination of the rental agreement due to a violation under paragraph (1)(b), paragraph (1)(c), or paragraph (1)(e) does not waive the right to terminate the rental agreement or the right to bring a civil action for the noncompliance, but not for any subsequent or continuing noncompliance. Any rent so received must be accounted for at the final hearing.