In Florida, the choice between ejectment and eviction comes down to one question about the person you want out: do they pay rent or hold a lease, or do they claim an ownership interest in the property? If they pay rent or have a lease, you file an eviction under Chapter 83. If they assert some form of ownership, you file an ejectment under Chapter 66. Picking the wrong statute gets your case dismissed, and you start over.
There is also a third path many owners don’t know exists, for occupants who fit neither category. More on that below.
The Core Distinction
Eviction and ejectment answer different legal questions. An eviction asks whether a tenant still has the right to stay under a rental agreement. An ejectment asks who actually owns the property, or has the superior right to possess it, when someone in the home is claiming a stake of their own.
That difference drives everything else: which court hears the case, how long it takes, what you must prove, and what documents you need to file. It also drives a warning worth stating up front. If the occupant ever paid you rent, even informally, a court is likely to treat them as a tenant. That means eviction is your only lawful option, no matter how the relationship ended or how confident you are that you own the place outright.
When Eviction Is the Right Action
A standard residential eviction applies when the person living in your property pays rent or has a signed lease. Chapter 83, Part II of the Florida Statutes governs these cases and defines a rental agreement as any written or oral arrangement providing for use and occupancy of a dwelling in exchange for periodic payments.1Florida Senate. Florida Statutes Chapter 83 – Landlord and Tenant Oral arrangements count. So does a pattern of accepting money from someone in exchange for letting them stay.
Eviction is a summary proceeding, meaning it moves quickly by design. The court only decides whether the tenant has a right to remain under the lease terms. It does not decide ownership, and it does not entertain arguments about who really deserves to live there. Filing happens in County Court.
Before filing, you have to give notice. If the issue is unpaid rent, Florida law requires a written demand giving the tenant three days (excluding weekends and court-observed holidays) to pay or vacate. For other lease violations, such as unauthorized pets or guests, the tenant gets a seven-day written notice to cure the problem.2Florida Senate. Florida Statutes 83.56 – Termination of Rental Agreement Filing before the notice period runs out is grounds for dismissal.
Practically, an eviction is the fastest court-based removal available in Florida. Once served, the tenant has five business days to file a written answer.3Miami-Dade Clerk of Courts. Residential Eviction Summons If they don’t respond, you can seek a default judgment. If they do respond, hearings tend to be brief because the question is narrow: did the tenant breach the lease or fail to pay?
When Ejectment Is the Right Action
Ejectment is for situations where the occupant claims they have an ownership interest in the property. This comes up with former romantic partners who say they contributed to the mortgage, relatives who believe they inherited a share, or anyone asserting an equitable stake based on money, labor, or promises made over the years.p>
Because the court has to examine competing title claims, ejectment cases go to Circuit Court exclusively.4The Florida Legislature. Florida Code 66.021 – Ejectment Both sides must submit a chronological chain of title with their filings, listing every deed, judgment, or unrecorded instrument they rely on. Your recorded warranty deed is the foundation of your case; without it, you cannot show the superior right to possession that ejectment requires.
Expect ejectment to be slower, more expensive, and more procedurally demanding than eviction. The response deadline after service is twenty days, not five. When the occupant’s ownership claim has any real substance, the case can stretch into a full trial with witnesses and documentary evidence about who paid for what and when.
If you learn the occupant has been paying property taxes in their own name, treat that as a serious signal. It suggests they may be laying groundwork for a claim, and it changes the urgency of filing.
The Third Option: Unlawful Detainer
Many removal situations don’t fit either category. An adult child who never paid rent, a guest who overstayed their welcome, a former friend crashing in the spare room, or a stranger occupying a vacant house typically has no lease and no ownership claim. For these occupants, an unlawful detainer action under Chapter 82 is the appropriate remedy.
Unlawful detainer is filed in County Court unless the amount in controversy exceeds $50,000. The court focuses on a single question: does the person have any legal right to be on the property? If the answer is no, the court orders them out. It’s the middle ground between eviction (which needs a landlord-tenant relationship) and ejectment (which needs a disputed ownership claim).
Reading the occupant’s situation correctly is what tells you which of the three to use. A useful way to sort it out:
- They pay rent, or once did, or have any written or oral rental agreement: eviction.
- They claim they own part of the property, inherited an interest, or built up equity through contributions: ejectment.
- They have neither a rental arrangement nor an ownership claim: unlawful detainer.
Florida’s Expedited Removal for Squatters
If the occupant is a clear unauthorized intruder rather than someone with any past connection to you, Florida Statute 82.036 offers a faster alternative to filing suit. Instead of a lawsuit, you file a verified complaint directly with the sheriff in the county where the property sits. If the sheriff confirms your identity and right to possess the property, the sheriff serves notice on the occupant to leave immediately.5Clerk of the Circuit Court, Collier County. New Law Regarding Removal of Unauthorized Persons Squatters
This path only works when all of the following are true:
- The property includes a residential dwelling.
- The unauthorized person entered unlawfully and continues to remain.
- The property was not open to the public when the person entered.
- You have already directed the person to leave.
- The occupant is not a current or former tenant under any written or oral rental agreement.
- The occupant is not an immediate family member of the owner.
- No pending litigation exists between you and the occupant over the property.
Miss any one of those, and you’re back to filing a traditional unlawful detainer or ejectment case in court.
What Happens If You Pick the Wrong One
Filing under the wrong statute is the single most common mistake property owners make in these cases. A judge who sees an eviction complaint against someone who never paid rent, or an ejectment against a plain tenant, will dismiss it. You lose the filing fee, the process server fee, and the weeks or months the case has been pending. Then you refile under the right statute and start the clock over. Meanwhile, the occupant is still in the house.
The mismatch also opens the door to procedural counterattacks. An occupant who’s been served under the wrong theory can point to the mismatch as its own defense, and courts will listen.
Self-Help Is Not a Shortcut
Whatever pathway fits your situation, you cannot skip it by acting on your own. Changing the locks, shutting off utilities, or moving the occupant’s belongings to the curb without a court order is illegal in Florida regardless of who technically owns the property. Section 83.67 prohibits landlords from interrupting utilities, blocking access, or removing doors, locks, or windows except for maintenance, and from removing personal property unless the tenant has surrendered, abandoned, or been lawfully evicted.6Justia Law. Florida Statutes 83.67 – Prohibited Practices
The penalties are not trivial. An owner who violates any of these prohibitions is liable for actual and consequential damages or three months’ rent, whichever is greater, plus the occupant’s attorney fees and court costs.6Justia Law. Florida Statutes 83.67 – Prohibited Practices Each separate violation after the first triggers its own damages award. Courts also treat these acts as irreparable harm, so the occupant can obtain an emergency injunction forcing you to restore access and utilities. An owner trying to save time by cutting corners often ends up paying the occupant’s legal bills on top of their own.
Why the Timing of Your Choice Matters
Owners sometimes let unauthorized occupants linger for months or years, especially when the property is a vacation home or an inherited house they don’t visit often. That delay creates a second problem on top of the removal itself: adverse possession.
Under Section 95.18, a person who occupies real property continuously for seven years under a claim of title can gain legal ownership if they meet several strict requirements. The occupant must pay all outstanding property taxes within one year of entering possession, file a return with the county property appraiser within 30 days of paying those taxes, and continue paying all taxes and special improvement liens for the remaining years. The property must also be protected by a substantial enclosure, or cultivated, maintained, or improved in a typical manner.7The Florida Legislature. Florida Code 95.18 – Real Property Actions; Adverse Possession Without Color of Title
Successful adverse possession claims are rare because most occupants never bother with the tax payments and filings. Still, if you discover someone has been paying taxes on your property in their own name, that is an emergency. File the ejectment action immediately. Every month you wait is another month toward the seven-year clock.
Getting the Filing Right the First Time
Before you file anything, work through three questions in order. Has the occupant ever paid you money for the right to stay, in any form? If yes, it’s an eviction, and you need to serve the appropriate three-day or seven-day notice first. Does the occupant claim an ownership interest, however weak it sounds to you? If yes, it’s an ejectment, and you need your recorded deed and a chain of title ready for Circuit Court. If both answers are no, it’s an unlawful detainer, filed in County Court.
Every complaint must include the legal description of the property, not just the street address. You can pull it from your deed, your property tax records, or the county property appraiser’s website. Every adult occupant must be named. If you don’t know a name, Florida law lets you use “Unknown Party or Parties in Possession” in the summons, which gives the court authority over anyone in the home.8The Florida Legislature. Florida Code 48.184 – Service of Process in Actions to Recover Possession of Real Property Anyone not named in the final judgment can argue they’re not bound by it, and the sheriff cannot remove them.
When the situation genuinely straddles categories, or the occupant has already threatened to fight, an hour with a Florida real estate attorney before filing is cheaper than a dismissal and a second filing fee.