If the tenant fails to pay rent by the due date, the landlord may deliver a written notice to pay or vacate, pursuant to F.S. 83.56(3). The notice must be delivered by hand-delivery to the tenant, posted in a conspicuous place on the premises (if the tenant is not present at the time), or by mail (note: one Florida court has ruled that email also constitutes written notice).
If the lease agreement provides that the landlord must provide the tenant with more than three days to pay rent owed upon notice, the landlord must include that number of days in the notice to pay, but otherwise, the landlord must give the tenant three days to pay the rent or vacate. The 3-day notice period does not include the date of service of the notice, legal holidays, or weekends. If the notice violates this rule, the notice will be legally defective and could serve as the basis for defending the eviction.
If the landlord decides to mail the notice, the “Mailbox Rule” requires that the landlord add five days to the notice period. Thus, a 3-day notice to pay would become an 8-day notice to pay. Some courts have ruled that the five additional days cannot include legal holidays or weekends. Under that ruling, the landlord must exclude legal holidays and weekends from the 5-day calculation.
If the landlord’s office or payment location is in another county, Florida courts have ruled that the distance between the tenant and landlord would require that the landlord add five days to the notice period under the Mailbox Rule. Also, if the landlord decides to mail the notice to the tenant, the landlord has to add five days to the notice period.
Let’s assume the following scenario:
The tenant is late on paying November 2022 rent. The landlord’s office is in Escambia County, and the rental property is in Santa Rosa County. The landlord hand-delivers to the tenant a 3-day notice to pay or vacate on November 18, 2022. What should be the “pay or vacate” date in the 3-day notice? Let’s walk it through step by step.
- Since the landlord’s office is in another county from the rental property, add five days to the notice period.
- Assume we do not include legal holidays or weekends to the five additional days under the Mailbox Rule (MB Rule).
- We do not include the date of delivery in the notice calculation, so the first day of the notice period begins on November 21, because November 19 and 20 are on the weekend.
- Count eight days, not including legal holidays or weekends starting November 21.
- December 1 is the 8th day from November 18 and is the “pay or vacate” date.