Florida landlord-tenant law requires certain notices be given by the landlord to the tenant before the landlord may take legal action against the tenant. Those notices, of course, must be delivered to the tenant, and the notice period must be calculated properly. If the notice period is not calculated properly, the notice may be deemed legally defective, and as a result, the landlord can lose the action taken against the tenant based on that notice.
The applicable Florida rule that governs notice period calculation is Fla. R. Jud. Admin. 2.514. The Rule can be summarized as follows:
- Do not include the date of delivery in the notice period.
- If the first day of the notice period falls on Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday, the first day should be the next day that is not a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday. In other words, the first day of the notice cannot be a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday.
- Include every calendar day in the notice period, unless the notice period is less than 7 days, in which case, the notice period cannot include Saturday, Sunday, and legal holidays.
- If the last day of the notice period falls on a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday, the last day of the notice period must be next day that is not a Sunday, Sunday, or legal holiday. “Legal holidays” can be set by the clerk of court and by court order. Check the local jurisdiction websites for “legal holidays”.
- If the notice is mailed to the tenant, add 5 days to the notice period.
Tip: in Harari v. Whitford, 14 Fla. L. Weekly. Supp. 701a (15th Cir. App. 2007), the court ruled that email constitutes delivery of notice, but the dissenting judge opined that even if that’s true, the landlord must add 5 days to the notice period under the “Mailbox Rule”. To be safe in this regard, add 5 days to the notice for a notice that is emailed to the tenant.
Other calculation rules apply, based on court decisions in landlord-tenant cases, that affect calculating notice periods. One such notable rule is when the tenant is “required to mail rent payment” to the landlord. In that case, the landlord must add 5 days to the notice period. The tenant could be “required to mail rent payment” in the following circumstances.
- the lease agreement requires the tenant to mail payment to the landlord,
- the 3 Day Notice to Pay requires the tenant to mail payment to the landlord, or
- the landlord’s address is outside of the county of the rental property.
So, for example, if the landlord mailed or emailed the notice to the tenant and if the tenant is “required to mail rent payment” to the landlord, two separate 5 day periods must be added to the notice period: one 5 day addition for the landlord’s mailing and one 5 day addition for the tenant’s mailing, for a total of 10 additional days.
These notice calculation rules are simple perhaps, but experience shows that many landlords do not properly calculate notice periods in their notices to tenants. Landlords should keep these rules in the forefront of their minds when preparing any notice demanding that the tenant take action to comply with their obligations.
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