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Eviction Fees For Landlords Up Dramatically

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By SHANNON BEHNKEN

The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 1, 2008

TAMPA - TAMPA - As if dealing with a delinquent tenant wasn't bad enough. Starting today, Florida landlords will have to pay more to file eviction notices - nearly 240 percent more.

"Frequently, the landlords have already gone one to two months with no income from the home," said lawyer Robert Altman of New Port Richey. "This is even more of a burden on top of what they've already got to deal with."

The fees, recently passed by the Legislature, will bring tenant eviction filings to $270, up from about $80, in Hillsborough, Pasco and Pinellas counties.

The landlord-tenant fee is just one of dozens of increasing fees charged by circuit courts, but it's by far the steepest jump. Many of the others are going up by just a few dollars.

The motivation is to help offset money state and local governments are losing because of sluggish home sales and from the recent residential property tax breaks.

The fees caused another form of motivation, too: landlords and lenders trying to save money by filing before today.

Altman's office was working against the deadline gun Monday, trying to get one last eviction notice filed with the Pasco County Clerk of Circuit Court. He said he had heard of another firm that filed for 60 evictions late last week.

Ironically, Altman is running for the office of clerk of circuit court in Pasco County and said he understands why local governments need to make up for projected shortfalls, but he also feels bad for his clients.

"It's a tough time for some of them," he said.

In this turbulent economy, as gas prices and other costs of living rise and people lose jobs, more people are finding it difficult to pay rent or their mortgage. Some of the evictions are from landlords needing to evict a nonpaying tenant. Others are from lenders evicting a homeowner in foreclosure. Some are landlords who evict tenants because they are losing the home to foreclosure.

All forms of eviction are rising. Florida has the second-highest number of foreclosure filings in the nation. In the Tampa Bay area, one out of 271 households received a foreclosure filing in May.

Allison Watson of Total Eviction of Tampa Bay said she had one client rush paperwork overnight to avoid paying the extra $190 in fees. Watson, whose company charges several hundred dollars to assist landlords with eviction proceedings, fears the new fees will hurt her business.

"We're going to cut $20 off our fee to help people, but I know that won't help much," Watson said.

Reporter Shannon Behnken can be reached at sbehnken@tampatrib.com or (813) 259-7804. Keyword: Foreclosure, to read a special report on the foreclosure crisis in Tampa and to search a database of foreclosed homes.

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