Florida’s county clerks publish court forms and instructions that apply to both sides of a residential eviction, including the tenant who receives the lawsuit. This article shows how the clerks’ materials describe the tenant’s deadline, the written response the court forms provide for, and what the forms say happens next, using Alachua County’s landlord-tenant packet as the main example. Every quotation comes directly from a clerk’s published materials or the court forms they contain, and the numbered notes at the end link to each original so you can read them for yourself.
A lot of you who land on this page will be scared, confused, and looking for legal advice. We’re a non-attorney paperwork processing company in Florida, so we can’t give you legal advice. Hopefully the information on this pages helps you. In addition, contacting your county clerk might be able to provide you with some free resources available in your county to help you with your questions on evictions, and responding to the eviction. We aren’t lawyers so we can’t advise you on your situation.
The information that follows is taken directly from legal documents published by Florida county clerks. It is provided for educational purposes only and does not represent legal advice or the legal opinions of the author.
What the Alachua County packet contains
The Alachua County Clerk of Court publishes a single landlord-tenant packet, updated July 1, 2024, that holds the forms for both landlords and tenants. Its instructions open with “Dear Landlord or Tenant” and state that “The attached forms are designed for use in the event of common landlord/tenant disputes. They should be used only for residential leases.”¹
Two items in the packet are written for the tenant who has been sued. The first is the “Eviction Summons—Residential,” which the packet identifies as Florida Rule of Civil Procedure Form 1.923(a). The second is “Form 7b – Answer—Residential Eviction, Fla. R. Civ. Proc. 1.947(b).”¹ The packet also includes two notices a tenant can send a landlord before any lawsuit, a “Notice from Tenant to Landlord – Termination for Failure of Landlord to Maintain Premises” and a “Notice from Tenant to Landlord – Withholding Rent for Failure of Landlord to Maintain Premises,” along with a blank motion form.¹
The packet’s instructions describe the law that governs these forms: “The residential landlord/tenant relationship is controlled by the terms of your lease and by Part II of Chapter 83 of the Florida Statutes. The procedures for enforcing your rights under your lease and Part II of Chapter 83 are set forth in section 51.011, Florida Statutes.”¹
The summons and the five-day deadline
The eviction summons in the Alachua packet is addressed to the tenant and begins “PLEASE READ CAREFULLY.” It states, “You are entitled to a trial to determine whether you can be required to move, but you MUST do ALL of the things listed below. You must do them within 5 days (not including Saturdays, Sundays, or legal holidays) after the date these papers were given to you or to a person who lives with you or were posted at your home.”¹
The summons then lists “THE THINGS YOU MUST DO TO CHALLENGE THE EVICTION”:¹
- “Write down the reason(s) why you think you should not be forced to move. (You may use Florida Supreme Court Form 1.947(b), Answer— Residential Eviction, to do this.)” The written reasons go to the clerk of court.
- “Mail or take a copy of your written reason(s) to” the landlord named on the summons.
- “Pay the clerk of court the rent that is due. You MUST pay the clerk of the court the rent each time it becomes due until the lawsuit is over. Whether you win or lose the lawsuit, the judge may release this rent to the landlord.”
- “If you and the landlord do not agree on the amount of rent owed, you must file a written request (motion) that asks the judge to decide how much money you must pay to the clerk of the court. The written request must be filed with your answer to the eviction complaint.”
The summons closes the list with a warning in capital letters: “IF YOU DO NOT DO ALL OF THESE THINGS WITHIN 5 DAYS (NOT INCLUDING SATURDAYS, SUNDAYS, AND LEGAL HOLIDAYS…) YOU MAY BE EVICTED WITHOUT A HEARING OR FURTHER NOTICE.” It adds, “You may want to call a lawyer right away,” and refers readers to the Lawyer Referral Service and legal aid listings on The Florida Bar’s website.¹
The same summons also notes a rule for subsidized housing: “By statute, public housing tenants or tenants receiving rent subsidies must be required to pay only that portion of the full rent for which the tenant is responsible under the federal, state, or local program in which they are participating.”¹
The Answer form and the court registry
Form 7b, “Answer—Residential Eviction,” is the form the summons points to. It is laid out in five numbered parts.¹
Part 1, the answer itself. The tenant checks only one of two boxes: “Defendant generally denies each statement of the complaint,” or “Defendant admits that all the statements of the complaint are true EXCEPT” for statements the tenant identifies by paragraph as false or unknown.
Part 2, the rent instructions. The form states, “If you write down any defense other than payment of rent, then you must take one of the following steps.” If the tenant agrees about the rent owed, “you must pay the rent owed into the court registry when you file this response.” If the tenant disagrees, the form directs them to check box 3(b) “and describe with detail why you disagree.” It continues, “You MUST pay the clerk of court the rent each time it becomes due until the lawsuit is over. If you fail to follow these instructions, then you will lose your defenses. You will not have a hearing in your case and you may be evicted without a court date.”
Part 3, the defenses checklist. The form tells the tenant to “Check ONLY the defenses that apply, and state brief facts to support each checked defense.” Its printed checkboxes cover withholding rent after written notice about repairs, disputing the amount of rent claimed (which the form labels a “Motion to Determine Rent”), an offer of rent the landlord refused, payment of the rent demanded, a waived or canceled notice, retaliation, the Federal or Florida Fair Housing Act, rent accepted after the notice, violations already corrected, a landlord who is not the owner, a notice not received or legally incorrect, and “Other defenses.” The form itself gives no guidance on which boxes apply to any particular situation.
Parts 4 and 5, jury trial. The form states, “You have a constitutional right to request a trial by a jury of your peers instead of a judge,” and adds that “You may have waived this right in your lease” and that “If you have questions about whether to request a jury trial, you should speak with an attorney.” The tenant then checks whether they want a judge or a jury to decide the case.
The form ends with a certificate of service and a note that “Each defendant named in the complaint for whom this answer is filed must sign this answer unless the defendant’s attorney signs.”¹
Duval County’s Tenant Rights packet describes the same rent dispute: “If you and the landlord do not agree on the amount of rent owed, give the Clerk of the Court the money you say you owe. You must also file the above-mentioned motion and the judge will decide what amount should be given to the Clerk of the Court by way of a hearing and/or an order.”² Hillsborough County’s Clerk notes the timing limit on registry deposits, answering the question of whether rent can go into the registry before a case is filed: “No, you cannot pay rent money into the Court Registry because the Clerk cannot deposit any money for your eviction case into the Registry until the landlord has filed an eviction with the court.”³
What the packets say happens next
The Alachua packet describes two separate response periods when a landlord sues for both possession and unpaid rent. Its instructions state, “The tenant will have five days, after service, to file a written response to a Complaint for eviction, and 20 days, after service, to file a written response to a complaint for back rent and damages. If the tenant fails to file a written response in that time the landlord is entitled to a judgment by default.”¹ The packet explains that “A separate summons is necessary for an eviction and to recover damages for unpaid rent.”¹
When a tenant does respond, Pasco County’s Clerk describes the next step from the landlord’s side: “The defendant may file an answer to your complaint/summons and deposit rent monies into the Court Registry. You then will need to set your case for a hearing with the Court.”⁴
When there is no response, Duval County’s Tenant Rights packet states, “If you do not respond and a judgment is entered against you, the clerk of the county court may issue a ‘Writ of Possession’ to the sheriff who will notify you that eviction will take place in 24 hours.”² The Alachua packet’s note on the Writ of Possession form says that once the Clerk signs the writ, “it must be delivered to the Sheriff to be served upon the Tenant and who, if necessary, will forcibly evict the Tenant after 24 hours from the time of service.”¹
Duval’s packet also cites the statute that limits what a landlord may do outside the court process. Citing Section 83.67, it states that “Florida Law does not allow a landlord to force a tenant out by” shutting off utilities, changing the locks, removing doors, locks, roof, walls, or windows except for maintenance, or removing the tenant’s personal property except in circumstances the statute lists, including “lawful eviction.”²
How other Florida counties describe the deadline
Florida has 67 counties, each with its own Clerk of Court. The clerks below each publish the tenant’s response period in their own words, and the wording varies.
- Pasco County. “The tenant must comply with the instructions on the summons and file an original answer to your summons with the Clerk & Comptroller with copies to you within five days of receipt of the summons, not including weekends or legal holidays.”⁴
- Hillsborough County. “After the summons is served to the tenant, the tenant has five (5) business days to file a response regarding the possession of the premises.”⁵
- Duval County. “If the landlord began a legal action to evict you, you will be notified in writing. You then have five days (excluding weekends and legal holidays) to respond – also in writing – to the court.”²
Each clerk publishes its materials for cases filed in that county, and clerks revise their forms from time to time. The summons a tenant actually receives states the deadline and the clerk’s address for that case.
Need help completing the forms?
Need help completing the forms?
Form America LLC, the publisher of this site, offers flat-rate form completion for landlord-tenant forms in all 67 Florida counties. To request help, use the contact form at LandlordTenantForms.com. The Florida Bar lists the tenant’s Answer, Form 1.947(b) “Answer — Residential Eviction,” among the landlord-tenant forms it describes as “approved by the Florida Supreme Court.”⁶ For approved forms, Form America can ask you the factual questions needed to fill in the blanks and tell you how to file the form. You decide what your answer says and which boxes apply. Form America cannot tell you which defenses fit your situation or whether to request a jury trial. Before any work begins, you and the preparer sign the disclosure required by Rule 10-2.2 of the Rules Regulating The Florida Bar. The summons itself refers tenants to the Lawyer Referral Service and legal aid listings on The Florida Bar’s website.
Notes
- Alachua County Clerk of Court, Landlord Tenant Forms – Instructions (updated July 1, 2024)
- Duval County Clerk of Courts, Tenant Rights packet (updated 8/2024)
- Hillsborough County Clerk of Court & Comptroller, Eviction Process
- Pasco County Clerk & Comptroller, Frequently Asked Questions: Civil – Landlord/tenant evictions
- Hillsborough County Clerk of Court & Comptroller, Residential Property Eviction
- The Florida Bar, Landlord Tenant Forms
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