Miami Gardens Attorney
Attorney for Miami Gardens Landlords, Tenants, Homeowners, and Families
Miami Gardens was incorporated on May 13, 2003, as the 33rd municipality in Miami-Dade County, according to the City’s 2016 Popular Annual Financial Report. That report describes a city of about 20 square miles running from NW 151st Street north to the Broward County line, and lists building and code enforcement among the services the City provides itself. For property owners, that means some rules come from City Hall rather than from the County, and one of them reaches anyone who rents out a home here. Arturo R. Alfonso P.A. has handled Miami-Dade real estate, family law, and bankruptcy matters in English and Spanish for 30 years from an office at 7821 Coral Way. Call (305) 266-9584 or request a free consultation.
Renting Out a Home in Miami Gardens
The City’s Code Compliance Division publishes an Application for Landlord Permit (form revised in 2023). It asks for the property’s folio number, the owner, the landlord if that is someone else, and the number of units and tenants. The form states that issuing the permit is contingent upon a compliance inspection, and that failing to comply with the City’s ordinances may result in revocation. The posted fees are a $12.00 non-refundable application fee plus a permit fee of $66.15 for a single-family dwelling, or $55.13 for the first unit and $26.25 for each additional unit of a multi-family property. The form lists the office at 18605 NW 27 Avenue, Suite 118, phone (305) 622-8020. Fees and procedures change, so confirm them with the City before you apply.
The permit is a City inspection matter, separate from the lease. Since 2023, Fla. Stat. 83.425 has preempted to the state the regulation of residential tenancies and the landlord-tenant relationship, including tenant screening, security deposits, lease terms, and notice requirements. So in Miami Gardens, as everywhere in Florida, the notices, the deposit rules, and the eviction steps come from Chapter 83, Part II. Our page on landlord-tenant and eviction help walks through those rules for both sides, and our Q&A on how to evict a tenant in Florida covers the notices and the court process.
Buying a house that already has a tenant raises its own questions. Under Fla. Stat. 83.49(7), when title to rental property passes to a new owner, the security deposits and advance rents held for the tenants must be transferred too, and there is a rebuttable presumption, limited to one month’s rent, that the new owner received the deposit. Before you sign, ask the seller for the current lease, the deposit records, whether a landlord permit is in place, and when the property was last inspected, and make the deposit transfer part of the closing. A short residential lease is usually not recorded, so a county title search will not tell you who is living in the house.
Florida does not require an attorney to close a sale; read title company or attorney closing, how we handle residential closings in Miami-Dade, how a title search and title insurance work, and our real estate law services.
Courts, Divorce, and Bankruptcy in Miami Gardens
Miami Gardens matters belong to the Eleventh Judicial Circuit. A residential eviction is filed in county court, and the Miami-Dade Clerk’s bilingual Residential Eviction Summons lists the county court locations where a tenant may file a written answer, among them the North Dade Justice Center at 15555 Biscayne Boulevard and the Joseph Caleb Center. Divorce, custody, and support cases go to the Family Division at the Lawson E. Thomas Courthouse Center, 175 NW 1st Avenue in downtown Miami.
To file for divorce in Florida, one spouse must have lived in the state for 6 months before filing (Fla. Stat. 61.021). The court first separates marital from nonmarital assets and then divides the marital ones starting from the premise that the split should be equal, unless there is a justification for an unequal distribution (Fla. Stat. 61.075(1)). Florida is not a community property state; see is Florida a community property state.
When a Miami Gardens couple owns a rental house, the divorce has two jobs. If the rental is a marital asset, it goes into the division. Rent also counts as income for child support: Fla. Stat. 61.30(2)(a)11 defines rental income as gross receipts minus the ordinary and necessary expenses required to produce it. Bring the lease, the rent records, the deposit account, and the repair and permit receipts, so the agreement can say who keeps the property, who holds the tenant’s deposit, and who answers to the City for the permit. See who gets the house in a Florida divorce and our family law services.
Bankruptcy and eviction meet in a specific way. Filing usually triggers the automatic stay, but as our Q&A on the automatic stay explains, if a landlord already obtained a judgment of possession before the tenant filed, a residential eviction can generally go forward. That exception is 11 U.S.C. 362(b)(22), and 362(l) sets a narrow 30-day procedure, including a certification filed with the petition and a deposit of rent with the bankruptcy clerk, that applies only in limited circumstances. Whether it helps depends on the facts, so for either side, bring the judgment and the petition. See our bankruptcy law services.
Common Questions
Does Miami Gardens have a landlord permit? The City’s Code Compliance Division publishes an Application for Landlord Permit. The form says the permit depends on a compliance inspection and lists a $12.00 non-refundable application fee plus a permit fee, $66.15 for a single-family dwelling. Confirm the current requirements and fees with the City.
Does a City ordinance control my Miami Gardens lease? Since 2023, Fla. Stat. 83.425 has preempted the regulation of residential tenancies and the landlord-tenant relationship to the state, including screening, deposits, lease terms, and notices. Those rules come from Chapter 83, Part II of the Florida Statutes.
Contact Us
Whether you are renting out a Miami Gardens house, buying one with a tenant in it, facing an eviction notice, dividing a rental property in a divorce, or weighing bankruptcy with an eviction pending, Attorney Alfonso can review your documents in English or Spanish. Hablamos español. Call (305) 266-9584 or contact us to schedule a free consultation.
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