Tenant Defaulted on Court-Settled Eviction Agreement (Ocala, FL)

[Sendil Thangavelu]

Hello,

In December 2024 I had to evict a tenant in Ocala, FL by going to court. This tenant settled in court with me where the he signed an agreement with me to the effect that he would pay 2 months rent that is due as well as the legal cost in 16 monthly  installments. The tenant vacated after we reach the settlement in court and in turn,  I dismissed  the eviction per the court agreement . However the tenant has not paid a single installment till date (over the past 7 months). I have emailed them multiple times and of course there is no response.

Using this court approved settlement document that stipulates payment from  tenant (former tenant), I reached out to multiple collection agencies and none of them are willing to take it. They say, they  only work with corporates and property managers . The tenant also ruined my property and this  cost about $2,000 in repair charges before I could put the property back on market. I really would like to go after this tenant and  recover at  least  court stipulated payments (two moths rent and legal costs).  In addition I have proof of damages in pictures and I have sent notices via email about damage costs of $2000 that I would like to recover from them. 

I was nothing but kind to this tenant throughout the process however the tenant created a lot of problems. At this point I want to go after this tenant and garnish their wages or at least have an entry on their credit file that they did not pay a court settled order.  What are my options here. Do you know of any lawyer or any agency that can help me with collection?

Thank you in advance for your pointers and suggestions

Sendil

[Berenger Greer]

Sorry you’re dealing with that. Since you already have a court-approved settlement agreement, your next step is to turn that into something enforceable like a judgment if it isn’t already. In Florida, once you have a judgment, you can record it, garnish wages, levy bank accounts, and in some cases place liens on property. If the settlement was just an agreement and not entered as a judgment, you may have to go back to court to get it converted.

Once you have a judgment, you don’t actually need a collection agency that only works with property managers. You can either hire a collections attorney who works on a contingency or hourly basis, or you can handle some of the enforcement yourself through the court system. Many Florida landlords hire local “creditors’ rights” or “collections” attorneys for this exact reason, they can handle wage garnishment paperwork, bank levies, and judgment liens.

As for getting it on their credit report, most individual landlords can’t directly report to bureaus. A collections attorney or agency with reporting capabilities can do that for you. Some landlords also sell the debt to a collections company for pennies on the dollar just to get it reported.

If you want to keep the full amount, I’d start by calling attorneys in Marion County who handle post-judgment enforcement. Search for “Florida judgment collection attorney” and specifically ask if they do wage garnishment and bank levies. If you can garnish, Florida allows you to take up to 25% of disposable income unless the debtor qualifies for certain exemptions.