Florida 3 day and 7 day notice question

[Sudeep Jain]

Hi All,

This is my first post here and thank to all of you for all the advice you have been giving which helped me a lot. We are in the process of evicting our tenant. We have two rental properties and one tenant has been amazing and no issues for more than a year. However the 2nd unit which we rented out in September, we are having lot of trouble. Our tenant is a single mom and she has not been responding to messages or email or calls. She delayed her payment for December with an excuse of saying her bank had issues and getting paid late so she can transfer on 15th. Had to remind again and finally sent the payment via Zelle (ACH does not work for her) on 20th. I knew this will be an issue again in Jan, so sent her a reminder on Jan 1st. No response. I sent a Late notice on 7th saying she's now default and need to pay as soon as possible. 

I hear nothing from her until several messages and asking her to respond on the maintenance question. She replied back for that saying she's dealing with family issue and had to go bury her father. We immediately sent condolences message and offered her how we can help during this time. She did not respond to any of the messages after that. Also there was no mention of when she will pay the rent and I waited earlier this week (14th) and sent her a text and email to check on the status of rent payment. I did not hear back for days. I made several attempts via call, visiting the property and she would not open the door. Neighbors said she's sill around and just does not interact with others and only uses Uber/Instacart and takes her kid to school and back in Uber as well. I'm surprised she does not talk to any neighbors and been there for 4 months. 

We placed a 3 day notice saying if she does not make payment arrangement I'll have to start the eviction process on 18th. I also made a copy and sent her in email so if she misses to see the notice on front door she can refer to this. I again did not get any response for this. This actually worried us and I sent another email asking if I need to send a "Welfare Check" and call law enforcement if she does not respond. Finally I get a response "OK". I am guessing that means she's okay but still no mention about when she will pay the Jan rental. We finally decide that she need to be evicted instead of 3 day notice, I served 7 day notice which starts today and I can go to court for eviction process on Jan 31. 

I get a email saying I will be hearing from her lawyer after she saw the 7 day notice. I am genuinely confused and shocked and still not able to understand what her play here is. Of course I have not seen anything yet from her lawyer but wondering if anyone could help what I should be doing? Do I need to hire a lawyer? Did any of the steps above is illegal? Does contacting her so many times to remind her is considered harassment? we only contacted due to all being one way communication and unable to understand what's going on in her mind. 

Thanks for reading such lengthy message and if you have any advice or pointers please let us know. Appreciate your help!

Sudeep