Almost 5,000 Eviction Cases Recorded In Miami-Dade Country, Florida

June 4, 2008 12:33 p.m. EST

Miami, FL (AHN) - A drastic rise in eviction cases was reported in south Florida, particularly at the Miami-Dade County.

Albert Fernandez, police officer from the Miami-Dade Country Police Department, recalled 10 years ago it took just one or two days for officers to locate an address where they would serve eviction notices.

With a 33 percent rise in eviction proceedings in 2007, it would take them now around two weeks to deliver the eviction papers because of their growing backlog, Fernandez said. From January to April the county had 4,726 eviction notices filed by landlords, up by 1,157 notices compared to the same period in 2007.

"People of all walks of life are getting evicted," Fernandez told the New York Times.

He added other Florida counties have experienced similar rises in eviction cases. Broward County garnered a 54 percent rise in evictions for January to March, which peaked at 3,043 eviction cases.

The bulk of the cases are foreclosures, although there has been a marked increase in eviction notices for renters too. Most of the cases involved hard-up Florida residents who could barely cope with life's many trials.

But there are large cases too involving firms like two tenants at the Opa-locka Executive Airport which filed a suit against the Miami-Dade County and developer AA Acquisitions for various offenses. Aside from seeking over $1 million in damage, Aircraft Parts Sales and Cylinder Shop asked a local court to cancel the lease and sought an injunction against the eviction proceeding filed by the developer against them.