Church in Dania Beach Sues to Evict Temporary Tenant

Eight months ago, in a show of compassion, Dania Beach reverend Esau Dalrymple allowed a homeless woman to begin living on site at his church, according to a lawsuit filed in Broward County.

But his good deed was quickly punished two months later when the temporary tenant became a nuisance and began threatening to assault him, Dalrymple says. So, in a rare but not unheard of scenario, the reverend on April 14 filed a restraining order and unlawful detainer to evict her from Lael Baptist Mission, an unpresuming stucco building surrounded by a fenced parking lot in Dania Beach.

“I allowed her to live here temporarily to get her out of the elements,” Dalrymple tells New Times. “She said she had a job and wouldn't stay long. But then she insisted on staying."

Churches of all denominations are known as places where the needy can find respite from all manner of issues, the reverend says. Pastors across the country have been known to allow people to live temporarily in the church until they can financially fend for themselves, according to Dalrymple.

That's all Dalrymple was trying to do, but the woman took advantage of his goodwill, he says.

Dalrymple had to call the police several times when the woman threatened to assault him, he says, hoping that was the end of it.

When his other options seemed exhausted, the pastor in mid-April filed a complaint for unlawful detainer, essentially an eviction filing for landlords who don't have a lease agreement with a tenant, attorney Jerron Kelley with Boca Raton-based real estate firm Kelley, Grant & Tanis, says. Kelley, who is not representing Dalrymple, has defended scores of landlords in similar court proceedings throughout the Miami area.

He sees it most often when a person over 18 is still living with their parents or when someone invites their significant other to move in with them without putting their name on the lease, Kelley says.

"The boyfriend either owns property or is a tenant with the landlord when his girlfriend moves in. Two months later, she never pays rent or they break up after some argument, and he wants her gone," Kelley says. But the cops refuse to remove the girlfriend because she has a bill in her name and technically isn't a squatter, since she was invited to live there.

In another quite common scenario, an adult child living with his parents gets hooked on drugs and starts stealing from mom and dad for drug money.

In either case, when the lessee, landlord or homeowner wants to remove the unwanted quasi-tenant for some infraction, simply calling the police doesn't resolve the matter, Kelley says. Officers will advise them to file an unlawful detainer, which can result in the person's removal from the property up to eight weeks later, though he says it usually happens in about a month.

"I advise my clients that it's good you're in Florida," Kelley told New Times. "This could take up to a year to play out in California or New York."