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How to Recover Damages from a Tenant Who Broke the Lease

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  • 11-08-2013, 10:14 AM
    Marta Herrera
    How to Recover Damages from a Tenant Who Broke the Lease
    My question involves landlord-tenant law in the State of: Florida
    My tenant abandoned my property, broke the lease and damaged my house. She left the place completely trashed; power was off 2 weeks before I even found out she is gone and the place was full of insects because of leftover food. Long story short it took almost 20 hours for me to clean the place; it would cost about 400$ just for cleaning if I would hire somebody to do it. It cost me almost 1000$ to fix the place up.On top of that she broke her lease so she owes me 2 months worth of rent (2400$). She gave me 1000$ deposit that I want to use to cover her late fee charges,as per lease she owed 50$ per day/after a certain day until the rent was paid. So the deposit in theory is gone to cover that. Therefore, as of now she still owes me 3800$. I want to sue her but I have never sued anybody and have no idea what to do. Do I go to civil court or small claims court?Civil court is cheaper but can I sue her for landlord-tenant issues?And what is a complaint letter that I have to send to her before I sue her?I do not have her current address and she would not answer her phone when I try to call her to find out the new address.I would like to also throw in there some punitive damages but I do not know how much I can ask. The reason for the punitive damages I want to include her negligence as she made a trash can out of the bath tub in the bathroom where she would throw her used feminine products and used condoms ; the new carpets and the sun room were covered with dog poop which was obvious negligence; and obviously she was "cooking" some drugs in the closet. I took pictures of all of that. Thanks in advance.
  • 11-09-2013, 05:01 AM
    gail in georgia
    Re: How to Recover Damages from a Tenant Who Broke the Lease
    Slow down for a second and do some reading about suing someone in Florida:

    http://www.flcourts.org/gen_public/f...llclaims.shtml

    You need this persons address in order to sue them as they must be able to be served prior to this.

    There is no "complaint" letter you need to send this person prior to you suing her.

    You don't get to sue for "punitive" damages; only for the actual cost of the damages, lost rent, etc. regarding this person.

    HOWEVER...your biggest question before you even venture into all of this is, quite simply this: even if you "win" your case, how do you expect to collect? Even assuming the court grants your request it would be up to you to collect on this judgement. Does this person have the funds to pay this or would you be chasing her around from now to kingdom come for this money. I say this as a landlord who has been burned by tenants and (like many landlords) have filed, won and never been able to collect a penny against these deadbeats.

    Gail
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