Apartment Management Company Fine

My question involves landlord-tenant law in the State of: Florida

I moved into my new apartment in September. I am renting from my Mother-in-Law. She owns the apartment unit and it is completely paid off. When we moved in, the apartment management company left us a notice stating that we needed to pay for a background check to be able to live in that apartment. First off, is this even legal when I am not renting from this company? In the end, I payed to have the back ground check done sometime in October. The security office that they would with is only open Monday through Friday from 9 AM - 3 PM. They would not accept any of my information via email. I would have to miss hours at work to be able to complete the background check. Due to this it took sometime to go to their office. Now the management company has fined me a total of $250.00 for the delay of getting the background check. I do not think it is fair that I have to pay this fine. What can I do?

Whether or not you can be charged for a background check, and what you can be charged, depends upon the terms of your lease agreement and any other documents you signed in relation to taking occupancy.

It may be that we are speaking of a contractual obligation between your mother-in-law and the management company, whereby she has to get approval for any new tenants and whereby she has to pay for the background check. If that's the case, you will need to discuss the details with your mother-in-law.