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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jun 2006
    Location
    Jacksonville, Florida
    Posts
    27

    Default Help With A Bad Landlord

    I have been in my current lease for almost a year and am having difficulties with my landlord. He has come out to the house many times with his maintainance man to repair the problems but does a terrible job. The chimeny has been leaking the entire time and mold has formed in there, the water comes in the front door the int rains, the front door can't be opend from outside because the lock is broken, there are no screens on the windows and most cant be opened anyway, the air conditioner does not blow in my bedroom (living in Florida this is a problem), the toilet is no bolted to the floor, and the tile is falling off the walls in the shower, there is no drywall behind the tile so it lets bugs in, ect... I am tired of dealing with this. He has no problem coming to see where his rent is when the mail delays the check a day. One day late and he is calling and at my door! At the beggining of the lease he would never get the rent checks in the mail and come every month. I did not understand why untill this month when my roommate mailed the checks and he did not get them. The address typed on the lease is not the right one. I told him the address that I was mailing to and he told me that he had never heard of it before and did not even know where that zip code was. He is full of crap and just worried about getting his money, not fixing anything. What can I do.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Mar 2005
    Location
    Michigan
    Posts
    28,906

    Default Re: Help with bad landlord

    It's a one year lease? And you've been there almost a year? How much longer until the lease term expires?

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Nov 2005
    Posts
    310

    Default Re: Help with bad landlord

    This landlord is not going to change. As aaron suggests, you could wait for the lease to expire, or you could call in code enforcement. If the violations are bad enough, you will be out on a moments notice; be prepared for it if you choose that option. If it is not bad enough, you can expect worse conduct from your landlord and a non-renewal at the end of the lease.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jun 2006
    Location
    Jacksonville, Florida
    Posts
    27

    Default Re: Help with bad landlord

    thanks guys. i guess i will just wait it out then. i only have a month and a half remaining on the lease. what are the laws concerning me gettin my security deposit back? i gave him $1700 and i have not damaged the property in any way. i do not want to be out that kind of money for a place like that.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Mar 2005
    Location
    Michigan
    Posts
    28,906

    Default Re: Help with bad landlord

    With 1-1/2 months left, my personal approach would be to provide any notice of my intention to leave that is required by the lease agreement, and move at the end of the lease. I would document the interior condition of the apartment, including any problems with the apartment resulting from the lack of proper maintenance, taking video and photographs as necessary before vacating, and providing written notice of my new address (for purposes of receiving the refund of my security deposit).

    If you give proper notice before vacating, and your landlord does not properly document any claim for damages, the landlord forfeits his right to make a claim against the security deposit. If, on the other hand, the landlord does make a claim, you would be able to take the landlord to court for the balance of the deposit. You can also consider making a claim for a partial refund for rent previously paid based upon the condition of the apartment.

    There's an overview of Florida Landlord-Tenant Law available here on the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services website.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Nov 2005
    Posts
    310

    Default Re: Help with bad landlord

    Quote Quoting aaron
    If you give proper notice before vacating, and your landlord does not properly document any claim for damages, the landlord forfeits his right to make a claim against the security deposit.
    Does this also forfeit the right to sue for damages?

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Mar 2005
    Location
    Michigan
    Posts
    28,906

    Default Re: Help with bad landlord

    I doubt it, and I haven't researched the statutes to find out; but it should help the tenant in any subsequent court action by creating at least a circumstantial case that the damage claim was contrived in order to avoid refunding an overdue security deposit.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Nov 2005
    Posts
    310

    Default Re: Help with bad landlord

    I asked because I know that some states still allow a landlord who doesn't make a proper disposition of a security deposit to sue for the damages and others penalize the landlord by making them forfeit the right to any recovery. I had thought that maybe you had run across it in your research.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Mar 2005
    Location
    Michigan
    Posts
    28,906

    Default Re: Help with bad landlord

    You inspired me to look up the statute, which provides, "If the landlord fails to give the required notice within the 30-day period, he or she forfeits the right to impose a claim upon the security deposit. So it appears the landlord could still sue.

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