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

I'm posting in this section because it seems the most applicable area. Apologies if it's not.


I need some advice regarding some potential tenants who’ve approached us regarding a vacant property of ours.

In just about every way they tick all the appropriate boxes for ideal tenants. They have multiple income streams, they’re looking to settle into one place for a while, they’re a mature couple who will take care of the house, and so one. The one big knock is that the husband was found guilty of a sex offence with a minor 25 years ago.

The couple were up front about it, and it was obvious that talking about the situation was not easy, especially for the long-suffering wife who must have been through hell and back sticking by her husband through all these years. There was only the one incident, the man did four months in jail and served a ten year probation, and 25 years on there has been no repeat offence or cause for concern. Both he and his wife are now in their early 70’s and retired, and they’re just looking for a place to rent where they can be near their daughters and grandchildren.

We’re fair-minded people, and I can’t look at this couple without thinking of the fact that though he may well have served a four month prison term they’ve essentially been in purgatory ever since and will continue to have people pointing the finger at the husband and shunning them because of one tragic mistake half an adult’s life ago. They both seem like decent people and I certainly don’t get any vibe from the guy that he’s any kind of predator or a sleazy 'dirty old man'. If anything he has the air of a somewhat defeated individual who’s been made to pay over and over again for one tragic mistake in his life – never mind that he may have been a good father, an exemplary employee, a decent human being in all other facets of his life – he’s forever known by one snapshot moment in his life as a sexual offender. That just seems a tad unfair – murderers do their time, the slate is wiped clean, and they’re allowed to resume their place in society more or less without a hitch. A sex offender not only pays their debt to society via prison, but keeps paying for the rest of their lives via watch lists, monitoring, etc. Just doesn’t seem right – do we keep tabs and impose limitations on murderers to see they don’t kill again once they’re out of prison? As a father of two children I obviously have as much of a concern to see my children protected from sexual predators as anyone else, but there's also a side to me that also feels we need to draw a line at some point and forgive.

We do have to balance all this out with concerns for the neighborhood where our rental property is located, but as it’s largely an area of retirees and semi-retirees there’s not an issue. We also ran it past the local county authorities, who looked at the address for the property and stated that they were okay for the couple to move into the area as it wasn’t close enough to schools or playgrounds to be a concern. They also emphasized that this individual falls into the category of being a sex offender, not a sexual predator. The latter have much stricter guidelines and restrictions imposed on their movements, neighbors are notified via personal visits from the police, via flyers, and so on. With regard to our potential tenant such measures are not required, though the information on his registration with the county if he moves into the house will become publicly accessible.

So here’s our situation. If we rent the house to these people, what’s our potential liability if he re-offends? Obviously all the indicators are that he won’t, and the county itself doesn’t see the need to warn the neighborhood about his status, so if we take their stance as a guideline and say nothing to the neighbors ourselves, do we leave ourselves legally liable? We feel that these are decent people, they’ll be good tenants and neighbors, and they just want a place to live near their kids until they die. On the one hand I feel that maybe a quiet word to one or two neighbors might be advisable , but on the other hand that could end up making the couple’s life a nightmare if word gets out, especially for a wife who never did anything herself. So we’re torn between how to balance this out if we do give them the house, what our liability is, or whether we should just look elsewhere for renters and sidestep the issue altogether - it's not as if we aren't getting other applicants. I feel bad about taking the latter course, because it affects an innocent woman, adds to our feeling that they’ll never get a break till the day the husband dies, and that they may as well go and take up residence in the middle of a desert in order to find a place where they can at least live in peace. It just really hits at our sense of justice and fairness, because how long does someone have to keep paying for their crime, especially the innocent parties involved?

I would also point out that I was molested myself as a child – by my own father no less – so if anyone would run a mile from someone like this it should be me. But I figure if I can forgive my own father for the ultimate transgression I can also look past this individual’s one-off issue from a long time ago and show some kindness towards a couple just wanting to live out the rest of their lives near their family. As I said, in every other respect they’d make ideal tenants.

And let me nip in the bud any ‘yeah, but would you want this guy living next door to your own house’ arguments. Taken on face value, I wouldn’t have a problem with that based on the first meeting, though I’d obviously want to get to know them better before I’d feel comfortable with our children nearby unattended. You don't stick alcohol down in front of a recovering alcoholic and leave them on their own just to put them to the test to see if they'll buckle. Common sense has to prevail.

Any thoughts and advice would be much appreciated.