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  1. #1
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    Aug 2015
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    Default What is a Landlord's Obligation to Refund Last Month's Rent

    My question involves landlord-tenant law in the State of: Florida
    I had a bit of situation, my tenant's lease ran out in July 12 15, a few weeks before that she asked me if we could go on a 6 month extension verbally, I agreed and when I took the papers for the extension over, she said she had a home she was looking at to buy and would now like to go on a month to month, I said I would do that if she agreed to give me two months notice. She said that would work. I held last months rent and security deposit in escrow. She then emailed me on july 19th to tell me this,
    "So, I found a house! Yeah!!

    I believe my rent is paid through Aug 12, and I think we paid 1st, last, and security, when we moved in last year.

    So, 30 days from today, is Aug 19. I am planning to be completely moved the 1st weekend in August, but want to be able to have a chance to come back in the following week, and clean. I really wanted to be settled, in a new place, before Pats celebration of life, which is Aug 17th.

    So, If I am completely out by Aug 12, I should get last & security back, right?

    It's been a challenging couple of weeks, but we finally came to an agreement with the sellers, last night. I should be closing by mid week.

    I really appreciate you working with me, and being so patient"
    One of my questions is in Florida law is email written notice? Next is this even considered notice? Its a lot of if, and maybe and if I can but not one here is my notice I am or will be moving out on xx xx
    She ended moving out on the 12th, and I gave her back her security deposit back, but I held her last months rent, I felt that her last months rent was her last months rent and I would be nice and try to rent it and then refund her the difference between when it was rented and her last months rent. I ended up renting it for Sept. 1st and she agreed to wait till then to settle up. Now I get an angry email saying why does she have to wait.

    My response to her email;
    Hi Christine, You are catching me on the hop. I had assumed you would give me a months notice when using the last months rent. This is what I can do, I will start to advertise the unit and that it will be available on the 12 to the 19th of August. If we can rent it out in a transition that is seamless we can settle up as the new tenants move in or shortly there after. I think the unit will have showing fast. I think maybe as soon as Friday and Saturday. I will call you and give you as much heads up as I can on showings.
    Her response;

    am sorry. It's been a process. I was hoping to have figured it out before you deposited last months rent, but I didn't. We had 2 weeks of back & forth between banks/sellers/inspections. It was a bit of a longer process than I had originally wanted.

    If I can get all out by Aug 12, and have the chance to clean, I am all good with you paying me after you rent. I have no doubt you will rent it fast.

    I should have final closing date today, but I anticipate it to be by Wed, this week.

    I am sorry, I tried to get it done before July 12, I just couldn't get it completed.
    I sent her this email in response to her text asking why she had to wait until sept 1st

    Christine, I paid you your security deposit even though I had two days cleaning and painting to put the unit back to the condition it was in when you took possession of it. The stove alone took me over 4 hours to clean. The bath had a lot of mold and slime that had to be cleaned and there were holes in the wall from picture hanging that I had to repair and paint. That said I had to call my attorney and ask about last months rent. You asked for an extension of your lease for 6 more months when it came to termination on 7/12/15, Then you asked to go month to month and I agreed if you would give me a couple months notice. You paid rent to 8/12/15 and I held the last months rent. You gave me notice on july 19th that you would be leaving, that would mean Sept. 19th would be your last day. I felt if I can rent the unit before Sept. 19th I would give you a refund of the difference minus anything extra that came up, and you also agreed to keep the electric on till the first of Sept. I will apply the last months rent from Aug. 12th to Sept 1st assuming that I do actually have the unit rented [new tenants have not signed lease yet] That leaves you responsible for 20 days at 40 dollars a day $800.00 Plus the transfer fee for the electric of $15. Total $815.00 Your last months rent was $1200.00 leaving a balance of $385.00 which I can send to you as soon as I meet with the new tenants. You agreed to this in the last email now want a refund sooner. If I meet with them sooner I will send you the difference on the last month sooner, but I have as agreed till the first of Sept. 1st, also you need to send me your new mail address to send your refund back.
    It has been a day and I have not gotten a response usually she is a chatty Cathy. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

  2. #2
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    Default Re: What is a Landlord's Obligation to Refund Last Month's Rent

    You say that you have been advised by your lawyer as to how to handle the last month's rent, so why are you following up here instead of with your lawyer?

    Florida Statutes, Sec. 83.03, describes the notice required to end a periodic tenancy: (a) An email is in writing and (b) you accepted and acknowledged the notice.

    Your tenant does not appear to agree with you that she agreed to give sixty days notice. Do you have that agreement in writing, signed by your tenant? Do you have any confirmation from your tenant that she agreed to give sixty days notice to end her periodic tenancy, following the expiration of the initial lease term?

    As for your having leased the premises as of September 1, your tenant has a point. You cannot simultaneously lease the premises to another person while claiming to hold her to her lease past the date you have committed the same premises to the new tenant. If the issue is that you have not finalized your agreement with the prospective tenants, but are nonetheless holding the property for them despite your having a significant concern that they will change their minds about renting, you should consider changing your business practices to better protect yourself -- for example, you can require a non-refundable holding deposit that will be applied to their rent or used as a security deposit if they move in (you'll want an appropriate written agreement to support your claims against any such deposit), or you can tell the prospective tenant that until the lease is signed there is a possibility that another tenant will come along who is willing to sign a lease in which case they'll lose their opportunity to rent.

    Cleaning and painting will ordinarily fall under normal wear and tear, not damages that you could have deducted from a security deposit.

    Although the difference is small, you are not prorating rent correctly. If rent is $1,200, and a month has thirty-one days, then you would prorate rent for the month by multiplying the monthly rent by the number of days for which rent is due, divided by the number of days in the month. So for August, with 31 days, each day would have a prorated rent of 1/31 times the monthly rent.

    Does your lease provide that the tenant has to pay a "transfer fee" for the electric utility service?

  3. #3
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    Default Re: What is a Landlord's Obligation to Refund Last Month's Rent

    Let me first say you did not read the post correctly, I asked if email was written notice, I have seen people say yes and no, so that aside, I did not rent it out and collect her rent, in fact I will lay it out again to make it crystal clear.Her lease ended on july 12th she approached me a week befor july12th and said she wanted to go to a 6 month lease, I agreed to the extension but before I could get one written up and signed she said the house was moving faster than she thought and could we go to a month to month. I said yes if you give me 60 days notice. She agreed, then turned around after paying rent form the 12th of July to the 12th of August and contacted me on the 19th of July and said the above email that IMO is not notice in that she did not say I am moving on such and such it was if this and if that then I will be out then and maybe could clean then, nothing firm. That is not really notice. So she was out a few days before the 12th of Aug, She agreed to wait on the last months rent till I rented it to see If I could rent it before the 19th her 30 days notice even though I did not agree to 30 days, I rented it for the first of september, thats 40 a day times thats 20 days times 40 a day or 800 plus the 15 dollars she said in a text she owed me because she agreed to keep the electric on to the first of sept and did not. Now I have to have it turned on in my name.

  4. #4
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    Default Re: What is a Landlord's Obligation to Refund Last Month's Rent

    It would be easier to understand you if you used sentences. Your initial post and you clarification are near impossible to decipher as long run-on sentences. Take each event that occurred and express it and then put a period. Then do the next one. Your lawyer in the best place to review the various correspondence.

  5. #5
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    Default Re: What is a Landlord's Obligation to Refund Last Month's Rent

    My attorney is from Michigan and does not know the nuances of Florida law. I will try again so you can understand it.

    Lease ended July 12th.

    Two week before July 12th renter asked for a 6 month extension verbally and it was agreed to verbally.

    Before 6 month extension was signed she moved faster on a home purchase and wanted to then go month to month, to which I agreed as long as she gave me a 60 day notice, to which she agreed verbally.

    Renter then emails me on July 19th saying the 19th of Aug is 30 days and she will try to be out by the 12th. She did not even give me 30 days notice which she alludes to but does not come out and say this is her notice of termination.

    I contact renter and meet with them and give them back security deposit but tell them I have to wait to see when I rent it, it is their last moths rent. They agree.

    There is nothing hard to understand.

    The rent she paid by check was for July to August 12.

    The last months rent would be for August 12th to September 12th.

    I rented the unit out for Septemer 1st.

    If you take August 12th to September 1st that comes to 20 days it was not rented or she paid for that I could not get it rented.

    20 days x 40 dollars a day is 800 dollars of rent I should have gotten but did not because she did not give the the agreed to time.

    She also agreed to keep the electric on till Sept. 1st and did not now I have to pay 15 dollars reconnect fee which she sent me a text admitting.

    So 800 plus 15 is 815 dollars.

    Instead of me keeping the whole prepaid month I am returning the part I did get the unit rented for.

    I feel this is more than fair.

    If I buy a motel room for 3 days and at the end of the second day say I don't want it I want my money back that is not going to happen.

    Florida law is written that if I as a land lord hold last months rent and take a rent payment I can not make the tenant move out when the rent they just paid is over.

    SUPPOSE YOU ARE HOLDING A LAST MONTH’S RENT AND DECIDE TO NON-RENEW A MONTH-TO-MONTH TENANCY? If you are holding a last month’s rent, when you serve your Notice of Non-renewal, you need to state to the tenant in writing that you are applying the last month’s rent to the last month of the tenancy. For example, if you are holding a last month’s rent, you cannot accept rent from the tenant in June and then serve them a Notice of Non- renewal on June 1st stating that they must vacate on June 30th. Your acceptance of June’s rent implies that they can stay until the end of June, and your holding another month’s rent implies that you are not going to make them move at the end of June!

    Also what counts for written notice in Florida law? From what I have been reading email and text is not considered written notice by Florida law. So this could put her not even giving me notice officially. Also she pre paid her last months rent, that in and of itself would imply that she owned the time for one month and should give notice based on that.

  6. #6
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    Default Re: What is a Landlord's Obligation to Refund Last Month's Rent

    Quote Quoting edteach
    View Post
    Let me first say you did not read the post correctly, I asked if email was written notice, I have seen people say yes and no, so that aside, I did not rent it out and collect her rent, in fact I will lay it out again to make it crystal clear.
    Why do you feel the need to be rude, particularly given that any failure of comprehension is your own?

    Let me repeat myself: (a) an email is in writing and (b) you accepted and acknowledged the notice." (Here's a circuit court opinion finding that an email satisfied the statutory requirement for the mailing of a written notice.) You even advertised the unit as available and found a tenant, based upon the notice you received, so even if you convince a court to revisit the question of what constitutes the mailing of a notice you're going to have a dickens of a time convincing a court that you didn't understand that notice had been given, or that you didn't acknowledge and accept the notice with the tenant justifiably relying upon your acceptance of the notice.

    If you are admitting that you have no contractual basis to hold her responsible for the $15 fee, then her alleged statement offering to pay the fee would be a non-binding offer to make a gift to you, subject to revocation. Funny -- you want to hold her to statements found in her emails and texts, even as you attempt to disavow your own in order to purport that you didn't receive notice.

    Going back to some questions you didn't answer: Your tenant does not appear to agree with you that she agreed to give sixty days notice. Do you have that agreement in writing? Do you have any confirmation from your tenant that she agreed to give sixty days notice to end her periodic tenancy, following the expiration of the initial lease term?

    Absent an actual agreement that she provide greater notice, her obligation is to provide notice to end a month-to-month tenancy not less than fifteen days before the end of a rental period -- so absent an agreement, notice on July 19 would have been effective to terminate her lease as of August 12.
    Quote Quoting Florida Statutes, Sec. 83.57. Termination of tenancy without specific term.
    A tenancy without a specific duration, as defined in s. 83.46(2) or (3), may be terminated by either party giving written notice in the manner provided in s. 83.56(4), as follows:

    (1) When the tenancy is from year to year, by giving not less than 60 days’ notice prior to the end of any annual period;

    (2) When the tenancy is from quarter to quarter, by giving not less than 30 days’ notice prior to the end of any quarterly period;

    (3) When the tenancy is from month to month, by giving not less than 15 days’ notice prior to the end of any monthly period; and

    (4) When the tenancy is from week to week, by giving not less than 7 days’ notice prior to the end of any weekly period.
    Quote Quoting Florida Statutes, Sec. 1.01(4). Definitions
    (4) The word “writing” includes handwriting, printing, typewriting, and all other methods and means of forming letters and characters upon paper, stone, wood, or other materials. The word “writing” also includes information which is created or stored in any electronic medium and is retrievable in perceivable form.

  7. #7
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    Default Re: What is a Landlord's Obligation to Refund Last Month's Rent

    Let's start as a LL....all the loose ends run against you. Your attorney elsewhere is not licensed as to Fl matters. If the tenant sends it by carrier dog And you acknowledge it..it counts ..you failed to nail it down in writing and each such loose end runs against you and you stand to lose ....I'm a ll....learned long ago to paper even the most obvious.

  8. #8
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    Default Re: What is a Landlord's Obligation to Refund Last Month's Rent

    First off lets just drop the notice OK? I got that email counts as notice. Second what I am saying about the notice is that its not notice IMO, she never gave me notice. All she did is say if you count from today 30 days. If I can this and if I can that. Never once did she say I am giving you notice of moving. I am not sure that will hold up in court as notice.

    Third my point is last months rent is for the last months rent, its not my fault she did not need it. This from a legal Florida forum;
    SUPPOSE YOU ARE HOLDING A LAST MONTH’S RENT AND DECIDE TO NON-RENEW A MONTH-TO-MONTH TENANCY? If you are holding a last month’s rent, when you serve your Notice of Non-renewal, you need to state to the tenant in writing that you are applying the last month’s rent to the last month of the tenancy. For example, if you are holding a last month’s rent, you cannot accept rent from the tenant in June and then serve them a Notice of Non- renewal on June 1st stating that they must vacate on June 30th. Your acceptance of June’s rent implies that they can stay until the end of June, and your holding another month’s rent implies that you are not going to make them move at the end of June!

    Also what counts for written notice in Florida law? From what I have been reading email and text is not considered written notice by Florida law. So this could put her not even giving me notice officially. Also she pre paid her last months rent, that in and of itself would imply that she owned the time for one month and should give notice based on that.


    - - - Updated - - -

    Here is the new wrinkle, the new tenants decided to move in early. Its now only 10 days so I can refund 800 of the 1200 minus the 15 dollars she agreed to pay for the electric. I also told her I would wave the two days I spent painting and cleaning to bring the unit back to the condition she had moved in to. I have gotten so much static both for and against this due to the fact its a he said she said. As far as I see it if we do go to court she could stand to lose more money. It would totally depend on what the judge felt existed as a verbal agreement. Any thoughts?

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