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Feels terrible to dip into savings every month when they could so easily help us by just working with us. Thank you.
Two quick questions:
1. When you terminated the lease, did you do it in writing to the Landlord/Property Manager?
2. Who has the keys to the unit, you or the Landlord/Property Manager?
Under Florida law, there are Four (4) options for the landlord.
1. Mutual agreement to terminate. Basically you and landlord end the relationship.
2. The landlord refuses to accept the lease termination and does nothing by sitting on the property. You are responsible for the rent until lease normally ends.
3. The landlord accept the early lease termination and uses liquidated damages where the early lease termination fee is in the lease and you pay it and move on.
4. The landlord accepts the lease termination and seeks actual damages based on what is owed until such time as they mitigated their damages.
It sounds like your landlord has chosen Option 2. However, Option 2 reverts to Option 4 if your landlord took back possession. Once they take possession, they can’t use Option 2 and it becomes Option 4.
Since these revisions of law are considered recent, and court cases are still setting case law on the meanings, you need to do as been advised and that’s to seek the assistance of a qualified attorney to sort through the case laws and decide the best course of action. Florida statutes 83.595 list the four options. Section 83.575 spells out your duty to notify which can void your rights under 83.595 until you make proper notification.
I just copied and pasted from a part of tenant/LL law as we have to provide all pages to each tenant upon signing the lease and each owner has to initial each page as well as the new requirements are. We are getting monthly updates from a Law firm that only handles tenant/landlord laws and clearly has been stating that judges will not grant a LL to sit back and do nothing if it can be proven that they could limit the damages and could have re-rented the place.
But it is stating a LL can do that. We have in all leases the 2 options and we always put an X in front of option 1 for the simple reason that no judge will even respect any LL coming to court and not having proof they tried to limit the damages and sit back but that doesn't mean you will loose but keep in mind for a LL to get all that money in a judgment the LL has to go to civil court since small claims court is limited to $ 5000 and if someone like we had last month breaks the lease within the 2nd month and the rent is $ 900 and stops payment than how much does a person believes they will end up getting. Since we have last month rent and security deposit we still were owed one month rent and this tenant didn't give proper notice they stated they were leaving when all the money was used with no end date mentioned.
In the case of the OP and all the money they pay and to avoid getting it on their record the may want to seek legal counseling to get good advise but advise cost money for most people and the ones who get free legal counseling usually just stop payment and don't care.
A lawyer may be able to advise if a LL is reasonable when they refuse 24 tenants but you will need proof. Of course the LL can have their criteria and they should be able to disclose what they are but if you have proof that someone was a reasonable candidate and refused just to have you pay money than a judge could be on your side but I would really talk to a lawyer and keep in mind lawyers for tenant/LL law don't work for free and some don't care if they win or loose since there are not stats to see if they won or lost the case.
Morgan & Morgan is trying to change that law so lawyers who never go to trial but settle every case will be exposed like one in Tampa who is on big billboards and they lost their only trial they ever had but they come across like big time lawyers who win all cases but in reality they never won, just settled which may be good enough for some but not like many expected.
Keep in mind you have to pay a flat fee or hourly fee which can add up.
I'm going to call this law firm if they have new info if judges will just rule easily on that part of letting LL do nothing since all we know that didn't happen but we never dealt with that anymore since the new law came out we had new Florida lease agreements and we felt it is better to make tenants have a way out so they will not get upset and destroy the property or leave overnight but feel they have a reasonable option although hardly any tenant seems to understand that 2 month fee is not last month rent and leaving the security deposit. Security deposit is given back after they leave the property in similar condition as on move in minus normal wear and tear. That means tenants have to give us one month fee additional on top of the month they are already have to pay for which usually is not paid when they come up with breaking the lease.
83.595 Choice of remedies upon breach or early termination by tenant. —If the tenant breaches the rental agreement for the dwelling
unit and the landlord has obtained a writ of possession, or the tenant has surrendered possession of the dwelling unit to the landlord, or
the tenant has abandoned the dwelling unit, the landlord may:
(1) Treat the rental agreement as terminated and retake possession for his or her own account, thereby terminating any further liability of
the tenant;
(2) Retake possession of the dwelling unit for the account of the tenant, holding the tenant liable for the difference between the rent
stipulated to be paid under the rental agreement and what the landlord is able to recover from a reletting. If the landlord retakes
possession, the landlord has a duty to exercise good faith in attempting to relet the premises, and any rent received by the landlord as a
result of the reletting must be deducted from the balance of rent due from the tenant. For purposes of this subsection, the term “good faith
in attempting to relet the premises” means that the landlord uses at least the same efforts to relet the premises as were used in the initial
rental or at least the same efforts as the landlord uses in attempting to rent other similar rental units but does not require the landlord to
give a preference in renting the premises over other vacant dwelling units that the landlord owns or has the responsibility to rent;
(3) Stand by and do nothing, holding the lessee liable for the rent as it comes due; or
(4) Charge liquidated damages, as provided in the rental agreement, or an early termination fee to the tenant if the landlord and tenant
have agreed to liquidated damages or an early termination fee, if the amount does not exceed 2 months’ rent, and if, in the case of an early
termination fee, the tenant is required to give no more than 60 days’ notice, as provided in the rental agreement, prior to the proposed i
I just looked at the entire new tenant/LL law as we have to provide it to each tenant and both owner and tenant have to sign each page. Indeed it is stating that an owner can do nothing but
83.595 Choice of remedies upon breach or early termination by tenant. —If the tenant breaches the rental agreement for the dwelling
unit and the landlord has obtained a writ of possession, or the tenant has surrendered possession of the dwelling unit to the landlord, or
the tenant has abandoned the dwelling unit, the landlord may:
(1) Treat the rental agreement as terminated and retake possession for his or her own account, thereby terminating any further liability of
the tenant;
(2) Retake possession of the dwelling unit for the account of the tenant, holding the tenant liable for the difference between the rent
stipulated to be paid under the rental agreement and what the landlord is able to recover from a reletting. If the landlord retakes
possession, the landlord has a duty to exercise good faith in attempting to relet the premises, and any rent received by the landlord as a
result of the reletting must be deducted from the balance of rent due from the tenant. For purposes of this subsection, the term “good faith
in attempting to relet the premises” means that the landlord uses at least the same efforts to relet the premises as were used in the initial
rental or at least the same efforts as the landlord uses in attempting to rent other similar rental units but does not require the landlord to
give a preference in renting the premises over other vacant dwelling units that the landlord owns or has the responsibility to rent;
(3) Stand by and do nothing, holding the lessee liable for the rent as it comes due; or
(4) Charge liquidated damages, as provided in the rental agreement, or an early termination fee to the tenant if the landlord and tenant
have agreed to liquidated damages or an early termination fee, if the amount does not exceed 2 months’ rent, and if, in the case of an early
termination fee, the tenant is required to give no more than 60 days’ notice, as provided in the rental agreement, prior to the proposed
acceptance of liquidated damages or an early termination fee. The tenant must indicate acceptance of liquidated damages or an early
termination fee by signing a separate addendum to the rental agreement containing a provision in substantially the following form:
☐ I agree, as provided in the rental agreement, to pay $ (an amount that does not exceed 2 months’ rent) as liquidated damages or an early
termination fee if I elect to terminate the rental agreement, and the landlord waives the right to seek additional rent beyond the month in
which the landlord retakes possession.
☐ I do not agree to liquidated damages or an early termination fee, and I acknowledge that the landlord may seek damages as provided by
law.
(a) In addition to liquidated damages or an early termination fee, the landlord is entitled to the rent and other charges accrued through
the end of the month in which the landlord retakes possession of the dwelling unit and charges for damages to the dwelling unit.
(b) This subsection does not apply if the breach is failure to give notice as provided in s. 83.575. History.—s. 2, ch. 87‐369; s. 4, ch. 88‐379; s.
448, ch. 95‐147; s. 2, ch. 2008‐131.
Which many LLs obviously do and which it seems was not the case where the OP's lease is concerned. You're simply confirming what's already been said - that your blanket statement about damage mitigation isn't as cut and dried as you insisted and that the OP should consult with an attorney.
Looking forward to an update, SEMLOR, and hoping for a positive result for you!
While we are looking into getting a tenants right specialist which seem to be very few in the area, I will answer some questions:
We sent a termination request in certified mail letter and email, but it was not accepted and email went unanswered.
We have one key and the PM has another (master) to be able to show the place. Since we are so far away, they agreed to showing the place as a favor, which we are really grateful for. They would not accept both keys back from us as we are still on the lease and our security deposit was not returned yet. We pay utilities and lawn maintenance since the house shows better to the applicants with them on. We find tenants via advertising online and signs and they also have an ad on their site for this rental, so far we sent them over 20 people who contacted us (we never met personally with them due to the distance but did talk with each before sending them over). We are not sure how many people they had coming from their ad directly into their office, so I suppose it is closer to 40 people in total, and each applicant must pay $50 application fee. I feel they just like to collect fees and rent in addition. We are going to get as much information from the applicants as we can in writing and try to prove a few people were more or less qualified for the attorney to be able to work on it. Thank you for all your help. Never again will we sign a lease with no break clause. I would be happy to settle for 3-4 more rent payments to just get away from this company.
I'm a landlord and I assure everyone that it is nothing unusual to have 24 applicants who aren't even close to qualifying. I have all my criteria in writing, they read it and still apply. I have 5 applicants' paperwork sitting in front of me right now that are all rejected for very good reason. One woman with an income of $1,100 has applied for a house with the rent of $950. She stood there and read my criteria that is very clear that I require 3 times the rent and she still applied.
Smokers will stand in front of me smoking. I will tell them 3 times I don't accept smokers, my ad says no smokers, my application says no smokers, and they will throw their butts on the ground right in front of me and still apply.
Management can not discuss applicants with their tenants. That is personal information concerning the applicants and it is not to be shared with the public.
My experience is that there are a lot of people out there who have a very difficult time finding a rental and they all are looking for sublets, where they think they won't be screened. They look for private landlords where they think they won't be screened. They look for roommate situations where they think they won't be screened. Believe me, OP, every no-hoper in your area saw that sublet ad and is hoping to get it without being screened, so they are all applying.
You'd better hope that management is screening tough, because you are not off the hook with a sublet. You are still responsible and if your subletter does not pay rent or does damage, the landlord is going to name you in all the legal action. You are not out of it; you are, instead, the master tenant and still responsible for the apartment. What you want to try to do is to get the landlord to sign your replacement to a new lease and cancel yours. If they won't you'd better hope that they don't approve anyone with a bad payment history or poor landlord references.
We sent a termination request in certified mail letter and email, but it was not accepted and email went unanswered.
Does not matter if they accepted it or not, the law requires you to give notice which was the certifed letter. Their refusal will not change the fact that you did give notice. So long as you still have the unopened letter with the post office stamps showing it was returned to you as unclaimed or refused, you have your proof.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SEMLOR
We have one key and the PM has another (master) to be able to show the place.
They would not accept both keys back from us as we are still on the lease and our security deposit was not returned yet.
The landlord was smart enough (knows the law) to refuse possession of the unit from you which makes it still legally yours and you are still legally responsible for rent. The landlord is under no duty to mitigate. Anything they do to assist in rerenting is out of the goodness of their heart but they have the legal right to sit on the unit and you have a legal duty to keep paying until your lease is over. They also are not required to return your security deposit becaue you are still legally occupying the premise. Unfortunetely, they got you on this.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SEMLOR
We find tenants via advertising online and signs and they also have an ad on their site for this rental, so far we sent them over 20 people who contacted us (we never met personally with them due to the distance but did talk with each before sending them over). We are not sure how many people they had coming from their ad directly into their office, so I suppose it is closer to 40 people in total, and each applicant must pay $50 application fee. I feel they just like to collect fees and rent in addition. We are going to get as much information from the applicants as we can in writing and try to prove a few people were more or less qualified for the attorney to be able to work on it.
You will need an attorney to reveiw state laws on the application fee and conduct as well as the general violation of FS 83.44 (if you can prove it).
I'm sorry to say, the landlord holds most of the cards right now.
Speak to an attorney. A FL attorney that specializes in real estate/landlord tenant law.
There might be some technicality that get you out of this. Starting a few years ago, I think there was a new FL requirement on leases regarding the clause about 2 month early termination fee. Though I think it was up to the landlord to include the early termination addendum to the lease but if it was included, it had to follow the certain wording as defined in state law. Did your lease have this clause?
Last edited by sware2cod; 06-19-2014 at 10:41 AM..
Speak to an attorney. A FL attorney that specializes in real estate/landlord tenant law.
There might be some technicality that get you out of this. Starting a few years ago, I think there was a new FL requirement on leases regarding the clause about 2 month early termination fee. Though I think it was up to the landlord to include the early termination addendum to the lease but if it was included, it had to follow the certain wording as defined in state law. Did your lease have this clause?
The landlord is not using early lease termination provisions, so it doesn't matter.
This is the OP. We contacted the PM today and were told all the applicants were screened by their regular procedure but did not pass all of their requirements. She actually said it's her boss that makes the decision and so far no one was approved for one reason or the other. She also mentioned the law does not dictate the approval procedure and it is completely at their discretion, so we just need to keep sending the applicants and hope someone will pass. I said it was ridiculous that no one was even remotely acceptable, to which she implied that applicants were mostly underemployed students and the owner does not feel comfortable renting to them or families with medium to small pets and small children (the back yard has a lot of dead decaying trees and I guess they don't want children in there to avoid lawsuits. We had a tree fall in the yard at night and they refused to care of it). This is a college town with campus nearby, of course students and families are applying at this time of the year. I wonder if it is even legal to subtly discriminate against certain groups and certainly I wouldn't dream of telling the applicants who contact us that students and young families should not even try. I am speechless and we are getting a lawyer ASAP because this doesn't feel right.
If they are refusing to rent to someone with children, this could be breaking the Fair Housing Act. Do you have this in writing? Refusing to rent because of pets is ok, but if they are using a leasing agent and refusing to rent to someone with kids because of the kids, then this is illegal unless they are exempt from Fair Housing Act (I dont think they are exempt if an agency).
If you have an attorney this might be something he can use against them as a way to get them to settle with you(Fair Housing Complain won't be made if they let you out of lease early.) This is actually illegal to blackmail in such a way, but an attorney usually knows how to do it the proper way to avoid it being blackmail.
Even if you dont use the Fair Housing Act issue, I bet an attorney would find some technicality or otherwide negotiate a settlement where maybe you pay 2 months rent and everyone agrees nothing more is due from you.
If they are refusing to rent to someone with children, this could be breaking the Fair Housing Act. Do you have this in writing? Refusing to rent because of pets is ok, but if they are using a leasing agent and refusing to rent to someone with kids because of the kids, then this is illegal unless they are exempt from Fair Housing Act (I dont think they are exempt if an agency).
The major drawback with this argument is that it's my understanding that only the person who's been refused accommodation has the legal right to sue for discrimination under FHA guidelines so in this respect the OP has no standing.
But hopefully she'll quickly find an attorney who can advise her!
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