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Not damned if you don't. Not at all. Don't give good money for a bad product. Stop supporting bad landlords and trying to guilt and harass them into being good ones. They won't be good ones.... But they can destroy your peace.
If the place is not what you want... move! Turning your living arrangement into a battle is no way to find joy.
So you must think I should sue since I know you're not suggesting I break a lease and pay all the associated moving fees (packing, moving truck, time off work, updating drivers license, initial fees on electric, utilities, internet, etc...) every time a property manager tries to push me around.
Damned if you do and damned if you don't. OP either lives with a leaking roof in uninhabitable conditions while paying agreed upon rent and abiding by their lease or they report the LL who is not abiding by the lease and try to get things fixed and OP jeopardizes getting a lease renewal.
Makes sense to me! Not. And then people wonder why LLs can get such a bad name. We wouldn't even think of treating our tenants so horribly.
Fight it OP. You have nothing to lose if it is uninhabitable. And you shouldn't have to pay rent living in such conditions. Just get some good legal advice on each step you need to take and don't stop fighting it. You do have rights. And LLs can not retaliate against you for fighting for your rights.
You are kidding right? As soon as a tenant calls the city on any landlord for any reason their chances of renewal are shot. Did you even read what I said? I assume you did since you quoted it. How about instead of trying to pick a pointless fight you offer something constructive to the OP.
OP your landlord is in breach of Florida Statute 83.51(1)(a) or 83.51(1)(b) if your municipality doesn't have building codes which is unlikely. Your best option to get this resolved is to follow your state law, specifically Florida Statute 83.60(1)(b), see the quote below. It is important you understand your rights so you need to sit down and read your state laws. From what I can tell the law below reads you must give the landlord 7 days notice and in that notice you must specify the repair item, the noncompliance, and you must state clearly that you will withhold rent until the noncompliance is corrected. Send the notice certified with return receipt, add 5 days to your timeline when you do this, and if this letter gets returned to you then you MUST keep it sealed for the judge to open. You will either get them to repair the item or they will try to evict you for non-payment which is when you hand the judge an exact copy of the notice you delivered, and the returned notice if it gets sent back to you, and spell out the time frame for the judge. Any logical judge will toss the case out but at the end of the lease you will very likely have to move. You don't actually need a lawyer at this time but you should consult one anyway, find a real estate lawyer with a free consultation over the phone.
If you decide it isn't worth the hassle and want out of the lease instead you can use Florida Statute 53.56(1), very similar to the quote below, to break the lease.
No matter what happens you need to make sure you don't go spending your rent because once it is corrected you need to pay, though you might be able to abate for a couple of days but that isn't a guarantee.
Quote:
83.60 Defenses to action for rent or possession; procedure.—
(1)(a) In an action by the landlord for possession of a dwelling unit based upon nonpayment of rent or in an action by the landlord under s. 83.55 seeking to recover unpaid rent, the tenant may defend upon the ground of a material noncompliance with s. 83.51(1), or may raise any other defense, whether legal or equitable, that he or she may have, including the defense of retaliatory conduct in accordance with s. 83.64. The landlord must be given an opportunity to cure a deficiency in a notice or in the pleadings before dismissal of the action. (b) The defense of a material noncompliance with s. 83.51(1) may be raised by the tenant if 7 days have elapsed after the delivery of written notice by the tenant to the landlord, specifying the noncompliance and indicating the intention of the tenant not to pay rent by reason thereof. Such notice by the tenant may be given to the landlord, the landlord’s representative as designated pursuant to s. 83.50, a resident manager, or the person or entity who collects the rent on behalf of the landlord. A material noncompliance with s. 83.51(1) by the landlord is a complete defense to an action for possession based upon nonpayment of rent, and, upon hearing, the court or the jury, as the case may be, shall determine the amount, if any, by which the rent is to be reduced to reflect the diminution in value of the dwelling unit during the period of noncompliance with s. 83.51(1). After consideration of all other relevant issues, the court shall enter appropriate judgment.
You are kidding right? As soon as a tenant calls the city on any landlord for any reason their chances of renewal are shot. Did you even read what I said? I assume you did since you quoted it. How about instead of trying to pick a pointless fight you offer something constructive to the OP.
OP your landlord is in breach of Florida Statute 83.51(1)(a) or 83.51(1)(b) if your municipality doesn't have building codes which is unlikely. Your best option to get this resolved is to follow your state law, specifically Florida Statute 83.60(1)(b), see the quote below. It is important you understand your rights so you need to sit down and read your state laws. From what I can tell the law below reads you must give the landlord 7 days notice and in that notice you must specify the repair item, the noncompliance, and you must state clearly that you will withhold rent until the noncompliance is corrected. Send the notice certified with return receipt, add 5 days to your timeline when you do this, and if this letter gets returned to you then you MUST keep it sealed for the judge to open. You will either get them to repair the item or they will try to evict you for non-payment which is when you hand the judge an exact copy of the notice you delivered, and the returned notice if it gets sent back to you, and spell out the time frame for the judge. Any logical judge will toss the case out but at the end of the lease you will very likely have to move. You don't actually need a lawyer at this time but you should consult one anyway, find a real estate lawyer with a free consultation over the phone.
If you decide it isn't worth the hassle and want out of the lease instead you can use Florida Statute 53.56(1), very similar to the quote below, to break the lease.
No matter what happens you need to make sure you don't go spending your rent because once it is corrected you need to pay, though you might be able to abate for a couple of days but that isn't a guarantee.
No where was I trying to pick any fights and I did offer constructive advice. I never said what the OP was attempting to do was the right way. I stated to the OP to get legal advice and to make sure to take the 'proper steps' to fight the LL and I also gave OP links on the laws on what they need to do.
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We wouldn't even think of treating our tenants so horribly.
