Landlord claim against security deposit (rental, credit report, lawyer)

[jbuck]

If landlord in Florida gives the tenant notice of intent to make a claim against a security deposit and the tenant objects in writing what is the next step for the landlord? Lets assume the tenant and landlord cannot come to an agreement on the amount to be charged against security.

In this case there was a written walk thru signed by both parties when the lease was signed. The walk thru inspection sheet states the tenant agrees to return the property in the same clean condition as the date of the initial inspection or, if not done, they agree to pay for profesional cleaning to return the property to the origional conditon. A walk thru was done on the day they left. Tenant admitted not having time to clean the property. There was a witness to this, a court/state employee, who heard this said and will back me up.

The property now has some damages and needs work to return it to move in conditon. There is damage - hole made in metal exterior door for a hook when lease states no holes/drilling into doors; unremovable baked on stains on Ceran stove cooktop and filthy oven was not cleaned; did not clean refrigerator; bathrooms not cleaned and bathroom sink cabinet was stained surface damaged, poorly painted over to cover stains - though lease states no painting without written consent; pet urine stain and odor on carpet and lease says tenant will be responsible for damage/odor from pets; excessive dirt/dust on floors, baseboards when it was noted no dust on baseboards, windows sills, freshly mopped floors on walk thru. Basically they moved thier stuff out and did not do anything else to return the property to the original condition they received it in 11 months ago. I have pictures of all conditions on move out. We have the signed walk thru inspection on move in. I have written estimates for pet urine/odor removal and for cleaning the other things mentioned above.

So, the question: I give them written notice of intent to claim against security. They dispute in writing. What do I have to do now? Get a lawyer and take them to court?

[mango23]

Originally Posted by jbuck

If landlord in Florida gives the tenant notice of intent to make a claim against a security deposit and the tenant objects in writing what is the next step for the landlord? Lets assume the tenant and landlord cannot come to an agreement on the amount to be charged against security.

In this case there was a written walk thru signed by both parties when the lease was signed. The walk thru inspection sheet states the tenant agrees to return the property in the same clean condition as the date of the initial inspection or, if not done, they agree to pay for profesional cleaning to return the property to the origional conditon. A walk thru was done on the day they left. Tenant admitted not having time to clean the property. There was a witness to this, a court/state employee, who heard this said and will back me up.

The property now has some damages and needs work to return it to move in conditon. There is damage - hole made in metal exterior door for a hook when lease states no holes/drilling into doors; unremovable baked on stains on Ceran stove cooktop and filthy oven was not cleaned; did not clean refrigerator; bathrooms not cleaned and bathroom sink cabinet was stained surface damaged, poorly painted over to cover stains - though lease states no painting without written consent; pet urine stain and odor on carpet and lease says tenant will be responsible for damage/odor from pets; excessive dirt/dust on floors, baseboards when it was noted no dust on baseboards, windows sills, freshly mopped floors on walk thru. Basically they moved thier stuff out and did not do anything else to return the property to the original condition they received it in 11 months ago. I have pictures of all conditions on move out. We have the signed walk thru inspection on move in. I have written estimates for pet urine/odor removal and for cleaning the other things mentioned above.

So, the question: I give them written notice of intent to claim against security. They dispute in writing. What do I have to do now? Get a lawyer and take them to court?

I have only gone through this once. You don't need a lawyer we are not talking about much money either way. IF you have given them the notice as required and they dispute it it will go to an arbitration. The one time I had to do it it was in the office of a retired judge and he was very nice and professional. In my case the other party got scared as hell once they were looking at possibly being sued further they were more then happy to get away with just losing their deposit. It took like 10 minutes.

If you want to sue them that is a civil matter and usually not even worth the trouble. You want them out of your life. Just recently there was a landlord murdered by a tenant who he was evicting. Some of these people can be really nuts, just be cool and realize it comes with the business. You can always right off the repairs.

Suspect in professor’s slaying evicted multiple times over past landlord clashes, records show

[33060]

Originally Posted by jbuck

If landlord in Florida gives the tenant notice of intent to make a claim against a security deposit and the tenant objects in writing what is the next step for the landlord? Lets assume the tenant and landlord cannot come to an agreement on the amount to be charged against security.

In this case there was a written walk thru signed by both parties when the lease was signed. The walk thru inspection sheet states the tenant agrees to return the property in the same clean condition as the date of the initial inspection or, if not done, they agree to pay for profesional cleaning to return the property to the origional conditon. A walk thru was done on the day they left. Tenant admitted not having time to clean the property. There was a witness to this, a court/state employee, who heard this said and will back me up.

The property now has some damages and needs work to return it to move in conditon. There is damage - hole made in metal exterior door for a hook when lease states no holes/drilling into doors; unremovable baked on stains on Ceran stove cooktop and filthy oven was not cleaned; did not clean refrigerator; bathrooms not cleaned and bathroom sink cabinet was stained surface damaged, poorly painted over to cover stains - though lease states no painting without written consent; pet urine stain and odor on carpet and lease says tenant will be responsible for damage/odor from pets; excessive dirt/dust on floors, baseboards when it was noted no dust on baseboards, windows sills, freshly mopped floors on walk thru. Basically they moved thier stuff out and did not do anything else to return the property to the original condition they received it in 11 months ago. I have pictures of all conditions on move out. We have the signed walk thru inspection on move in. I have written estimates for pet urine/odor removal and for cleaning the other things mentioned above.

So, the question: I give them written notice of intent to claim against security. They dispute in writing. What do I have to do now? Get a lawyer and take them to court?

Going by what you have described, in a nutshell, you will loose in court.
Residential rental statutes in Florida are firm, the state mandates the requirements for both parties. In other words, you can't make anyone sign their rights away, no matter what you put in the lease. You cannot expect the place to be in move in condition when a tenant leaves. Commercial leases are different.
If a place is so dirty that it requires repainting, a judge won't side with you. Dust, he'll laugh.
You can't write your own estimates, the repairs have to be completed and the paid bills presented.
It must be real damage, replace the cooktop, have the carpet stain removed by a pro and the bath cabinet and have the paid bills.

Once they object in writing, and you do nothing (not return the deposit or portion) then they have the burden to take you to court.
If you loose on just one of the items you listed, then they win the whole case, including their lawyers fees.
You must have your ducks in a row, coming to a reasonable agreement with them is the best proceedure.
Don't try it by yourself, too many i's to dot and t's to cross and you can loose by default. Suggest getting a laywer if it comes to that.
Make sure you have all your time limits right.
You can look up all the Florida statutes online.
Don't know what amounts you are talking of, but it seems like some deposit return would be in order.

BTW, I've been a landlord for over 20 years and learned the hard way (in court) at first. Cleaning up is just the cost of doing business.
Screen future tenants better, some give false references etc. Charge them for a credit report, some will never come back with the application.
Good luck.

[tete1]

I am station in Flordia. I rent a house from another military memeber and upon moving out they decided that I am responsible for replace thier grass. We are under water restricting here and only allow to water the lawn one day a week starting Nov 2010 through March 31, 2011. Starting April 1, 2011, we are allow to water grass twice a week for thirty minutes. The landlord is trying to keep my security deposit of $1,250.00 and saying that they got a quto for 1,700.00 to replace the grass. How do I file against them. It hot here and i don't have no control of the heat.