Mother Died - Security Deposit No Returned (apartment, lease agreement, tenant)
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My mother sold her house and moved into a rental in May. Six weeks later she passed away. When she moved in, she paid first, last and a security deposit; $950 for each. While she was in the hospital around June 25th she told me to pay July's rent which I did. She died June 30th. When I spoke to the landlord to apprise him of the situation I told him that since July's rent was already paid we would take the month to empty the apartment. We did not know she had paid last month's rent. We found this out through the real estate agent who found the apartment for my mom since he is a friend of the family. My sister asked him about returning the last months rent (which has now been paid twice) and the security deposit and he said he would see what the Florida statutes said and get back with us. He hasn't and it's been two months now.
Now I can understand him not wanting to return the last month simply because it didn't get re-rented until September 1st however I left the apartment cleaner than when my mother moved in. At this point it's probably not worth it to file anything in small claims court for the $950 but does anybody know what the statutes are for when a tenant dies? Should I send him a certified letter requesting the security deposit back?
Before I begin, I want to say I am sorry for your lost.
Onto the top at hand. First, do you know if your mom signed a fixed term lease (ie, 1 year lease) or was it month to month?
If this was a 1 year lease, that lease is still in effect even if she died before the lease expired. The landlord would then be entitled to keep the deposit for any unpaid rent. I believe there is even a way for the LL to get money from your mother’s “estate” to pay for the remaining months on the lease.
If this was a month to month, the day the LL was informed of her death would act as the “30 day notice”. So if the LL was notified of her death on June 30th, the lease ends July 31st. Rent for the month of July should have already been paid by the “last month’s rent” and the payment you made manually for the month of July was an overpayment. This amount should be returned. The security deposit should also have been returned minus any cost of any repairs.
Check your state laws. In CA, we have 21 days to return security deposit or we can be sued for up to 3 times the amount.
My mother sold her house and moved into a rental in May. Six weeks later she passed away. When she moved in, she paid first, last and a security deposit; $950 for each. While she was in the hospital around June 25th she told me to pay July's rent which I did. She died June 30th. When I spoke to the landlord to apprise him of the situation I told him that since July's rent was already paid we would take the month to empty the apartment. We did not know she had paid last month's rent. We found this out through the real estate agent who found the apartment for my mom since he is a friend of the family. My sister asked him about returning the last months rent (which has now been paid twice) and the security deposit and he said he would see what the Florida statutes said and get back with us. He hasn't and it's been two months now.
Now I can understand him not wanting to return the last month simply because it didn't get re-rented until September 1st however I left the apartment cleaner than when my mother moved in. At this point it's probably not worth it to file anything in small claims court for the $950 but does anybody know what the statutes are for when a tenant dies? Should I send him a certified letter requesting the security deposit back?
Sorry for your loss.
It’s ALWAYS worth it to get your money. Find out your statutes for Florida and start going after your money. That LL had $1900 of your money. Send a certified letter demanding the deposit refund or accounting of the deposit money use, and the additional month you overpaid.
Man.... I’m a LL and I wouldn’t dream of screwing someone over like that. $950 bucks or even $1900 or any amount
Man.... I’m a LL and I wouldn’t dream of screwing someone over like that. $950 bucks or even $1900 or any amount[/quote]
Me neither. That is a really crappy thing for the LL to do. Heck, I just terminated a lease for my tenants, with no penalty, with 7 mo left, because my tenants wife had medical problems and they wanted to move back to Boston to be closer to Boston General Hospital. Not a life threatening illness, but affected quality of life, and the drs here didnt seem as capable as those there, that had previously treated her.
I'm so sorry for your loss of your mom, OP. I lost mine last yr, and its been just awful, so I completely empathize.
I am sorry for your loss and this kind of problem is something you should not have to deal with at this time. The landlord is doing something shady, it's even some form of elder abuse even though your mother has passed away. He thinks he can get away with it. Hopefully, he is just biding his time but will give you the money back, like another poster said check your local renting laws. You have proof and cancelled checks and a copy of the lease, I hope. He will not be able to provide proof of repayment so he better tread carefully, he could be getting into a lot of trouble that he didn't anticipate. It might even cost him a lot more than his ill-gotten gain, plus all the bad karma he will be reaping. Keep on top of this, you are in the right.
Well he's past the time to make a claim on the security deposit. If a LL in FL wants to make a claim against a security deposit, they must send a certified letter listing reasons why within 30 days. Since that time has passed, the LL must return entire security deposit. Even if he feels entitled to cleaning, damages, or unpaid rent, he's lost the ability to use the security deposit to legally cover those and would have to take the estate to court to try and cover that.
As for the last month rent: As near as I can tell, a lease does not terminate upon death and a LL has no duty to mitigate in FL, although he did take possession and re-rent as of 9/1. So, July payment was made; August payment was covered by last month's rent tendered at lease signing. So, the LL is whole there as far as monthly payments go, and I don't know that you'd have an argument to get August's rent back. But, the entire security deposit should definitely be returned at this point, and, yes, I'd go to court for it if I had to.
The specific statutes are hyperlinked at the top of the page as well, but it looks like he only had 30 days to notify of the intent to keep the security deposit, and that it must be done by certified mail.
I'd say you've got a pretty strong case here, and you may want to try the FDACS complaint process first - although taking it straight to small claims would work as well.
Thank you everybody for all the helpful information. My mom did sign a one year lease agreement. I will send a certified letter to the LL requesting the security deposit back.
Thank you everybody for all the helpful information. My mom did sign a one year lease agreement. I will send a certified letter to the LL requesting the security deposit back.
Sorry, but the other posters are wrong. This is not a security deposit issue. The estate is bound by the terms of the lease just as it is bound by any other contract or debt incurred by your mother. A security deposit is refundable only upon the expiration of the lease or at proper termination of a month to month tenancy.
While not intentional, your mother effectively breached the lease by abandoning the property.
Florida statute 83.595 gives the landlord a choice of remedies for breach of the lease or early termination by the tenant:
If the landlord re-rents then the estate will owe only for the time between your mother's death and the date the property is re-rented. Understand, though, that it's the landlord's option to either re-rent or leave the property empty while rent becomes due until the end of the lease.
As a practical matter a landlord would be foolish to leave a property untenanted for months without any money coming in.
Once you have cleaned out the apartment, taking photos of every inch of it, surrender the keys with a letter stating you are doing so. Then monitor the apartment to determine the date that it gets re-rented. Then determine the amount owed for that applicable period and if there is money left in possession of the landlord the estate will be entitled to its return and the estate (not you) can sue if it isn't forthcoming upon demand.
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