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So i don't want to give too many details but essentially 4 years ago my current LL (fiances brother) bought a house and paid too much for it. we needed a new place to move into so we signed a lease with him and have been here since then. i now have a pit mix rescue dog which prevents me from moving to a lot of places (just because of prejudice, not because of his behavior the house has 0 damage, he doesn't chew on non toys or use the bathroom in the house ever). we've been looking for over a year and haven't found a good rental for what we want. so we've slowly been dealing with him not wanting to take care of issues all the way. the roof has leaked 8 times (different places) and each time he just patches in instead of replacing the old old roof. so we thought we finally found the source and he patched it back in sept. not the case, it was a slow leak from the dishwasher. it's put mold all in the walls of the kitchen and the hardwood flooring. no big deal right as insurance will cover it with the 1000$ deductible. yup but he wants to kick us out, pocket the cash and do the work himself (or have a non mold specialist fix it who charges much less because he knows him). we are currently on a month to month lease and he doesn't know he has to serve us papers to get us to leave. he thinks just asking will get us to move (he keeps asking how soon even though we just paid for nov rent which is always due on the 14).
what are my recourses? i read i can sue for 3 months rent minimum since he is trying to kick us out in order to not fix the code violation. anyone have any idea what code it is he is in violation of (refusing to fix mold)? other issues, if we move it could put my kid in another school and i don't want him in anything besides an A list school, my dog and 2 cats also make it harder to find a place (not saying we can't just saying it's going to take more than 30 days especially when i have an out of country vacation next week and then christmas right around the corner). i'm assuming i should get a lawyer as well or can i take him to small claims court to sue for the damages/moving expenses? the other thing that has me concerned is that he is probably doing this to get a lot of cash together and find another renter that he has no relation too so he can screw them over by not fixing basic things (we had problems in the past with the water heater and he paid 500$ to repair it when it told him a new one with warranty installed is only 599$ and he ended up doing the repair and then having to replace the tank 3 months later anyways).
any help here is appreciated. he isn't smart enough to send a notice so as long as i don't start the legal process it will buy me time to find a proper place to move to. what can i sue for and how much am i entitled to from him? moving is going to cost me a lot as i run 2 home based businesses plus have a ton of heavy possessions to move.
Since when does the landlord "owe"you anything more than a place to live for the rent paid? You are on a month to month and he can ask you to leave anytime he see fit, just has to give you 30 days notice before he starts to evict you.
You are the one that hasn't found a place in over a year looking. You are the renter that has a dog and other animals that other landlords choose not to deal with. Did you landlord make you get a dog?
He is the OWNER not you. It is his house to do with what he pleases. He can take the insurance and never fix the house, it is his house. If it was in such bad shape why have you not lowered your standards and rented another house even if it was not what you really wanted? As longer as it was better you would be moving up.
Why do you think you can sue him if he asks you to leave. Is this your way of getting even with him for asking you to leave? Why do you feel somebody owes you anything.
Fix for the whole problem---buy your own house
Since when does the landlord "owe"you anything more than a place to live for the rent paid? You are on a month to month and he can ask you to leave anytime he see fit, just has to give you 30 days notice before he starts to evict you.
You are the one that hasn't found a place in over a year looking. You are the renter that has a dog and other animals that other landlords choose not to deal with. Did you landlord make you get a dog?
He is the OWNER not you. It is his house to do with what he pleases. He can take the insurance and never fix the house, it is his house. If it was in such bad shape why have you not lowered your standards and rented another house even if it was not what you really wanted? As longer as it was better you would be moving up.
Why do you think you can sue him if he asks you to leave. Is this your way of getting even with him for asking you to leave? Why do you feel somebody owes you anything.
Fix for the whole problem---buy your own house
it's not that the house is in horrible condition. it's really a decent house he just doesn't take care of it. i understand it's not his fault but do you really think it's morally right to pocket insurance money and let him screw over another renter who just doesn't know any better? figures i get this response from someone from NY.
if you don't know florida law it states i can sue for damages of up to three months rent. according to FL law:
[SIZE=-1]* A landlord may not evict a tenant solely in retaliation for the tenant
complaining to a governmental agency about a code violation, joining or
establishing a tenant's "union" or similar organization, or asserting other
tenant rights.
* If any of these occur, the tenant may sue for actual and consequential damages or three month's rent, whichever is greater, plus court costs and attorney's fees.
he's breaking code, yes i'm going to sue him. yes i'm also going to tell the insurance company what his plans are for the cash (so they can press fraud charges). i guess none of you ever deal with bad in laws? rofl. i've paid this guy 50k over the past 4 years that he couldn't afford to do on his own and now he wants to screw me over by giving me no time to move and do it during the holiday season.
BTW, it's easy to monday morning quarter back the scenario and say just buy your own house. if it was only that easy, tried that route for a long time as well. if it had worked out i would have left by now.
How do you figure it is morally wrong to "pocket" the insurance money and do the work yourself? As long as the work is done correctly why does it matter who does it? If he decides to does some or all of the work is he not entitled to get paid for his time and effort? The price has already been agreed upon between him and his insurance company. If he is smart about it he will do some of the bull work himself and hire out the more skilled work. If he goes over budget do you think the insurance company will pay him more? I don't think so.
Don't you think its "morally" wrong to sue somebody becaused they asked you to move in a timely manner when you only have a month to month lease? He is not breaking a lease and forcing you out for turning you in to a govt agency. He is giving you notice that he is not renewing you lease for another month. Time to move.
Sueing your future brother in law is going to make some great holiday family get togather conversation.
Sure you payed him a good some of money over the last 4 years. Should he then tell you what he has payed out in regards to that house? Lets see first there is the mortgage, then the taxes, insurance, repair costs, etc. What does that all add up to? Then there is the fact that he is the one personally responsible for paying the bills even if it is not rented out. What does that stress add to the mix. How about the probable loss of value of the house. Can he still get what he paid for the house ? Florida has been hard hit with the market turn down in house values. Would he have been better off if he just put his money in a savings account? Does he not deserve a reasonable return on his investment after all he is the one who is at risk.
Yes I am from New York. Thanks for noticing. I have been a landlord for about 15 years and have heard my share of BS excuses and complaints. I know there alot of bad landlords out there but there are also a great deal of bad tenants as well. When a landlord asks for a tenant to move out when the lease is up the landlord is not be a a**hole he is just doing what is in his best interests not neccesarilly the tenants. It is after all his property.
How do you figure it is morally wrong to "pocket" the insurance money and do the work yourself? As long as the work is done correctly why does it matter who does it? If he decides to does some or all of the work is he not entitled to get paid for his time and effort? The price has already been agreed upon between him and his insurance company. If he is smart about it he will do some of the bull work himself and hire out the more skilled work. If he goes over budget do you think the insurance company will pay him more? I don't think so.
Don't you think its "morally" wrong to sue somebody becaused they asked you to move in a timely manner when you only have a month to month lease? He is not breaking a lease and forcing you out for turning you in to a govt agency. He is giving you notice that he is not renewing you lease for another month. Time to move.
Sueing your future brother in law is going to make some great holiday family get togather conversation.
Sure you payed him a good some of money over the last 4 years. Should he then tell you what he has payed out in regards to that house? Lets see first there is the mortgage, then the taxes, insurance, repair costs, etc. What does that all add up to? Then there is the fact that he is the one personally responsible for paying the bills even if it is not rented out. What does that stress add to the mix. How about the probable loss of value of the house. Can he still get what he paid for the house ? Florida has been hard hit with the market turn down in house values. Would he have been better off if he just put his money in a savings account? Does he not deserve a reasonable return on his investment after all he is the one who is at risk.
Yes I am from New York. Thanks for noticing. I have been a landlord for about 15 years and have heard my share of BS excuses and complaints. I know there alot of bad landlords out there but there are also a great deal of bad tenants as well. When a landlord asks for a tenant to move out when the lease is up the landlord is not be a a**hole he is just doing what is in his best interests not neccesarilly the tenants. It is after all his property.
because the work is not being done to code according to florida mold laws. this makes him in violation of code and him deciding to end our lease is a direct result of him being in violation. FL just had these mold laws go into effect back in july to protect people like me from situations like this. i'm going to be speaking to a lawyer, you aren't considering on my end that he hasn't served me anything yet or given me anytime frame yet. you aren't picking up a lot on the details that are very important in this scenario. it's a health hazard and there is a proper way to deal with it according to the law and that's what changes the scenario. with all that in mind the expense of moving my family and the belongings to a new place during which time there are 3 prominent holidays (all of which we are out of town for) all coincide. it's going to cost me a lot of money (way more than normal) to move all my stuff including my businesses this time of year. but if you had read thoroughly on my side you would see how he could be liable for a few things here. where if he just held off for a little while longer i could be gone and there not be an issue. understand better.
him deciding to end our lease is a direct result of him being in violation.
If you are on Month to month lease, is he really ending the lease, or is he just choosing to not renew it after the current month? I'm not in your state, but it strikes me there's nothing that can force him to renew.
You're all over the place with your random thoughts and protestations. I suggest you properly read your state landlord tenant laws without simply picking out a random few paragraphs which you feel apply to your situation.
As far as the remote possibility of your winning a judgement in court and getting back 3X your security deposit, several states have similar statutes but suing for those additional monies and actually collecting them are two very different stories. An award of anything over and above the one month security deposit is at the discretion of the presiding judge and they only use that discretionary judgement in very special cases.
What your fiancé's brother does with any insurance money he gets is really none of your business. All he has to do is give you a 30 day notice to quit and if you pursue this and take it to court my gut feeling is that you're not going be too successful.
As much as I sympathize with the hassle of moving you have, despite the current litany of complaints both new and old, lived there apparently quite comfortably for four years. Obviously nothing has been so bad that you were forced to leave. As far as moving expenses, holidays and all that - maybe if you got off your landlord's back he'd give you some more time to move. Frankly, if someone sue-happy like you were renting from me I'd want you out in a heartbeat.
Oh, and too bad about the dog and the difficulty now involved with finding a place which will accept him. The dog was your choice and it's hardly likely you took him in NOT knowing he was on a restricted breed list. It's not the dog's fault or your fiancé's brother's fault but yours for having taken him on so don't even bring the poor dog into the equation as he's the one on the short end of the stick if you can't find a place which will allow him.
You are on a month-to-month tenantcy and want to be treated as if you have the same rights has having a yearly lease. You don't. You each have the same right to give 30-day written notice to move out no matter what the reason. If you do not move out by the end of 30-day notice, he can sue you and begin eviction proceedings.
As to your animals: All he has to do is find pee or marking stains/odor and you are on the hook for 100% off the repair which includes replacing the floor if necessary. You cannot watch your animals 24/7.
As to the insurance payment, he can do whatever he wants with the check as he has accepted the assigned value of the repair. The only way that this may become an issue in the future is if he places another claim for it then he will need to provide proof that the initial work was done.
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Move already
