Neglectful landlord Please help!

[Kyw85]

need some assistance please. My fiancé of 12yrs and I have lived in our apartment for 4 years along with His mother. My fiance is disabled due to severe MS. His mother is also receiving SS benefits from her husband.
We have lived and paid monthly rent. Last week we received notice on our door that he was termination of the lease. I'm appalled at this and he tells me days later that he has "sold" our apartment.
I have to mention that he, our landlord is a slumlord. We have no working kitchen. Our stove has one working burner. We have been washing our dishes in our bathroom sink and there is a thick layer of mold under our kitchen sink and dishwasher due too plumbing problems that have not been addressed in over 9 months. We have had issues with our ac unit freezing up. He is responsible for lawn care and up keep.. This summer, we had thigh high grass.. Which our dogs carried ticks and fleas all of us have developed an allergy to them. The mold has made us all very sick.. Regardless, this man, landlord has fixed nothing. He has wasted away our rent and has not fixed a thing. In fact our original long term neighbors has moved out because of the lack of care to fix issues and serious problems in our apartments. Now, we get this 15 day notice to terminate the lease! He also has shut off our laundry room electric Water since Oct 1st.. In which is included in our rent. So to make things worse, we have 3 weeks of backed up laundry we can't wash because he has neglected to fulfill his responsibility.
I have responded to get notice and stated just about what I have stated above. He came few days ago, I felt to see if I was going to get a lawyer and begin a law suit based on the above issues.
I need help to find someone who can help us on what we need to do.
We also need help to get a new place for us and our dogs who can are family raised and do provide therapy to my fiance and our mother.

My fiance is also blind and suffers from blurred vision due to complications with MS. I am a childcare facility Director and Lead VPK teacher at a private childcare facility located in Inverness. I work full time 5 days per week. We have income, however moving expenses on such short notice is impossible at this time.

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? FLORIDA

 

[Gail in Georgia]

What type of lease do you have?

If this is monthly lease, these can be terminated by either party (the landlord or the tenant) with a written notice provided at least 15 day prior to the end of any monthly period. No reason for this termination need be provided.

If you have a longer lease (for example a year lease) then the landlord needs a reason to attempt to terminate this; for example, failure to pay rent or a breach of the lease.

I've attached the statute for termination of a "tenancy at will" (i.e., a monthly lease) for the state of Florida for you to review:

The 2016 Florida Statutes

Title VI
CIVIL PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE

Chapter 83
LANDLORD AND TENANT

83.57 Termination of tenancy without specific term.—A tenancy without a specific duration, as defined in s. 83.46(2) or (3), may be terminated by either party giving written notice in the manner provided in s. 83.56(4), as follows:
(1) When the tenancy is from year to year, by giving not less than 60 days’ notice prior to the end of any annual period;

(2) When the tenancy is from quarter to quarter, by giving not less than 30 days’ notice prior to the end of any quarterly period;

(3) When the tenancy is from month to month, by giving not less than 15 days’ notice prior to the end of any monthly period; and

(4) When the tenancy is from week to week, by giving not less than 7 days’ notice prior to the end of any weekly period.

History.—s. 2, ch. 73-330; s. 3, ch. 81-190; s. 15


If you do end up having to move and find a new place it would be a good idea to insist on at least a year lease; monthly leases are good for those who might need to move quickly (say, for school or employment reasons) but, unfortunately, they provide little safety for those who want/need to reside in a place long term.

You can, of course, argue that the landlord is terminating your lease as a retaliation for the repair items you claim. However, if they are so bad that, say, the unit ends up being declared as unfit to live in you would have to move out anyway.

Gail

 

[FarmerJ]

Did you have a multi month written lease that still had time on it or are you a month to month renter ? if you are a month to month renter you have no recourse to extend your stay. AS to the conditions of this housing unit I have to ask why you had not called your city building inspections and complained about the lack of repairs. You wrote > I am a childcare facility Director and Lead VPK teacher at a private childcare facility located in Inverness.< if this is the case then as a mandated reporter I don't understand why you had not called inspections instead of putting your self at risk of facing possible claims of abuse / neglect by your allowing vulnerable adult to remain in such poor conditions. You are free to speak to a lawyer about the conditions of this home but personally I think you would be wasting your time, If its that bad and you called in city /county housing inspections then fair odds are they might choose to condemn the unit and shorten up the time you have to get out by ordering you out right away with a no habitation order on the property/ unit found to be unfit for human use order. DO before you give up possession of this place take a ton of pictures then go get them printed with the date stamped on them so if there is any legal issue with the place later on like having to sue to get your deposit back you can show a court your photos of the units condition , as to new owner yes your LL is free to sell the place but if its sold while you live there then the new landlord like it or not becomes obligated to you for your deposit funds and no matter what the new owner says if you didn't get the money from old owner then too bad for new one, if you must then sue the new owner to get the money back , they can pay you off then they will have to sue the old owner.

 

[Kyw85]

What type of lease do you have?

If this is monthly lease, these can be terminated by either party (the landlord or the tenant) with a written notice provided at least 15 day prior to the end of any monthly period. No reason for this termination need be provided.

If you have a longer lease (for example a year lease) then the landlord needs a reason to attempt to terminate this; for example, failure to pay rent or a breach of the lease.

I've attached the statute for termination of a "tenancy at will" (i.e., a monthly lease) for the state of Florida for you to review:

The 2016 Florida Statutes

Title VI
CIVIL PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE

Chapter 83
LANDLORD AND TENANT

83.57 Termination of tenancy without specific term.—A tenancy without a specific duration, as defined in s. 83.46(2) or (3), may be terminated by either party giving written notice in the manner provided in s. 83.56(4), as follows:
(1) When the tenancy is from year to year, by giving not less than 60 days’ notice prior to the end of any annual period;

(2) When the tenancy is from quarter to quarter, by giving not less than 30 days’ notice prior to the end of any quarterly period;

(3) When the tenancy is from month to month, by giving not less than 15 days’ notice prior to the end of any monthly period; and

(4) When the tenancy is from week to week, by giving not less than 7 days’ notice prior to the end of any weekly period.

History.—s. 2, ch. 73-330; s. 3, ch. 81-190; s. 15


If you do end up having to move and find a new place it would be a good idea to insist on at least a year lease; monthly leases are good for those who might need to move quickly (say, for school or employment reasons) but, unfortunately, they provide little safety for those who want/need to reside in a place long term.

You can, of course, argue that the landlord is terminating your lease as a retaliation for the repair items you claim. However, if they are so bad that, say, the unit ends up being declared as unfit to live in you would have to move out anyway.

Gail

Hi,
Thank you,
Okay so when we first moved here we paid our original landlord first, last, security and pet deposit. He sold our triplex within the same month we moved in. With our original landlord, we signed a year lease. We were told that our new LL, that we currently have, would have to honor the same lease until the end of term. When term ended, we continued to live here but would consistently ask for a new lease. LL would tell us he would have it next month... Next month came and went 2yrs over. About 6 or so months ago, we continued to ask again. We needed to add mother in law to our lease. He then informs us that we are month to month. Never told us, never brought us a new lease to sign. Nothing.
He has been so neglectful and I understand that we must move anyways however I can't move in now the 7 days we have left.

 

[Kyw85]

Did you have a multi month written lease that still had time on it or are you a month to month renter ? if you are a month to month renter you have no recourse to extend your stay. AS to the conditions of this housing unit I have to ask why you had not called your city building inspections and complained about the lack of repairs. You wrote > I am a childcare facility Director and Lead VPK teacher at a private childcare facility located in Inverness.< if this is the case then as a mandated reporter I don't understand why you had not called inspections instead of putting your self at risk of facing possible claims of abuse / neglect by your allowing vulnerable adult to remain in such poor conditions. You are free to speak to a lawyer about the conditions of this home but personally I think you would be wasting your time, If its that bad and you called in city /county housing inspections then fair odds are they might choose to condemn the unit and shorten up the time you have to get out by ordering you out right away with a no habitation order on the property/ unit found to be unfit for human use order. DO before you give up possession of this place take a ton of pictures then go get them printed with the date stamped on them so if there is any legal issue with the place later on like having to sue to get your deposit back you can show a court your photos of the units condition , as to new owner yes your LL is free to sell the place but if its sold while you live there then the new landlord like it or not becomes obligated to you for your deposit funds and no matter what the new owner says if you didn't get the money from old owner then too bad for new one, if you must then sue the new owner to get the money back , they can pay you off then they will have to sue the old owner.

Hi,
Thank you.
I actually have contacted environmental and code enforcement. They have yet to return my calls. I know that we should have done this already however, I trusted this man to fulfill his landlord responsibility and believed that he was going to it fixed. I am a trusting person and I usually get slammed for it but I still have not learned my lesson.
I know that we will not get our deposit back because as it is, we will probably have to go forward with an eviction process. I just don't have anywhere for us all to go. There are no rentals near my area within my price range. I'm basically stuck. Had I known that he was selling months ago, I would have been more prepared.
LL told me that the new owner was going to allow us and neighbors to stay but said he saw my husband painting his toe nails (my husband does weird things sometimes..) and assumed that he was sniffing the nail polish... Idk what he was trying to say cause sniffing nail polish does nothing... My point is, after the supposed LL saw that he said he changed his mind. Isn't that discrimination?!

 

[Gail in Georgia]

"LL told me that the new owner was going to allow us and neighbors to stay but said he saw my husband painting his toe nails (my husband does weird things sometimes..) and assumed that he was sniffing the nail polish... Idk what he was trying to say cause sniffing nail polish does nothing... My point is, after the supposed LL saw that he said he changed his mind. Isn't that discrimination?! "

Nope.

As previously mentioned, neither a landlord nor a tenant needs to provide a reason to terminate a month to month tenancy; just the correct number of days to provide this information in written form.

Gail

 

[Kyw85]

So, to sum this up... We are screwed. Up poop Creek without a paddle. What about mother in law. She is not on the lease, mainly because we requested a lease and her name added and never got one. So wouldn't she have squatters rights?

 

[Gail in Georgia]

"So wouldn't she have squatters rights? "

No. There are no such things as "squatters rights".

Look; about all you can do is ask your landlord if you can possibly have a bit more time to find another place to rent. Because you don't want an eviction for being a "holdover" tenant on your credit history; this will make it even more difficult for you to find a new place to rent.

The next step the landlord will have if you don't vacate the rental unit by the date he/she has given you is to file for the actual eviction through the court system. And while only a court can grant an actual eviction (thus buying you some time as this goes through the system) the end result will be the same; the request for the eviction will be granted (unless you and your landlord can work something out instead) and this judgment will end up on your credit history for a number of years.

Gail