Septic issues - tenant unreasonable

[wuselino1412]

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

We have had a tenant whose lease is luckily ending this month (23 times late out of 24 times of paying rent)
When they first moved in we had the septic tank pumped completely. That was two years ago. About six months ago when rainy season started they called saying the septic is backing up. We had someone come out and look at it and turns out his daughter was flushing tampons. After them being removed the septic went back to working normally. This week with the storm it has been raining constantly. drainage canals are full, everything soaked etc. Today at 4pm we get a text message that the toilets are not flushing. My husband is off tomorrow and said that's fine we will be there tomorrow. Well that was not good enough for him and he is now threatening with the health department (supposedly the septic tank is broken and we know it and we are poisoning everybody). I may also mention he wanted to buy the property (rent-to-own), which I declined because he cannot ever make on time payments and his lease is over and we are not renewing it and we will be selling the house to someone who can actually pay for it or a mortgage.

Either way. He has been leaving constant voicemails saying he is moving out tonight and they want their security deposit back before they are leaving and he is calling the health department etc.
I know there is a rule about fixing issues within 7 days after receiving a written notice (our lease states it has to be mailed certified). Is this considered an emergency and if yes we do have 24 hours correct? Also, if this turns out to be a tampon flushing incident again (which he saw back then but now denies saying we cannot prove it though we do have in text messages where he admits his daughter did it and apologized) can we keep the money for the septic service and take it off the security deposit?

Thank you,

Sue

 

[justalayman]

If the law does not require the written notice to be sent certified mail your lease cannot supersede the law. As long as they comply with the requirements of the law, it is a valid notice.
If the toilets are not usable, that would be an emergency.

If the tenant caused the issue you could retain money from the deposit to cover the cost of the repair. I am curious as to how flushing Tampons could cause such an issue in such a short period of time. If they clogged the drain I can see that and would expect the tenant to cover that cost. I can't see how the tampons could cause any other issue other than that, at least in the short period of time involved.

 

[wuselino1412]

If the law does not require the written notice to be sent certified mail your lease cannot supersede the law. As long as they comply with the requirements of the law, it is a valid notice.
If the toilets are not usable, that would be an emergency.

If the tenant caused the issue you could retain money from the deposit to cover the cost of the repair. I am curious as to how flushing Tampons could cause such an issue in such a short period of time. If they clogged the drain I can see that and would expect the tenant to cover that cost. I can't see how the tampons could cause any other issue other than that, at least in the short period of time involved.

I absolutely see this as an emergency and it will get fixed before noon tomorrow of course.
The tampons obviously caused the blockage over the 1.5 yrs beforehand. We did not get the whole tank pumped again the septic guy just removed them and it immediately worked again. Just saw fluid on top was pumped out and then he removed it from the pipe that goes to the drain field. With that being said its very possible that were was more in the tank and more could have now flushed towards the pipe. Additionally due to the heavy rainstorm there is water everywhere and water has a harder time to drain since the ditches are full and all the dirt around the tank etc.

The home is older and the septic tank is smaller than the homes have nowadays. With that being said if the tank was broken or if it was an issue with the tank then i would have no issue replacing it etc. We have always had everything fixed within 24- 48 hrs or not. I do not appreciate threats of the news and the health department because something was not fixed within the first ten minutes. I am not asking for anything unreasonable to wait until tomorrow morning. We live over an hour away and we want to be there when the septic person shows up and we did not get off work until 6 pm at night and i am not paying and overnight emergency service if i pay half in the morning.

Especially not for someone that is completely unreasonable.

 

[Gail in Georgia]

"saying he is moving out tonight'

Possibly the best news you've heard from them in a while

' and they want their security deposit back before they are leaving"

Not going to happen

' and he is calling the health department etc."

Fine..a representative from the health department can meet you there tomorrow when you are addressing this issue.

Gail

 

[wuselino1412]

"saying he is moving out tonight'

Possibly the best news you've heard from them in a while

' and they want their security deposit back before they are leaving"

Not going to happen

' and he is calling the health department etc."

Fine..a representative from the health department can meet you there tomorrow when you are addressing this issue.

Gail

Well everything was fixed the next day and then he immediately cried to us trying to renew his lease that ends on the 21st of this month, saying he did not mean it and he loves the house, etc.
Well he received another certified letter that he has to be out on the 21st. He has been bombarding us with texts and phone calls all weekend begging us to reconsider. And how it is unfair to take it out on his child and wife. Since they were late 22 out of 24 rent payments this incident was really just the nail in the coffin but we were not renewing the lease anyways

 

[Gail in Georgia]

Just block the voice mails and texts and sit back and enjoy being rid of this tenant soon.

Gail

 

[wuselino1412]

Just block the voice mails and texts and sit back and enjoy being rid of this tenant soon.

Gail

This guy is on my last nerve. all week he has been whining if I reconsider so I sent him a certified letter that he has to leave on the 21st. So today he gets it and now texts how he will leave in 30 days if im lucky because we had a "verbal" agreement that he could stay month to month. And supposedly the septic tank is full again (which I am 100% sure is a total lie) and he expects this to be fixed within 48 hrs and that the ac supposedly is not working and has to be fixed within 7 days and also the backroom has a wall unit (that hasn't worked since he moved in because the place is under air anyways) and how it also needs to replaced within 7 days.

I think I will send a plumber out tomorrow and if it flushes (which I know it will) I will take that off his deposit and he will get his three day notice on the 22nd and then I will file for eviction and take that off his deposit also.
The ac is not broken. he is completely insane. so I will make sure to take that off his deposit also.

He is an absolute disgusting "person"

 

[Gail in Georgia]

See; it would have been better to ignore the guy.

Even if this character had a tenancy at will (a month to month tenancy); in Florida this requires only a 15 day notice, not 30 days as outlined in the attached:

http://www.leg.state.fl.us/Statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&Search_String=&URL=0000-0099/0083/Sections/0083.57.html

If they haven't moved by the 22nd begin the process of eviction due to the fact that your tenant is now a "holdover".

Gail

 

[FarmerjTemp]

Since you said you were wanting to sell this property I suggest you make sure you disclose in the past occupants had flushed products that should not have been flushed into a septic system and this problem with the system draining had also happened during a time of very heavy rains The reason I suggest this if you do not disclose to a buyer in writing anything at all and they do have problems such as when soils are extremely saturated they may want to sue you, but if you disclosed to a buyer about this problem and they still bought the place and later tried to sue you your defense would be that you disclosed to them the condition. ( especially if water tables continue to rise in your area BTW does anyone in the area of that home now use a mound style septic system ? )