Tenant Abandoned/Left Property/Turned of Electric

[pcgumshoe]

What is the name of your state? FL

Facts:
Apartment is single income unit on multi-family property
Tenant is sole Tenant
Tenant is under verbal lease
Tenant's rent is $425/mo
Tenant was a friend
Tenant is behind by $2000 in rent
Tenant has not paid June Rent
Tenant has moved most of his belongings out
Tenant turned off electricity (or allowed it to be turned off) on June 7th
Tenant or Agents have returned periodically to recover property
Tenant has been served 3 Day notice and it has expired
Tenant keeps claiming to show up and remove/clean but fails to do so
Tenant left no forwarding address
Tenant communicates with me via text message
Tenant has been told that I intend to take possession by abandonment
Tenant did NOT provide notice of moving
Tenant was caught moving his belongings out, then he text messaged another resident in property that he and his brother found a house and were moving in together - other resident is NOT home-owner, I am.

I've read the Florida Statutes concerning this and have a good deal of being a tenant and being a landlord, but don't want to waste money to file for an eviction if abandonment applies.

FL ST 83.59

When the tenant has abandoned the dwelling unit. In the absence of actual knowledge of abandonment, it shall be presumed that the tenant has abandoned the dwelling unit if he or she is absent from the premises for a period of time equal to one-half the time for periodic rental payments. However, this presumption shall not apply if the rent is current or the tenant has notified the landlord, in writing, of an intended absence.

My question is regarding Abandonment. Would the tenant's moving constitute abandonment? If not, would the tenant's disconnecting or allowing the electricity to be disconnected constitute abandonment? If the tenant (or his agents) return from time to time (and have removed the posted 3 day notice) would this negate the abandonment even if he isn't residing at the house?

Thanks

 

[OHlandlord]

First read Fla. Stat. Ann. 715.104 to 715.111 which is Florida's state law on abandonment. I do not know how your state defines abandonment, however I will detail how a property is determined abandoned in my area. My state does not have a statute on abandonment. So a unit is deemed abandoned when the tenant is at least 10 days behind in rent, when the utilities have been disconnected, when the tenant's phone is off or the tenant fails to respond to calls, when the tenant fails to respond to notices on the door or in the mail, & when the tenant has removed most of his personal belongings* as determined by physical inspection. *Refers to leaving a 24 (or 48) hr notice to enter, entering & inspecting unit, and looking to see if there is edible food in the unit (fridge), a bed or place to sleep, a working TV, and if most of their important (expensive) personal belongings are gone. If the unit meets these criteria, we leave a notice of abandonment on the door stating that we will declare the unit abandoned in 7 days if the tenant does not contact us. After 7 days of no contact, we clean out the unit and carefully store the belongings, change the locks, and proceed to re-rent the unit. Your tenant would meet all of these criteria if it were not for the fact that he is still in contact with you via text messages. According to the statute(?) you posted, the tenant needs to stay away from the unit for 15 days before it is abandoned. Unless the tenant has not returned within that time, I would proceed with the eviction case. (This will damage his credit.) Once evicted, you can file in small claims court for the money he owes for back rent, lack of notice, and damages.

 

[pcgumshoe]

Thanks for the reply,

I believe this falls into abandonment. He took his bed (which I lent to him!), his TV, his two dogs, cleaned out the fridge/freezer, left the door wide open, turned of all utilities, and left nothing but maybe one box, a table we lent him, and trash.

Although he is in contact with me via text message, he hasn't been back to the house even when he claims he is going to return to clean and remove his stuff (Like today for example).

If I decide to go the "abandonment" route, do you think it would be advisable to call the police to escort me into the property when I go to retake possession? Take pictures, or something else?

 

[CA LL]

Just gotta ask a question.

Rent is $425/month.

Tenant owes back rent of $2,000!!??

3-day notice served and expired??!!!!

Umm..why/how can they owe $2,000 in back rent IF you had started eviction proceedings as you should have AS SOON AS THEY WERE LATE the first month?

Why on earth give this person free rent for what must be over four months..to keep their belongings even longer there?

Friend or no friend...you should not have let this drag out as long as you did.

In most states even if the unit/tenancy is found to fall under state abandonment, you still must safely store belongings, etc. Please review FL statute VERY CLOSELY on this.

Then..don't rent to anymore friends/family and never wait several months to act when someone is not paying rent they agreed to pay.

 

[MyHouse]

File this under "no good deed goes unpunished" and look up tips from "Alaska Landlord" about how to deal with tenants that do not pay. He really makes a lot of good points and can probably save you some headaches. I think that taking pictures with a witness is always a good idea, just in case.

 

[pcgumshoe]

Rent is $425/month.

Tenant owes back rent of $2,000!!??

3-day notice served and expired??!!!!

Umm..why/how can they owe $2,000 in back rent IF you had started eviction proceedings as you should have AS SOON AS THEY WERE LATE the first month?

Why on earth give this person free rent for what must be over four months..to keep their belongings even longer there?

Friend or no friend...you should not have let this drag out as long as you did.

Yes, rent is $425

Since he moved in in October 2006, he lost his job because of illness and we were sympathetic and saw him as a friend in need firstly. He got a job 1 1/2 months later and started to pay rent, but not monthly, about once every two weeks when he could. He never paid the full amount of $425.

Last month I gave him an ultimatum after I saw that he was taking advantage of us: I said, "I want the rest of THIS MONTH'S RENT by Friday, and the full rent on the first of June, then we can work out the rest of what you owe us." If you can't do that, make arrangements to move in with your brother or something else.

It wasn't as if he wasn't trying, and I know that I'm the sap who allowed it to go this far, but I think we've all been their with friends.

I agree, the next tenants will not be friends, things will be concrete and a tighter leash will be held.

Right now, I'm just doing the "waiting" game because as SeniorJudge and I can agree, we both would rather not see the inside of a court! If he's abandoned the property, I want to take possession.

I don't mind storing what few things he has left in the apartment in my garage, I just want to open it up and get it ready to move in for someone else to recover our losses.

Thanks again for the lectures and advice. Bad Gumshoe, Bad, friends don't make good tenants!