QUESTION
Can I sue the landlord and contractor
Asked on Jan 10th, 2018 on Construction Law - Florida
More details to this question:
I am opening a cafe in Florida and when I signed my lease the landlord asked that I use his construction company for the renovation. In April I submitted 4 copies of my blueprints. One copy for landlord approval and 3 copies to submit to the permit office. In June I met with the contractor to discuss the scope of the work. In July I received an estimate that the job should cost $4000 and take about 7 days. After starting and stopping the project several times the contractor appeared to complete his work in September or October. When I called the gas company to do their work we discovered that the contractor never filed for permits but did the job anyway. In order for the gas company to do their job they submitted for their permits and put the contractor permits on their paperwork. For some reason the contractor does not want to schedule the inspections and I cannot open. During this time I have been paying rent and other expenses. Estimated 7 days renovation is taking nearly 9 months.
1 ANSWER
1 Award
You may very well have a claim against the contractor which may include your expenses, loss of use, lost profits etc., but it will depend on a number of factors. Was a there a contract between you and the contractor? If so, the terms may govern what your rememdies are. If there was no contract, there still may be other causes of action available. There likely would not be an action against the landlord unless there was some relationship between them and the contractor which would impute knowledge/control over the actions of the contractor. You should contact a Florida attorney who handles construction defect cases. Most would offer a free initial consultation, and some may take your case on a contingency basis, meaning no fees or costs unless you recover. Good luck.
Answered on Jan 19th, 2018 at 10:30 AM