Florida Landlord And Tenant Legal Questions

Fla. Stat. 83.56 and 83.51 address the water issue. In most instances, you are entitled to abate the rent or terminate the tenancy - but not to have a landlord pay for your hotel stay. Especially since is hard to claim that no running water due to a plumbing issue results in you needing to stay in a hotel. The landlord will point out that you could just have easily stayed in the apartment and used bottled water until the repairs are made. Especially over a 48 hour period. ... Read Answer

You generally have the right to sue for breach of contract for any damages caused or enforcement of the lease terms. This is rarely an issue that allows termination of a tenancy under Fla. Stat. 83.56(1). Under Florida law, in most instances, air conditioning is not required for habitability and 84 degrees is not likely to be deemed a health threat by a judge. ... Read Answer

YOu need to hire a lawyer ASAP. You have some issues like violation of Fla. Stat. 83.67 where the LL may owe you for locking you out. As to the notion of paying 1/2 the rent while remining on the property the whole month, no one will belive that unless the person that told you that confesses to it or there is written confirmation for same. That said, the LL would have needed to have served a 3 day notice on you in December to properly allow an eviciton lawsuit. ... Read Answer

You won't. Your non-payment of rent is likely in violation of Fla. Stat. 83.60 and Fla. Stat. 56(3). None of what you described would support witholding rent. That said, if you are looking for a lawyer to "do lawyer work" like set out a "good written argument" to try to overcome those issues, you will have to plan to PAY and HIRE a lawyer for that. Thats what lawyers do for a living. That said, if you qualify, you can try local legal aid to see if they can help you, but be prepared to be told that you wrongfully withheld rent and are subject to eviction if the LL did his part properly. That aside, if the LL "changed the locks" to lock you out of the property without a writ of possession being issued, you might have a remedy under Fla. Stat. 83.67. It won't stop an eviction nbut you might be entitled to seek damages. ... Read Answer

Please go to floridalawhelp.org This is a website which will direct you to the Legal Aid agency in your community. Public housing is a very specialized field that private lawyers normally don't do  but Legal Aid agencies do and have the expertise necessary to practice in the field. In the future,  if you have legal questions and your income is limited, check out Free Legal Answers, a program by the FL Bar to answer legal questions from persons with limited income. Make sure that the program is run by the American Bar Association (A.B.A.) There a lot of pretenders out there. It does not necessarily mean that you will get an answer. It is simply another resource that you may want to try.... Read Answer

"Seniors at risk" is of no consequence in a landlord tenant environment. Absent public or subsized HUD housing, at the end of every lease the LL is entitled to charge whatever they want, especially if the market value has substantially increased. There is no "coersion" as the remedy is simply to decline and move out to live elsewhere if there is a better deal. If the tenant refuses to sign a new lease and holds over after the old lease expires they are subject to eviction and assessed double market value rent. If this is some issue where the LL is demanding existing leases be cast aside and new leases for higher rent be signed, then you need to retain a tenant lawyer to address such an issue as a lease is binding on BOTH sides for the duration of the lease period. The remedy there is simply to refuse to sign a new lease, knowing your existing tenancy won't be renewed, and if the LL sues for eviction to defend it aggressively. ... Read Answer

This is an impossible question to answer because in part you have already been exposed to such issues and there is no viable way to be proactive short of 24/7 recording of all contact or conversations. Your best bet at this point is to vacate the property an live eslewhere where her antics are not an issue. ... Read Answer

No. This is not a law enforcement issue - its a civil dispute. The police won't protect you from hurt feelings. The practical issue is to simply move out and move on. Its not finanically viable to chase after am elderly landlord in a room rental situation. Otherwise you have the RIGHT to sue over it - but not likely going to be worth the added expense and effort. ... Read Answer

The LL cannot address the deposit until after you vacate. Also a LL general agreement to allow you to terminate the tenancy early would need to be in writing and have some consideration to be enforceable. If this is a mom&pop rental - they may have already stolen the sec dep and simply try to make excuses not to return it.... Read Answer

You should hope not. If you are not on lease and force the LL to sue for eviction you simply destroy your rental record for no reason. You may have to make a hard choice regarding placing your pet elsewhere and having a place to live if the animal interferes in your ability to find a place to stay. If you are not on the lease your best bet is to move out ASAP to a shelter, hotel, motel freind or family place temorarily, and put your things in storage, until you can find a place. Otherwise, you will be forced out with a lawsuit and then add an eviction to the other reasons that might prevent you from finding any place decent. ... Read Answer