Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Florida
I signed a 6month lease for a retail space in FL. Lease ends on July 30th,2012. when I signed the lease I paid landlord 1stmonth , Last month , and security deposit . The lease states that at the end of my term , if I am still in possession of the property the lease will convert to a monthly term.My rent is due on the 1st of every month and Since I am now in the last month of my original term , I did not pay my landlord rent for this month thinking that I paid him 1st, and last. Now I am being told by the landlord that since I want to continue on a monthly lease , I still need to pay for July. Is this right ?
2 Answers from Attorneys
Without seeing the actual lease it is not possible to give you a definitive answer. From a pragmatic stance, you are not in the last month of your lease since you have not notified him of your intent to vacate, rather you have notified him of your intent to lease month to month. I think an argument can be made that you need to pay July's rent to avoid eviction. I see you argument that the written lease is ending and therefore your rental applies as last month of the original term. Without seeing the lease I cannot tell you whether the agreement is subject to that actual interpretation. If you want to remain you are better off paying the July rental.
It really depends on your lease. I am sure it stated that you were to give him 30 days notice of your leaving. I suggest you do that immediately so that you don 't have to continue paying rent. I suggest you pay July - otherwise he will take you to court and you will end up paying way more than the problem of just notifying him and paying the one month. Be sure to leave the place clean so that you can get your security deposit back.
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