Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Florida

I had signed a rental lease a house in Alachua county FL in Jan 2013. In May, I discovered my bank account had been hacked, and I am in loss of substantial funds. I was not able to pay May 2013 rent, and when I went by the house June 10, in order to pay utilities, and write explanation to landlord and enclose check for June, I discovered the locks had been changed, and all my belongings had been placed by the curb. I was able to reclaim two of my prints, but everything else was gone. When I contacted landlord, their e-mail response was that they had assumed that I had abandoned the property, and as for reclaiming my lost items,file a police report for burglary, and to look in local pawn shops.

Bottom line is I was evicted being 6 weeks late on one month rent, and 5 days late on the second. I am also sustaining losses of over $1000 in my personal property, as well as my personal mail, most of which contains my SSAN and other banking information.

What are my options?

And the first answer notes that I need to provide more details.

I was not actually served with eviction papers.

In e-mail contact with the landlord, they noted that they would be willing to work with me to renew the lease.

My stuff was not put out by the Sheriff, but rather by their maintenace people, and their response to my stuff being dumped at the curb was noted in the body of the scenario.


Asked on 6/17/13, 3:37 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Barry Stein De Cardenas, Freixas, Stein & Zachary

Without an eviction, the landlord likely became a bailee of your items and was responsible for their safekeeping. You may have a claim for the losses. Seek some legal advice. The potential losses of your ssn etc, is not actionable unless you siffered a problem.

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Answered on 6/17/13, 6:08 am


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