Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Florida

This situation is about a commercial landlord/tenant law. This is my first time renting a commercial space for the purpose of opening a beauty salon in a unit that was previously a salon. It had been vacant for two years. The person before me was over 6ft tall so the shampoo stations were higher than normal. I stated that I would have to lower the stations in order to be able to perform business. The landlord stated they didn't have any money to make any changes to the building because the last person who rented the unit decided to back out of their contract and took their security deposit. Before I signed my contract in May, there were a number of things wrong with the property that the landlord agreed to fix. He asked me to give him a week but it took almost a month and all the issues had not been completely resolved. Yet I still paid the rent for June, the first month and signed for the keys. They promised they would continue to work on fixing the issues until they were completed and I agreed to make changes necessary in order to make the space functional for my business. One of the major issues is that the place smells like sewage when you walk into the unit. It is the worse back in the area where facials are to be performed. They stated that they had called several plumbers in to fix the problem but that the smell is never there when the plumber comes. I had two seperate plumbers come out and they both stated that the smell was coming from the poumbing in the walls, in the back area and that there was either a leak or a crack in the pipes somewhere and that they would have to get someone put a camera through the line to find the it in order to make the repairs. I advised the landlords, even had the plumber talk to them yet they never took any action to have it fixed. As of today, the issues has not been resolved. The second is that there is a leak in the front of the building when it rains. It rains into the front window and into a wall where there is an outlet in the wall that is to be used by one of the workers performing cosmetology services and in the waiting area where clients will sit while they wait. The landlords attempted to have the issue repaired however, it is not, whenever it rains it still leaks and this is a hazard to my clients and my workers. The third issue is that the ac unit wasn't operational from before i signed the lease. They stated that they would have an ac repair guy in to fix it, however they didn't finally get the ac operational until the end of july, early august. It worked for two or three days then magically, the freon had been taken out of the unit so it took another 2 weeks to get it repaired. In the midst of all this, I had a business partner who initially stated that he would cover the costs of getting the place operational but he got into trouble with his taxes and had to drop out of the project. I explained this to the landlord and they agreed to work with me until I was able to get the place operational. I explained to her that I would do my best to get the place open as soon as possible but that I would be using my own personal moneys to do so and she agreed to work with me and gave me the rent for July free considering the circumstances and that we didn't have ac and other issues had not yet been resolved. After all the work, i probably invested close to $7,000 into renovations of the unit to get it operational. In the last week of July, I communicated with the landlord that I would search for a night time job in order to come up with the money to pay the rent until I was able to get the place open, but that it would take me two to three weeks before I would start to receive a pay check and she again agreed to work with me so I gave her a check for $200 towards rent for August and continued making necessary steps to get the place ready for inspection. The landlord explained to me that there had been several breakins during the month and that they had to remove my ac unit and put it at one of the offices where the tenants were using the space on a daily basis and asked me to hold off on inspection until they were able to replace the unit. Finally in September I was able to get the final stages finished and while I was there with someone who was working on repairing my pedicure chair, the landlord came to me and told me that they had signed a lease with someone else because they didn't know my plans and because they needed the money. The next week, they told me that we would try to work out a deal where everyone could benefit from the situation and asked me to give them some time to sort things out. I did and in the meant time, continued with the renovations. Now the salon is ready to have the final inspection and they gave me a letter stating that they are evicting me because I am in breach of my contract because I haven't paid the rent. Yet, they still have not replaced the ac unit, had the plumbing/sewage fixed or the leak in the roof fixed. Even if I called to have the inspection today it would not pass for these reasons and therefore are empeding me from performing business. Is it legal for them to do this, and is there a way that I can either be reimbursed for the renovations i made or apply it to the past and future rent?


Asked on 10/23/12, 12:05 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

Lucreita Becude Lucreita D. Becude, P.A.

I suggest you get an attorney. Most commercial leases state that anything that goes wrong with the building is the tenant's problem. Check you lease to see if you are the one who is in the wrong here. Secondly, if you are not - you need to take this to court.

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Answered on 10/23/12, 12:38 pm


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