Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Florida

State: Florida..I am the landlord. Tenant gave 60 days notice and then abandoned the property 30 days early, turned off electricity (which has also screwed up the well and now there is no water) did not tell me until I inquired about the last month's rent being 2 days late. The finally responded telling me they would leave the keys next day and to just take the rent out of their security deposit and send them the balance. $3,000 security deposit, $500 pet deposit, Rent is $2,375. That only leaves me $625 sec and $500 pet deposit.

All carpets need to be cleaned due to the two dogs, two rooms and a closet need to be repainted due to unauthorized painting or drawing on walls and SEVERAL hours of cleaning as the house was left in horrid state. Trash and debris that all needs to be removed. Well serviced/repaired...too much to list. And they tell me it is MY responsibility to get it back into show ready condition.

My question is this. How is the best way to cover the cost of all this with only $625 available to me? Can some of the clean up and carpet cleaning be attributed to the pet deposit to help? What if my expenses go over those two combined but it cannot all be contributed to the pets? Thank you. Frustrated landlord.


Asked on 9/08/12, 3:11 am

2 Answers from Attorneys
Lucreita Becude Lucreita D. Becude, P.A.

Pet deposits are usually non-refundable - what does your lease state. Secondly - The security deposit is just that $3,000.00 - it is not used to offset rent. If I were you, I would take them to small claims court. You need to provide within 15 days of termination that you will be using the security deposit for the damages and give them an itemized list of the damage done and the amount to be paid. Then sue them for the one month's rent and any further damage not covered by the deposit.

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Answered on 9/08/12, 4:26 am
Barry Stein De Cardenas, Freixas, Stein & Zachary

Make sure to impose your lien as required by law even though they abandoned the space. then you can take whatever legal action you want. remember suing and getting paid are different things. make sure they have assets you can collect against or a bank account or you may want to consider suffering your losses and moving on.

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Answered on 9/09/12, 11:39 am


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