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    sara_26's Avatar
    sara_26 Posts: 7, Reputation: 1
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    #1

    Mar 30, 2009, 09:35 PM
    Florida 15 Day Notice Law?
    In short, our lease is up. We were doing a month to month, with no lease. We recently got engaged and wanted to save money for the next year so we found a cheaper place to live. We gave our landlord a 13 day notice that we were moving out... he is telling us he is keeping our security deposit because even though our lease (which was up two months ago) doesn't say anything about any sort of notice during our month to month agreement... he is telling us there is a Florida law that says we have to give a 15 day notice or he can keep our deposit.
    Just wondering if there is any truth to this. My fiancé is in the military and is going to seek legal advice... but I just thought maybe I'd find an answer sooner on here.
    Thanks :)
    LILL's Avatar
    LILL Posts: 212, Reputation: 15
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    #2

    Mar 31, 2009, 04:42 AM
    Your landlord is correct.

    Here's the Florida statute:

    83.03 Termination of tenancy at will; length of notice.--A tenancy at will may be terminated by either party giving notice as follows:

    (1) Where the tenancy is from year to year, by giving not less than 3 months' notice prior to the end of any annual period;

    (2) Where the tenancy is from quarter to quarter, by giving not less than 45 days' notice prior to the end of any quarter;

    (3) Where the tenancy is from month to month, by giving not less than 15 days' notice prior to the end of any monthly period; and

    (4) Where the tenancy is from week to week, by giving not less than 7 days' notice prior to the end of any weekly period.
    LisaB4657's Avatar
    LisaB4657 Posts: 3,662, Reputation: 534
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    #3

    Mar 31, 2009, 05:47 AM
    Your landlord is correct that the law requires a 15 day notice. But his right to keep your deposit depends on the amount of your deposit. He is technically entitled to keep 1 month of rent plus the cost of repairing any damages. If your deposit was more than 1 month and if there were no damages than he will have to return the balance.
    sara_26's Avatar
    sara_26 Posts: 7, Reputation: 1
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    #4

    Mar 31, 2009, 06:30 AM

    So, we were supossed to just know about this law? Even if it is no where in our lease stating that we needed to give any sort of notice?
    sara_26's Avatar
    sara_26 Posts: 7, Reputation: 1
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    #5

    Mar 31, 2009, 06:53 AM
    Security Deposit/30 Day Notice?
    Our lease is up... our landlord told us he is holding our security deposit only because we were two days shy of giving him a 15 day move out notice... which, from what I understand is a law here in Florida? Can this be enforced even though it was not in our lease?
    Also, I believe after googling all night last night... I read something about HIS responsibilities... as a landlord. Is it true, that by law he has to give us a written explanation or notice that he is not returning our deposit to us within 30 days of our lease being up? Is this true? And is so, when does that 30 days start? 30 days from the day we moved out? 30 days from the day our lease was up?

    Thanks again :)
    ScottGem's Avatar
    ScottGem Posts: 64,966, Reputation: 6056
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    #6

    Mar 31, 2009, 07:11 AM

    First, You said your lease was up. This would indicate you were not on a month to month basis, so the 15 day notice wouldn't apply.

    Second, your lease should have specified how much notice you were required to give before moving out. If you did not give enough notice, he could charge you for another month's rent and apply the security towards it.

    Yes, he is required to return the deposit or a written accounting of how it was used within 30 days of when you vacate (turn over the keys).
    ScottGem's Avatar
    ScottGem Posts: 64,966, Reputation: 6056
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    #7

    Mar 31, 2009, 07:22 AM
    I've merged your two threads. Please don't start a new thread for additional information. Just reply to the existing thread.

    Your second post didn't include some of the info from your first post. So you WERE on a month to month basis. When you switch to a periodic tenancy from a lease, all the terms of the lease remain in effect except the term and the rental. So the lease does NOT have to say anything specific about notice when you go month to month. In fact, if the lease specified a 30 day notice of termination of the lease then that would supercede the law. So may be well within his rights.

    Quote Originally Posted by sara_26 View Post
    So, we were supossed to just know about this law? Even if it is no where in our lease stating that we needed to give any sort of notice?
    Are you saying that the lease doesn't not specify any sort of notice of termination? That would be very unusual for a lease. But yes you should have been aware of this law. There is a saying; "ignorance of the law is no excuse". It was up to you to find out what the law was BEFORE you took action.

    Sorry, this may not be what you wanted to hear, but it's the law.
    sara_26's Avatar
    sara_26 Posts: 7, Reputation: 1
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    #8

    Mar 31, 2009, 07:46 AM

    Sorry, I'm new at this...

    I'll have to take a look at the lease again... I was wrong... we were not on a month to month. I thought our lease was up a few months ago. We were to vacate at the end of March. We moved in March 1 of last year. He gave us a pretty generic looking lease and I know there was nothing about the 15 days. But, I'll have to look again to see what it says for the notice we're supossed to give. What is the point in a year lease if your contract is not automatically up at the end of that year? How can they make you give them notice? We signed and paid our obligated debts to him in full for the YEAR we agreed to... any sort of notice to me is just ridiculous. We signed for a year... it should be assumed we'd be OUT in a year... unless we asked him about staying or signing anotherl lease.
    ScottGem's Avatar
    ScottGem Posts: 64,966, Reputation: 6056
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    #9

    Mar 31, 2009, 07:53 AM

    It depends. Some leases have an automatic renewal clause. This means that unless the tenant or landlord gives notice of termination, the lease is automatically renewed. Other leases will go month to month if the lease is not specifically renewed. I have never seen a landlord assume that a tenant will move out at the end of the lease. Unless this was a stipulation made when the lease was assigned. Notice of termination is always required.

    A generic lease would almost certainly have some wording about notice.If you moved in Mar 1 then a one year lease would expire 2/28. So if you did not give proper notice prior to 2/28 it would be assumed that you were going to stay.
    sara_26's Avatar
    sara_26 Posts: 7, Reputation: 1
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    #10

    Mar 31, 2009, 08:13 AM

    We paid Marchs rent without a problem. We told him the second week of March that we'd be moving out at the end of the month. He said that was fine. At that time he never told us we needed to give any sort of written notice or told us anything we needed to do to close the deal. He met us at the house, 3 days ago while we were cleaning the place (we're already moved out) and told us then that he'd have a check for us for a security deposit in a few days. NOW, out of no where he is calling us up telling us that he is keeping our money because we did not give him a written 15 days.
    All of this is new to us, we just moved down here last year... the house was in tip top shape, we had no pets, no kids, no smoking and always paid our rent on time. He made it very clear that he was giving us our money back... he set up a meeting with us to give us our money. Then calls the next day and tells us he's keeping it.
    So, I hear what you're saying... and maybe he's within his legal "Florida" rights... but to me it's just wrong.
    Thanks for all the advice.
    ScottGem's Avatar
    ScottGem Posts: 64,966, Reputation: 6056
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    #11

    Mar 31, 2009, 09:19 AM
    You need to familairize yourself with landlord/tenant laws. Most states have tenant's rights brochures or a website for them. Most states also have tenants associations to help educate renters.

    What I suspect happened here was the landlord was going to give you the security back, but either his advisors told him he didn't have to (which, legally, he didn't) or he found he couldn't find a new tenant with such short notice so decided to keep the deposit to mitigate his losses.

    I wasn't going to do this, but since you say the landlord HAD promised to return the deposit I'm going to suggest something. Florida Law requires that; "the landlord shall have 30 days to give the tenant written notice by certified mail to the tenant's last known mailing address of his or her intention to impose a claim on the deposit and the reason for imposing the claim.". It goes on to state; "If the landlord fails to give the required notice within the 30-day period, he or she forfeits the right to impose a claim upon the security deposit." (see http://www.rentlaw.com/dep/fldeposit.htm)

    So my suggestion is to provide the landlord with a forwarding address and make sure you inform the PO and make sure the forwarding will be in effect for at least 60 days. Include a statement that you have terminated your tenancy as of Mar 31.

    Then wait for May 1. If you do not receive a written notice that the landlord is witholding your deposit with an itemized explanation. Then send a letter to the landlord like so:

    Dear so and so:

    Under the terms of Florida Statute 83 Section 83.49 3(a), you were required to send us, by certified mail, within 30 days a statement of claim listing why you were withholding all or part of our security deposit.

    Since no such claim was received within the 30 days specified by law, you have forfeited the right to a claim against the deposit. We will expect you to send the full amount of the deposit within 15 days or we will be forced to take legal action against you.

    Right now, under the terms of the law, you have no claim against the landlord. You did not give proper notice, so you are responsible for the April rent. So if you tried to take him to court you would lose. This suggestion is also a slim one, because if he knows the law enough to know about the 15 notice, he will know this part. But maybe he will figure you don't know the law and will forget about it.

    So its worth a shot to wait and see if he complys. If he doesn't then you will win in court and he will also have to pay your court costs. Let us kjnow what happens.
    sara_26's Avatar
    sara_26 Posts: 7, Reputation: 1
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    #12

    Mar 31, 2009, 10:25 AM

    Thank you... I was previously informed of the fact that he needed to give us written notice that he was not giving us our deposit back. I'm hoping he thinks we don't know about this also.
    I did find our lease. It states nothing in there about AFTER February 28th, 2009. It states we need to give a 60 day notice if we want to move out PRIOR to that date. And a 60 day notice if we want to RENEW our lease PRIOR to that date. But, NOTHING as to what happens AFTER that date. When our lease was up we said to him "Hey, our lease is expiring coming up soon." And he said "Wow, that was fast... well, if you want to... we'll just go month to month and see how things go." So, there was no agreement made or contract made after our lease expired. In any event... I do understand now the Florida 15 day law. And are hoping that he doesn't know that we know about the 30 days he has to give us our money back.

    Thanks again... I'll keep you informed.
    ScottGem's Avatar
    ScottGem Posts: 64,966, Reputation: 6056
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    #13

    Mar 31, 2009, 10:50 AM
    Quote Originally Posted by sara_26 View Post
    It states nothing in there about AFTER February 28th, 2009. It states we need to give a 60 day notice if we want to move out PRIOR to that date. And a 60 day notice if we want to RENEW our lease PRIOR to that date.
    Does it say the date or does it say expiration of the lease? If it doesn't mention the specific date, then he can hold you responsible for April AND May because you were required to give 60 days notice. If it mentions the specific date, then a court MIGHT rule statutory rules came into play after 2/28/09. Otherwise it could hold you the terms of the lease. As I said previously, when a lease expires and is allowed to continue as a periodic tenancy, then ALL terms of the lease except rental amount and term carry over to the month to month. Therefore, the 60 day notice could be applied.
    sara_26's Avatar
    sara_26 Posts: 7, Reputation: 1
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    #14

    Mar 31, 2009, 10:59 AM
    It has the date. Over and over again in the lease it keeps referring to February 28th, 2009. It states all of our responsibilities and all of his up to that date. It doesn't say anything about a year, or annually or anything like that. It specifically states "Prior to February 28th, 2009" in all of it. It doesn't say ANYTHING in there about terms, agreements or responsibilities AFTER that date.
    ScottGem's Avatar
    ScottGem Posts: 64,966, Reputation: 6056
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    #15

    Mar 31, 2009, 12:36 PM

    Like I said, a court might rule that after 2/28 if you continued the3 tenancy, then stautory rules (like the 15 days notice) would apply. But that's really moot at this point.

    Now, you just have to hope he doesn't follow the law and send you an itemized bill on time.
    ScottGem's Avatar
    ScottGem Posts: 64,966, Reputation: 6056
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    #16

    Mar 31, 2009, 04:43 PM

    Comments on this post
    amricca agrees: great idea

    The idea is good, but I was very reluctant to propose it. I only did so after hearing that the landlord went back on his word. So the landlord deserved to be stiffed. But the landlord was within his rights and the law.

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