My daughter moved into a house located in Florida last year. The landlord had an agent, whom my daughter went through that was employed by a local realtor's office. My daughter was never given a thorough walk through prior to her move in nor a thorough walk through prior to moving out. She was only inside house 10 minutes and never entered again until she was given the keys to move in. We weren't familiar with the FL statutes on Landlord/Tenant laws until recently (after our research) when landlord charged my daughter with pre existing damages to his home. My daughter also paid the entire year's rent in advance (over $15,000.). I believe the law states landlord is to pay my daughter interest from his banking institute, though I'm not sure of this. Can anyone advise us how to approach this, who to approach, etc. since we cannot afford outside counsel at this time. Any information anyone can provide would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

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Originally Posted by MrDaddy

My daughter moved into a house located in Florida last year. The landlord had an agent, whom my daughter went through that was employed by a local realtor's office. My daughter was never given a thorough walk thru prior to her move in nor a thorough walk thru prior to moving out. She was only inside house 10 minutes and never entered again until she was given the keys to move in. We weren't familiar with the FL statutes on Landlord/Tenant laws until recently (after our research) when landlord charged my daughter with pre existing damages to his home. My daughter also paid the entire year's rent in advance (over $15,000.). I believe the law states landlord is to pay my daughter interest from his banking institute, though I'm not sure of this. Can anyone advise us how to approach this, who to approach, etc. since we cannot afford outside counsel at this time. Any information anyone can provide would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

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Concerning the interest, here is the section that applies: "Whenever money is deposited or advanced by a tenant on a rental agreement as security for performance of the rental agreement or as advance rent for other than the next immediate rental period, the landlord or his agent shall either: (a) Hold the total amount of such money in a separate non-interest-bearing account in a Florida banking institution for the benefit of the tenant or tenants. The landlord shall not commingle such moneys with any other funds of the landlord or hypothecate, pledge, or in any other way make use of such moneys until such moneys are actually due the landlord; (b) Hold the total amount of such money in a separate interest-bearing account in a Florida banking institution for the benefit of the tenant or tenants, in which case the tenant shall receive and collect interest in an amount of at least 75 percent of the annualized average interest rate payable on such account or interest at the rate of 5 percent per year, simple interest, whichever the landlord elects. The landlord shall not commingle such moneys with any other funds of the landlord or hypothecate, pledge, or in any other way make use of such moneys until such moneys are actually due the landlord" Apartments USA.com - State of Florida Security Deposit Law

If your daughter has no photographs of the condition of the apartment when she moved in and when she moved out (or some other proof) and the landlord does or purports that he does, if this comes down to a lawsuit a Judge will have to decide where the truth is.

Or did I miss a question?