Originally Posted by
jeanethr
... There is an stipulation on my contract that says... "tenant must first submit such request in writing to the office. resident must give 60 day written notice and remarketing fee of $250. The charge will in no way release the resident of his/her obligation to pay rent under the terms of the lease until the apt is re-rented or the lease expires, whichever may come first"...
...
I spoke to another property manager (from another place) and she said that my contract is not valid because it dosn't have a termination fee/liquidated damages clause in case I need to brake the lease and that by law every contract in Florida has to have one since 2009.
Ok, the argument goes something like this. Fla. Statute 83.595 requires that the remedy of an early termination fee
"is available only if the tenant and the landlord, at the time the rental agreement was made, indicated acceptance of liquidated damages or an early termination fee. The tenant must indicate acceptance of liquidated damages or an early termination fee by signing a separate addendum to the rental agreement containing a provision in substantially the following form:
[see
statute]."
Since the lease doesn't have an addendum containing language in substanually that form, they cannot charge what amounts to an early termination fee. When was the effective date of the lease?
But whether the ETF clause applies, you are still obligated to continue to make the lease payments for the remaining term of the lease, unless the premises happen to be re-let earlier. She is incorrect in saying that every lease in Florida has to have such an addendum. The remedy of charging an ETF cannot be available to a LL without one, but the LL still has other remedies it can use.