[isabella84]

I made the mistake of letting someone rent my extra room with out first sining a lease we had a verbal agrement then she pretty much avoided me then sends me an e mail saying she's leaving at the end of the month she only moved in the begning of Aug she claims because she never signed anythying she has an asummed month to month lease trhere fore I have to refund her deposit I said no she's not intiled to a refund because there was never any talk of a month to month lease until she was told she was not going to get her deposit back now she threating to sue me I have all the e mails right from the first one and she never said it was only month to month she said she was looking for 12 months or less does that mean it's a month to month because ei didn't think so now I don't know what to do I don't think I should have to give back her deposit so I guess my questions are because she never signed anything is it assumed its only month to month? Can I use the e mails to show she never said anything about this prior? She only gave a 2 week notice was that the correct amount of notice? Some one please help me I can't believe I've gotteninto this mess I just really needed help and she totally used me what can I do now?

[ScottGem]

You made the mistake of letting her move in without a signed lease. Without a lease she is a month to month tenant. However 2 weeks is proabably not enough notice. What has she paid you at this point. When did she move in?

[isabella84]

She moved in the begning of Aug she paid $400 for first months rent and $400 sec deposit I know this was a stupid thing to do she came to look at the room wrote out the checks and just moved her stuff in then I really never saw her again she pretty much avoided me she was told she would have to sign a lease then she sent me an e mail on Aug 13th stating she would be moving out at the end of the month however she had already moved her things out before she told me so technically didn't that mean she moved with out any notice can you just move out then give notice? I have all the emails between us she never said anything about a month to month lease before she found out I wasn't refunding her deposit she also put a lock on her door and bathroom door after she moved out I couldn't access the rooms

[ScottGem]

OK, First, she needed to give you notice of at least one rental period. You need to double check the law for your area (there are links to local laws in the nmote at the top of this forum). But I believe she did not give you sufficient notice. This means she couldn't terminate the lease until the end of September. So you can keep her deposit as the Sept rent.

She also owes you for the cost of removing the locks she installed.

[isabella84]

I have been trying to find the answer to how much notice she has to give I really can't find one but she never said anything about it only being amonth to month lease until she was told she wasn't getting her deposit back can't I use the prior e mails to prove she is lyeing?

[isabella84]

I would also like to know if I have the right to throw out naything she has left behind since she has moved out and hasn't tried to come back as of yet how long do I have to wait until the end of the month?

[ScottGem]

Did you check the link to your local laws like I suggested? You haven't said where you reside so we can't check for you.

It really doesn't matter at this point what either you or she intended. The fact is that you let her move in without a signed lease. Once you did that you created the month to month nature of her tenancy. Without a signed lease the tenancy defaults to month to month. But that issue is really immaterial at this point. Since she probably didn't give enough notice, then you should be within your legal right to hold the security for the unpaid September rent.

As for throwing her stuff out. I would send her a certified letter giving her a time limit to pick up her things or they will be put by the curb.

[isabella84]

I'm sorry I hadn't realized I didn't say where I was from I live in port charlotte Florida I have looked up a few things and I did find that a month to month lease is a 15 day notice however I couldn't find anything saying that with no lease its an assumed month to month because I never singed a lease with my landlord and I didn't take that to be a month to month lease I did receive an e mail from her that she tried to come get her things but I had locked her out which I did but she was told that I did not have the key to the dead bolt yet just the door knob she tried to say I knew I was locking her out which I did but my respone was you never came back so how could I have given you a key she claims she's going to file a report with the police I told her to go ahead I'm not trying to keep her things I would like her to remove them can I use the e mails to help myself though? Do they mean anything? I asked her not to contact me again and contact my mother about setting up a time to meet her to get her things would it be wrong for me to not let her in the house though? Could I just put her things outside right before she comes to get them? Or would it be better to just let her come into the house?

[ScottGem]

Ok here's the pertinent passage:


83.46 Rent; duration of tenancies.--

(2) If the rental agreement contains no provision as to duration of the tenancy, the duration is determined by the periods for which the rent is payable. If the rent is payable weekly, then the tenancy is from week to week; if payable monthly, tenancy is from month to month; if payable quarterly, tenancy is from quarter to quarter; if payable yearly, tenancy is from year to year.
Since there was no written rental agreement and rent was due monthly, then you have a month to month tenancy.

However, you are correct that under


83.57 Termination of tenancy without specific term.--A tenancy without a specific duration, as defined in s. 83.46(2) or (3), may be terminated by either party giving written notice in the manner provided in s. 83.56(4), as follows:
(3) When the tenancy is from month to month, by giving not less than 15 days' notice prior to the end of any monthly period;

However, as noted, notice must be in writing. So, since she didn't give you written notice 15 days prior to the end of August, then she owes for September.

Now this is kind of splitting hairs since the law doesn't specifically mention e-mail. So I'm not sure how a judge would interpret it. You definitely can withhold any part of the deposit needed to restore the property to the condition it was prior to her moving in.

So I would cite the sections I noted, tell her that she didn't give you sufficient notice and therefore she owes for September and you are keeping her deposit as payment for Sept. If she doesn't like it to sue you. The worst that can happen is a judge says you have to return the deposit less cost of repairs, so document what it cost to fix the locks etc.