[mrsgautreau]

My husband and I moved to FL for his job last year. We rented a nice condo in a good neighborhood. Four months after moving in, the A/C broke. Among other smaller issues, they never remedied ANY of the problems. We sent over six letters and I made dozens of visits to the rental office in person. I had just given birth to a new baby and my oldest child was just two years old at the time. We finally had enough and a few months later, we decided to give 60 days notice to break our year lease (just two months shy of the end of our contract) and move out. Now, they are saying they never received our 60 days notice (yes, I was smart enough to deliver it in person to the leasing office AND send a copy certified return receipt). We have since moved out of state and despite numerous calls to them, they refuse to speak to us or have someone return our phone calls to discuss the return of our deposit. We have not received anything in writing regarding why they will not return our deposit either. What are our options? Can we sue for our deposit? Can we sue for more? We were without A/C in South Florida for about six months and my children were are very small not to mention I was postpardum. I think I forgot to mention that I am a stay-at-home mom and nearly every day I had to pack my children up before it got too hot and go to the mall or my mother's office to keep cool. I am not sure if a landlord is REQUIRED to maintain the A/C but this is Florida. We would have called a repairman ourselves and settled it or sued them for the repair, but this was a HUGE complex and access to the HVAC system is on the roof and no one but the maitenance team is allowed access. Would we be able to sue for pain and suffering? I am really frustrated and angry my children had to go through this. Please advise.

[excon]

Hello mrs.

You broke the lease so I'm sure you won't get your deposit back. The fact that you notified them makes no difference. You'll be lucky if they don't sue you for the balance of the lease.

No, you can't sue them. There was lot's you COULD have done while you lived there to make it better for yourselves, but you didn't. The next time you're having troubles with a landlord, immediately (if not sooner) go read the landlord tenant laws. They're the rules that govern your tenancy. You wouldn't play poker without knowing the rules, would you?

excon

[mrsgautreau]

What could we have done?