[TDei]

My daughter and son in law rented what you would call a residential home back in Nov of 2014. I say residential because it’s supposed to be a single family home, but the people that own it divided it into what we now know as 4 units. The Landlord lied to them when asked how many people lived there, and only told them 2 units before they decided to rent. After living there a few days, she found out there were actually 3 units in the main house, and another unit out back. Obviously they took a building out back and turned it into a studio apartment. Within days of living there she had problem, after problem. First it was sewer back up in the tub, back patio, sink, and then it was electrical outlets not working, or shorting out. She would call the landlords and they would come and deal with the problems which was nice of them, but at the same time, it became annoying that she couldn’t even use her kitchen sink without it filling up with stuff that nobody should ever have in a kitchen sink. Anyway, then the landlords ( her, and husband, and daughter) were there every day. They used the yard for storing things in, they would come over and bring the whole family to play in the yard, and were just constantly bugging my daughter and her family to death. My daughter was awoken one morning with a bunch of noise at 7 in the morning only to look out and see them having a garage sale in the front yard. ( she lived in the front) And No, none of this was in the lease. In fact, there is absolutely nothing in the lease that gives them permission to use the yard, or not use the yard. We told them they needed to find another place to live, but them being a young couple, with a 6 yr old son, and on a fixed income, and their son loving the school district, they felt like they had to try to make it work until they saved up some more money. Needless to say, things got much worse, and the Landlord started acting like a crazy person. She started by telling them that she wasn’t happy about the electric bill and wanted them to pay more money on it. ( Yes, electric is included in their rent, and is in the lease that way) They already pay an allotment of $200.00 a month extra for that provision. But you see, there are 4 units, and they all got new window air conditioners put in recently, so the electric bill went up. She is blaming them for the increase, and you just can’t get it through this lady’s head that doing this is WHY it has increased. NOW - This lady has not only went over the deep end over this electric bill, she puts notes on her door every day demanding payment, she’s harassing her at every turn, and has made life there unbearable. They have started looking for another place to live, but in the meantime, she is going to take her to small claims court to try to get her money back for having to live this way. They have never been late on rent, and they have complied 100% with their lease agreement. My question is this
What would be the grounds in which they sue? Can they ask for their money back for any of the months they’ve had to deal with this harassment? The state is Fl, and the lease is very vague when it comes to anything other than how much rent is, or that electric is included. Another thing is, the landlord uses that house as her own primary address, takes the mail every day, and comes and goes 4 times a day with trailers, trucks, and law equipment. She’s running a business from this house on top of renting all these units that shouldn’t be there. It’s all too fishy, and I want them out of there for their own safety too, but I think it’s a crock of crap that they should have to “suck it up” when if it were reversed it would be them in court being held responsible for damages done, etc.

[joypulv]

She isn't going to get her past rents back. She could start putting it in escrow with a lawyer, while she files complaints in writing.
It is illegal to split electric bills among units. (Or are you saying she has agreed to pay extra because of AC?)
It's possible that the entire property is illegally split up for rentals. If she wants to cause trouble as part of her way out of this, she can ask the zoning dept. and building inspector.