Tenants will lie to your face

Posted on by djht

One of my good clients, Mr. V., phoned me today as he was planning to rent a dwelling to a woman named Keaira Tiller.

Ms. Tiller was trying to get approved to be a tenant of Mr. V.  A quick public records search revealed that Keaira Tiller not only had two prior evictions in Hillsborough County, she had also been charged with three separate felonies, including fraudulent use of a credit card and the sale of fraudulent auto insurance ID cards.

There are two lessons for landlords here.  First, TENANTS WILL LIE TO YOUR FACE.  Don’t trust them and verify everything that they say.  Second, DON’T RENT TO KEAIRA TILLER.

Congratulations to Mr. V. for avoiding a future eviction.

End Goal of a Residential Eviction Lawsuit

Posted on by djht
What is the end goal of a residential eviction lawsuit?
 
The end goal of a residential eviction lawsuit is not to put the tenant onto the street.
 
The goal of the eviction is to change the tenant’s mind about where the tenant is going to live.
 
Many times I hear from angry landlords that want to toss the tenant into the street and destroy the tenant’s credit so the tenant can’t do this same thing to some other landlord.
 
I always correct them.  The goal of a residential eviction is not to put the tenant out on the street.
 
The goal is to change the tenant’s mind about where the tenant is going to live.
 
The THREE DAY NOTICE makes the tenant think that the tenant might have to move.
 
The EVICTION COMPLAINT and EVICTION SUMMONS make the tenant think about finding another place to live.
 
Once the tenant has changed his/her mind about where he/she wants to live, the eviction lawsuit is about 95% over.  It is a psychological victory.
 
Oftentimes the tenant will then voluntarily vacate the property before the FINAL JUDGMENT FOR POSSESSION is signed by the judge.
 
That is a win for the landlord and sometimes eliminates the need for posting of the WRIT OF POSSESSION by the sheriff.

Why Three Day Notice to Tenant?

Posted on by djht
Why a three day notice when tenants do not pay?

“The tenants have not paid in two months, why does the landlord now need to give the tenants a THREE DAY NOTICE?”

This is a complaint that I regularly hear from landlords that have bent over backward to work with tenants that have financial problems.

 

There are two reasons:

First, the court system wants to give tenants every chance that it can.  It does not matter it the tenant is a year behind in the payment of the rent.   If a residential landlord wants to terminate a tenancy for non-payment, the court will still require the landlord to provide a pre-suit notice, known as a THREE DAY NOTICE.

Second, the law requires it.  Florida Statute 83.56 says that before filing a suit for possession based on non-payment of rent, the landlord must first deliver a THREE DAY NOTICE to the tenant, also known as a pre-suit notice.  The law says that the landlord must always give the tenant the opportunity fix the problem that tenant has created, before the landlord files a suit for possession under Florida’s Landlord-Tenant Act.

The lesson here is to not allow your tenants to get two months behind in the payment of rent.

 

Let Pinellas County Eviction Lawyer, Daniel Kortenhaus help you with collecting unpaid rent as a Residential or Commercial Landlord – contact today!

Does your tenant have a lease agreement?

Posted on by djht

lease agreementIn many phone conferences with landlords, I have been told “there is no lease”  meaning there is no signed agreement.  Sometimes landlords think that the fact that there is no signed agreement will benefit them in some way or make the eviction move more quickly.  That is not the case.  Believe it or not, Florida’s landlord-tenant act does not contain the word “Lease”.  Instead, it contains the phrase “Rental Agreement”. 

A Rental Agreement means any written agreement, including amendments or addenda, or oral agreement for a duration of less than 1 year, providing for use and occupancy of premises.

Florida’s landlord-tenant act treats written rental agreements (Written Leases) and oral rental agreements (Oral Leases) the same.  There is no advantage to having an oral lease as opposed to a written lease when filing an eviction against a tenant.  And when a landlord tells me that “there is no lease”,  chances are that there actually is — an oral lease.

Let Pinellas County Eviction Lawyer, Daniel Kortenhaus help you with your Rental Agreement (Written Lease) – contact today!

What to do with tenant’s abandoned property?

Posted on by djht

Pinellas County Eviction Lawyer - Tenant AbandonmentNo, the landlord does not get to keep the tenant’s personal items. At the end of an eviction case, when the sheriff delivers the completed writ of possession to the landlord, the tenant’s personal items should be carried out to the sidewalk and photographed.

The landlord should not keep any of the tenant’s personal items, no matter how far behind the tenant was in the payment of rent. No landlord wants to be falsely accused of stealing a tenants personal items, and believe it or not, it does happen. This is where a Pinellas County Eviction Lawyer can help.

To protect itself, a residential landlord should have the following language inserted into its lease forms:

BY SIGNING THIS RENTAL AGREEMENT, THE TENANT AGREES THAT UPON SURRENDER, ABANDONMENT, OR RECOVERY OF POSSESSION OF THE DWELLING UNIT DUE TO THE DEATH OF THE LAST REMAINING TENANT, AS PROVIDED BY CHAPTER 83, FLORIDA STATUTES, THE LANDLORD SHALL NOT BE LIABLE OR RESPONSIBLE FOR STORAGE OR DISPOSITION OF THE TENANT’S PERSONAL PROPERTY.

Need help? Let Pinellas County Eviction Lawyer Daniel Kortenhaus assist you. Contact today