Florida Eviction Laws URGENT PLEASE

I am under a month-to-month lease. My landlord was cited for code violations (utilities, illegal apartment, not pulling permits, etc.) She gave us a 30 day notice to get out (Dec 31) The utilities are under her name. The lease says we are responsible for the utilities. However, she has been splitting by number of people instead of by square footage. Code enforcement told the tenants that she shouldn't be doing that. She should be using the square footage and adding it to the rent. She can't bill separately. They advised us to not pay anything further because we all had to leave for all of the repairs.
On December 6 we received notice from her, by her friend, that because we didn't pay the utilities, now we have to be out by December 22. She was using our last months rent from Dec 22 -Dec 31 as payment for utilities and she was turning off the utilities. Can she do this?
We have another place rented but can't move in until December 31. In the year that we have lived here, when calculating the utillites by square footage, we have overpaid well over $800. Our thought was that this money should apply toward the current utilities.
Please help. All tenants are in a desparate situation. Especially with most of us due to have our families coming in for Christmas.
Thanks.

Originally Posted by Unregistered I am under a month-to-month lease. My landlord was cited for code violations (utilities, illegal apartment, not pulling permits, etc.) She gave us a 30 day notice to get out (Dec 31) The utilities are under her name. The lease says we are responsible for the utilities. However, she has been splitting by number of people instead of by square footage. Code enforcement told the tenants that she shouldn't be doing that. She should be using the square footage and adding it to the rent. She can't bill separately. They advised us to not pay anything further because we all had to leave for all of the repairs. On December 6 we received notice from her, by her friend, that because we didn't pay the utilities, now we have to be out by December 22. She was using our last months rent from Dec 22 -Dec 31 as payment for utilities and she was turning off the utilities. Can she do this? We have another place rented but can't move in until December 31. In the year that we have lived here, when calculating the utillites by square footage, we have overpaid well over $800. Our thought was that this money should apply toward the current utilities. Please help. All tenants are in a desparate situation. Especially with most of us due to have our families coming in for Christmas. Thanks.

I live in Florida

You need to seek legal aide to have this resolved. If you have no current lease, the LL can request that you move out in as few as 15 days from the date of notice. By sending notice on Dec 6, she has met the 15 day notice requirement. Call an attorney immediately in your area.

Hello,
I am so upset about letting some unknown rent my townhome from me without a lease, he has been a nightmare from day 1! Over the last year he has verbally been abusive, and impossible to deal with. He owes thousands of dollars in back rent from different months along the way, which i know i'll never recover at this point but i've come to the end of my rope. Last month he said he couldn't pay us the full rent, so he gave us half, promising the rest this month. When i called him this month to chase him down, (again) for the rent, he said he feels he owes Us NOTHING!!!!!! I MEAN, CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS &^$#%#$!*!!!!! I couldn't even stay on the phone i was beyond frantic. I drove over there that night and placed a 3 day notice under the door. Then was informed that was NO GOOD, and went back the following night and posted it on the front door. After the 3 days is up, i was going to go to the courthouse and file eviction papers. Did i do the right thing? Any advice anyone could give me would be very much appreciated.
Thank you!

Yes you did. get rid of him.

If it gets messy have an eviction lawyer assist and assess all costs against the renterl even sue him in small claims if need be.

Originally Posted by Unregistered URGENT - What are the Florida (Orlando) eviction laws. My son is a single father (widowed) with a 2 year old son. He lost his job in construction about 2 months ago. He has struggled to pay his rent (one year lease), however, has not paid September. The owners (now living in another state) sent their foul mouth 21 year old daughter to come with her 'friend' to 'force' collection of the rent. Now the parents are on their way down with the same foul threating mouths saying they are going to get the police to drag him out because he was in prision 10 years ago and they will do whatever it takes to have the police get him out. I picked up my grandson - having to walk through the foul language and threats from the daughter - to bring my grandson to my house so he would not be around for whatever. Now I worry about my vehicle being vandalized or house windows broken. Yes, she is that type. Sorry this is such a long drawn out drama, but I can't sleep and I need to know what we will be facing here in Florida during the night or in the morning. Thank you so much for you speedy reply and hopefully good news.

well have you think about the property owner that has to pay mortgage? tell your relative to be responsible for his actions and duties. he has to pay or leave.

Originally Posted by Unregistered ok i have a couple questions we are getting evicted we already have another house no big deal but we still have some of our stuff there cause we have till the 31st well they keep calling harrassing us saying we need to get out now. they cant do that can they? and they keep going in the house with out permission and we havent gave the keys back yet . they cant do this can they???

What are you talking about if they can do this or not, how you got the face to question their rights when you are the one who is in default and getting evicted. asume your responsabilities first and then you will found your answer

We live in Florida and had a lease from Aug 2007 to Aug 2008. Once the lease expired in 08 we never heard anything from the LL regarding renewal, but he never asked us to leave either. My husband lost his job in August and we have not been able to pay rent since. We have never had any contact with the LL as he lives in another state. We have only had contact with his secretary which is also in the same state he resides.

We have been in email and phone communication with the secretary on several occassions regarding our financial situation in which she stated that "Times are tough everywhere, just keep us posted and (named LL) will be fine with the situation." About 2 weeks ago, I emailed her our current pay statements and a letter from a job that my husband worked for 3 weeks and then they shut down as a current update. We didn't hear anything from them again until Saturday when we received a letter requesting that we contact them within 10 days or they will start the eviction process.

We have contacted them several times by phone at the number provided in the letter and no one answers the phone. There is a voice mail and we have left several messages but no one contacts us back.

Being that we were verbally told by his secretary who is the only one we have ever had contact with ... and we currently don't have an active lease ... are they breaking a verbal contract with us telling us we have to get out now? Every time we have been in contact with them we have informed them that we will pay every dime we owe them as we can, and they were fine with that ... now they aren't.

What can we do ... is there any assistance for people in Florida? How can we find somewhere else to go? There are no jobs and everyone seems to be in the same boat.

I'm sorry. You have no current lease and the LL can simply give you 15 days to get out. He can also give you a 3 day Pay or Quit ntoice since you are behind in your rent. You have to pay up within that time or move. If you do pay or move as required by either notice, the LL can file eviction against you and the court will set you out.

I suggest you file for some help now. Call every charity, church group, the city office of housing, HUD, and family services. Explain your situation. You may qualify for emergency housing assistance payments. Otherwise, you need to move quickly. See if you can stay with family or firends, but avoid him filing eviction with the court if you can.

my wife is disabled with MS. we live in florida. we have been served and were told we have 10 days to move. We have a place to go but not sure when it will be available. We need just a few more days. We are not disputing the eviction but the time frame. We are unsure of what it legal. because she is disabled do we have more time?