momof4kids
New Member
I reside in the state of Florida. I moved in with my boyfriend in June and we had a verbal agreement for me to pay him $400 a month for rent including utilities, with the first month free. His mother and his name were the only 2 names on the lease but he still allowed me, my children and 2 dogs to move in with him. On August 13th I gave him $400 cash. On August 28th, his landlord put up a 3 day notice complaint for eviction for failure to comply with lease other than failure to pay rent. Him and his mother advised the landlord that more than 2 people were living in the house and I was never aware that his lease had that stipulation. On August 29th, the electric was shut off which forced me to move out 5 days later after I was able to locate a storage facility and move my stuff out. This caused me to be seperated from my children since September 3rd when I was able to find another place to live. My 18 yr old and his pregnant girlfriend went to live in Orlando, my 13 yr old and 15 yr old are at thier dad's and my 2 yr old is with me. I am now living an hour and a half away from my 13 yr old and 15 yr old, whom I have shared rotating custody with thier dad. On September 3rd, I filed a small claim suit for damages and prohibited landlord practices since he had the electric shut off. He is now filing a counterclaim. His counterclaim includes the following: stating that he was not a lessee of the premises and had no authority to sublet however admits he offered to let me reside there with him for $400 monthly PLUS utilities (our verbal agreement was $400 including utilities), stated the requisite 3 day notice was served upon plantiff by landlord on August 29th (was actually posted on the door addressed to him by name, his mother by name and included all other in possession of but was dated August 28th), he is stating my animals caused $600 worth of damage to his carpet (and all it needs done is a good cleaning), stated I caused additional damages by deliberately running up the electric bill approx. $200 (Myself and children were not the only ones there at the house using electric, he was there as well), stated I resided at the premises in excess of 2 months however never paid for remaining duration of agreed upon rental or pay for agreed upon utilities in the amount of $700 (our verbal agreement did not state when the $400 was to be paid, or the duration of time I would be living there. I paid him $400 on 8/13 and he had the electric shut off 2 weeks later. I did not offer any additional payment since it was not a month since I gave him the one payment). He forced me and my children to move by turning off the electric. That also caused me to lose food in the freezer and refrigerator that I recently purchased. My original complaint did not include anything about mental pain and anguish or other remedies, except reimbursement for gas money to move my stuff to storage, cost of storage unit rental and hotel charge for the first night the power was shut off. Is it too late to request additional money be added to original complaint? How likely will it be that he will be successful in having my case thrown out and have the courts award his counterclaim? What are the chances I will be awarded money for him having the electric shut off since he was considered my landlord on a month to month basis? Is there anything else I can or should add to the civil suit before I request a court date? Thank you for any advice you may have.
