Snookered_in_FL
New Member
Hello,
We have been in a nightmare situation in Florida, with our severeley underwater landlord.
First, we quickly learned our upstairs neighbors, his tennents, were in engaged in "suspicious home business" ( I saw it that way to prevent suit, but it was clear what we heard and saw, and what kind of business it was.)
Our 3 rd day there, all the lights burnt out at the electrical box. Our landlord said : he would fix it when he had the money " and that he was broke with no food.
Then, our hot water heater went out, and we went 28 days with no hot water. His solution was we could " go to his house for a shower, every 4 days.
he finally fixed this, and we deducted the per day maximum from rent, as we had sent all appropriate letters.
More dangerous fighting with out home business neighbors, threatening to kill each other on a nightly basis. A letter and verbal complaint to the landlord , resulted in a " do as i tell the neighborhood to do, call the police... it is not my responsiblity " Yes it is under fl law.
April comes. Our rent is due on the 5th. We ask our landlord if we can pay on the 7th as that is when we know our monthly divident checks arrive. Usually the 6th, but to make sure we asked for the 7th. he agreed but wanted a check on the 5th , an he would wait until the 7th. We agreed voluntarily to pay the 25 dollar later fee, which he accepted in cash, as he had no money.
We also alerted our banker, that we had a rent check being deosited on the 7th, and he said he would make sure it was covered. Small bank, long ime relationship.
The landlord tries to ACH the check ( which in our lease it was agreed he couldnt ach, as we have had people make withdraws at will with ACH's. ) we agreed all checks must be deposited.
He taks the check on the 6th( agreement was 7th) and tries again to ACH it. It :bounces automatically and our banker tells him to call and he will wire or send a cashiers check over night. he never provides the information. He then comes over asking for a replacement check, which we provide , and had him sign a replacement check receipt. Negating the first check. he calls an hour later ( when i am not there, yelling at my wife for another check, which she gain gives him and recieves a recipet. his bank will not deposit it as he is overdrawn , but will hold it for 3 days.( he left us with eveidence of that ) he refuses that and once again , asks for another check, at which point i say no, there is something very wrong with this. Our bank manager called him to send the money or to get the information to send it to his bank. He doesnt want it in his bank, because of the over draft he has.
Our banker sends a letter copied to both of us , that he has contacted him, needs information for the check, as it has not presented to our bank .
we hear nothing from this guy and in the mean time, they are about to auction off his tax obligation ( County) whch is 3,400.00
I figure something is wrong and I call the police and state attorney's( bad checkk div) advising them something is wrong and they both agree this is bizzare, and tells us to stop payment on the checks. All the while we are keepin contenperaneous notes of what is happening.
No word, until a week later we recieve and eviction notice. ok good as we understand that there is something sriously wrong with him. bank is calling hm everyday, asking where is the check? No response.
we go to the first hearing and explain an show the judge the notes, photo's and correspondance. The judge is irked at him, but asks us if we want to stay, but if we do, we have to put 1,700 in the registery . We ask the judge what if we want out , and he said we could do that, and under stipulation , we agree to turn over the property, in mint condidition.
He then asks about the checks, and count 2, damages, and the judge sets a hearing as we had affirmative defense. He tells the judge he is turning over 2 of the checks ( we ragined possession of the other 3 ) and says he has filed them at the bad check people. remember one was replaced ( the one he agreed to hold for 2 days ) and the Judge told him " this is a civil matter and to contact the SA and withdraw the complaint of bad checks. he then says he didnt turn them in
We get a letter a week later, which was a week for count 2 to determine any monies owed. We go to the SA and remind them we had called and such, but some secretary is who we spoke to , and she took copies of the checks, reciepts and the agreement to hold the first check for 2 days. She calls the the next day and says " I have determined you owe for the first check, and the second one is out as it never made it to your bank.
we explain to her that we have a hearing to determine rent, if any is owed in civil court, and she says " I don't care, I am turning this in for prosecution if you dont pay now. " Then she changes our hearing for 2 weeks later , gave us a notice for that date, but calls again the next day and says she never did that. We have the paper. On advice of a former prosecuter we know, he said let it ride and get this out of her hands. let the investgator look at it. so we do.
we go to court, and the judge is TICKEd about the checks, and we offer to let him keep our 500.00 security deposit ( which he had already spent day 1 ) and the judge agrees. Case settled.
But this guy and the state already have the 2 checks, one which they said was no go . other one was replaced by the thrown out one.
My wife wrote the checks,, so it is her butt, and we dont know what is going on. She has never had a parking ticket, let alone been arrested, but if this charge goes thru, she has professional liscense issues.
Oh, interesting part. The total of the 2 checks he has turned in is 1,700, the same ammount he tried to get from the civil. 1,700 plus 1,700 is 3,400 which is the exact ammount for his past due taxes.
he lied on the form, and lied to them that these were 2 different checks for 2 different thngs. Our rent was 850, not 1,700 dollars.
We have not recieved anything from he SA and it has been 5 weeks. He was supposed to address this by judges order , but he hasn't.
Our question is, do we contact the SA ?
We would pay the 850, but the judge says we dont owe it. He said dont pay it. But the lady at the SA ( she is not an investigator , nor an SA ) was mad we had even asked quuestions.
we cant hire an attorney,pay the check, or checks, and one judge says we dont have to. the law here is pretty clear that is he agreed to hold the check for 2 days ( we have proof he did) that they will not prosecute
So, we are lost as what to do, as we are caught between 2 systems and what seems like a turff war.
any suggestions would greatly be appreciated. This guy is a scammer, and if someone would just look at it, they would clearly see it as the judge did.
Thank you.
We have been in a nightmare situation in Florida, with our severeley underwater landlord.
First, we quickly learned our upstairs neighbors, his tennents, were in engaged in "suspicious home business" ( I saw it that way to prevent suit, but it was clear what we heard and saw, and what kind of business it was.)
Our 3 rd day there, all the lights burnt out at the electrical box. Our landlord said : he would fix it when he had the money " and that he was broke with no food.
Then, our hot water heater went out, and we went 28 days with no hot water. His solution was we could " go to his house for a shower, every 4 days.
he finally fixed this, and we deducted the per day maximum from rent, as we had sent all appropriate letters.
More dangerous fighting with out home business neighbors, threatening to kill each other on a nightly basis. A letter and verbal complaint to the landlord , resulted in a " do as i tell the neighborhood to do, call the police... it is not my responsiblity " Yes it is under fl law.
April comes. Our rent is due on the 5th. We ask our landlord if we can pay on the 7th as that is when we know our monthly divident checks arrive. Usually the 6th, but to make sure we asked for the 7th. he agreed but wanted a check on the 5th , an he would wait until the 7th. We agreed voluntarily to pay the 25 dollar later fee, which he accepted in cash, as he had no money.
We also alerted our banker, that we had a rent check being deosited on the 7th, and he said he would make sure it was covered. Small bank, long ime relationship.
The landlord tries to ACH the check ( which in our lease it was agreed he couldnt ach, as we have had people make withdraws at will with ACH's. ) we agreed all checks must be deposited.
He taks the check on the 6th( agreement was 7th) and tries again to ACH it. It :bounces automatically and our banker tells him to call and he will wire or send a cashiers check over night. he never provides the information. He then comes over asking for a replacement check, which we provide , and had him sign a replacement check receipt. Negating the first check. he calls an hour later ( when i am not there, yelling at my wife for another check, which she gain gives him and recieves a recipet. his bank will not deposit it as he is overdrawn , but will hold it for 3 days.( he left us with eveidence of that ) he refuses that and once again , asks for another check, at which point i say no, there is something very wrong with this. Our bank manager called him to send the money or to get the information to send it to his bank. He doesnt want it in his bank, because of the over draft he has.
Our banker sends a letter copied to both of us , that he has contacted him, needs information for the check, as it has not presented to our bank .
we hear nothing from this guy and in the mean time, they are about to auction off his tax obligation ( County) whch is 3,400.00
I figure something is wrong and I call the police and state attorney's( bad checkk div) advising them something is wrong and they both agree this is bizzare, and tells us to stop payment on the checks. All the while we are keepin contenperaneous notes of what is happening.
No word, until a week later we recieve and eviction notice. ok good as we understand that there is something sriously wrong with him. bank is calling hm everyday, asking where is the check? No response.
we go to the first hearing and explain an show the judge the notes, photo's and correspondance. The judge is irked at him, but asks us if we want to stay, but if we do, we have to put 1,700 in the registery . We ask the judge what if we want out , and he said we could do that, and under stipulation , we agree to turn over the property, in mint condidition.
He then asks about the checks, and count 2, damages, and the judge sets a hearing as we had affirmative defense. He tells the judge he is turning over 2 of the checks ( we ragined possession of the other 3 ) and says he has filed them at the bad check people. remember one was replaced ( the one he agreed to hold for 2 days ) and the Judge told him " this is a civil matter and to contact the SA and withdraw the complaint of bad checks. he then says he didnt turn them in
We get a letter a week later, which was a week for count 2 to determine any monies owed. We go to the SA and remind them we had called and such, but some secretary is who we spoke to , and she took copies of the checks, reciepts and the agreement to hold the first check for 2 days. She calls the the next day and says " I have determined you owe for the first check, and the second one is out as it never made it to your bank.
we explain to her that we have a hearing to determine rent, if any is owed in civil court, and she says " I don't care, I am turning this in for prosecution if you dont pay now. " Then she changes our hearing for 2 weeks later , gave us a notice for that date, but calls again the next day and says she never did that. We have the paper. On advice of a former prosecuter we know, he said let it ride and get this out of her hands. let the investgator look at it. so we do.
we go to court, and the judge is TICKEd about the checks, and we offer to let him keep our 500.00 security deposit ( which he had already spent day 1 ) and the judge agrees. Case settled.
But this guy and the state already have the 2 checks, one which they said was no go . other one was replaced by the thrown out one.
My wife wrote the checks,, so it is her butt, and we dont know what is going on. She has never had a parking ticket, let alone been arrested, but if this charge goes thru, she has professional liscense issues.
Oh, interesting part. The total of the 2 checks he has turned in is 1,700, the same ammount he tried to get from the civil. 1,700 plus 1,700 is 3,400 which is the exact ammount for his past due taxes.
he lied on the form, and lied to them that these were 2 different checks for 2 different thngs. Our rent was 850, not 1,700 dollars.
We have not recieved anything from he SA and it has been 5 weeks. He was supposed to address this by judges order , but he hasn't.
Our question is, do we contact the SA ?
We would pay the 850, but the judge says we dont owe it. He said dont pay it. But the lady at the SA ( she is not an investigator , nor an SA ) was mad we had even asked quuestions.
we cant hire an attorney,pay the check, or checks, and one judge says we dont have to. the law here is pretty clear that is he agreed to hold the check for 2 days ( we have proof he did) that they will not prosecute
So, we are lost as what to do, as we are caught between 2 systems and what seems like a turff war.
any suggestions would greatly be appreciated. This guy is a scammer, and if someone would just look at it, they would clearly see it as the judge did.
Thank you.
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