bandtbryant
New Member
Florida:
I'll try to keep this brief and would appreciate some advice. My husband and I signed a one year renewal lease with our landlord in May. In late June, early July, we called our landlord and explained that our family needed our help in Minnesota and asked if we gave enough notice if they would allow us to break our lease. Our landlord said they understood our situation and said that would be just fine as long a there was a new tenant, otherwise we would be responsible for the rent until a new tenant was found or our lease was up.
Within a month we told them we were looking to move the end of October. They said that was fine and posted an ad on Craigslist. My husband called to find out if there was any interest yet, he was told no. So I looked up the ad on Craigslist and felt it could use a lot of help. I then posted an ad with detailed info and pictures. Within hours we were getting emails about the apartment. About a week later we began showing the apartment for our landlord.
In mid-September two young men decided the wanted to take the apartment. They contacted the landlord and signed a lease on September 19th. The lease was dated October 20th 2008-October 20th 2009. (We have a copy of the lease) We cleaned, took pictures, and were out of the apartment on October 19th. (Our understanding was the young men would be moving in on the 20th) The entire week prior to our leaving my husband tried to get ahold of the landlord to find out what we were to do with the keys. She finally called late the 19th and said to mail them to her that there was a problem and the new tenants would not be moving in until November 1st.
We moved to Minnesota. Shortly after getting here my husband sent the pictures we took after cleaning. The landlord said, "Thanks, Any chance of sending me the craigslist posting for the apt.?" My husband said he would see what we could do. About two and a half weeks after arriving in MN my husband called to find out where our deposit was. He was told the new tenants had backed out and the would have to wait and see how fast they could get someone in and that would depend on whether or not we got our deposit.
We were shocked by this so we looked up our rights online. According to FL Landlord Tenant law they had thirty days to notify us if they were going to keep our deposit. Thirty days came and went and we heard nothing. So my husband called and explained this. The landlord said it's our fault for breaking the lease. My husband explained that we had their permission and that they had new tenants who signed a lease and the apartment is now their responsibility. She still refuses to return our deposit.
Can she do this? Should we file a small claims case?
Thanks for any help or advise you can give,
Tam
I'll try to keep this brief and would appreciate some advice. My husband and I signed a one year renewal lease with our landlord in May. In late June, early July, we called our landlord and explained that our family needed our help in Minnesota and asked if we gave enough notice if they would allow us to break our lease. Our landlord said they understood our situation and said that would be just fine as long a there was a new tenant, otherwise we would be responsible for the rent until a new tenant was found or our lease was up.
Within a month we told them we were looking to move the end of October. They said that was fine and posted an ad on Craigslist. My husband called to find out if there was any interest yet, he was told no. So I looked up the ad on Craigslist and felt it could use a lot of help. I then posted an ad with detailed info and pictures. Within hours we were getting emails about the apartment. About a week later we began showing the apartment for our landlord.
In mid-September two young men decided the wanted to take the apartment. They contacted the landlord and signed a lease on September 19th. The lease was dated October 20th 2008-October 20th 2009. (We have a copy of the lease) We cleaned, took pictures, and were out of the apartment on October 19th. (Our understanding was the young men would be moving in on the 20th) The entire week prior to our leaving my husband tried to get ahold of the landlord to find out what we were to do with the keys. She finally called late the 19th and said to mail them to her that there was a problem and the new tenants would not be moving in until November 1st.
We moved to Minnesota. Shortly after getting here my husband sent the pictures we took after cleaning. The landlord said, "Thanks, Any chance of sending me the craigslist posting for the apt.?" My husband said he would see what we could do. About two and a half weeks after arriving in MN my husband called to find out where our deposit was. He was told the new tenants had backed out and the would have to wait and see how fast they could get someone in and that would depend on whether or not we got our deposit.
We were shocked by this so we looked up our rights online. According to FL Landlord Tenant law they had thirty days to notify us if they were going to keep our deposit. Thirty days came and went and we heard nothing. So my husband called and explained this. The landlord said it's our fault for breaking the lease. My husband explained that we had their permission and that they had new tenants who signed a lease and the apartment is now their responsibility. She still refuses to return our deposit.
Can she do this? Should we file a small claims case?
Thanks for any help or advise you can give,
Tam
