Help with reporting bad landlord?
My brother recently relocated to Florida with his wife and two small sons. They began renting a home for 0 per month. They paid first and last months rent and a 0.00 security deposit. A few nights ago a tornado blew through their neighborhood and a massive tree fell through their house in the middle of the night. They went to a friends house for the night. The next morning they went back to the house where they seen their landlord. He stated to them to get their stuff and get out of the house so that he could start cleaning up the mess. Of course they can’t stay there any longer because of the damage. However, when my brother asked for a return of their security deposit and 1 month rent since he just paid the rent on the 25th. The landlord stated that he did not owe them anything. I then advised my brother to call the Red Cross since they help families that expereince a disaster. When they spoke with my brother’s landlord, he told them that they were not supposed to be living there. So the Red Cross is hesitant to help them. They do have a lease and rent receipts as well as electric bills, etc. What is my brother’s recourse and who can he report this landlord to?
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2 comments
Landlord on August 9, 2010 at 2:13 pm
Your brother reports him to a judge, he needs to sue him in Superior Court. Nothing will happen without a court order first.
Simpson G on August 9, 2010 at 2:13 pm
About halfway down here http://www.800helpfla.com/natural_text.html is advice on florida, natural disasters, and landlord/tenant law.
If the house is unusable, then your brother is entitled to his deposit back. It is unclear about unused rent. If the total of monies owed are less that $5,000, he can proceed to small claims court to get the money back.
As far as the Red Cross, he needs to continue following up. "Hesitant to help them" doesn’t mean they said no. He needs to keep houding them. He also needs to contact federal and state agencies to try and get help. At the bottom of the page I linked to are a whole bunch of assistance agencies that he can contact.