Saltydawg15

Have an employee that has their lease ending at the end of this month and they had verbally agreed to renew with the landlord and today the landlord told them he is doubling the rent and if they don’t want it they need to be out by the 1st. This is obviously not feasible, so my question is what is the process of eviction now the moratorium is ending? They have asked to stay until the end of January and he is saying no.

burningdaylight

Pretty sure that’s not legal. COVID or not.

captpepin

If their lease is ending and they did not resign than what recourse do they have? Landlord probably realized they could get more and or wanted them out.

I’m sure the renter could just stay there and not pay and eventually the landlord would be able to remove but that would take a while. If your employee feels screwed he should go to the guy and say I’m not leaving and not paying evict me or I’ll pay you for 2-3 months and leave.

lobsdiver1

Do you believe the employee? That sounds hard to believe unless the landlord was somehow out to screw him. You don’t give someone 2 days notice that they need to be out. Sounds more like a communication problem but if true sounds like the only recourse from the tenant is to stay and look to move out in the next couple weeks, hopefully before an eviction we’re to take place. Did the owner give him notice in writing?

Anyway, there is usually more to a story like that.

unobtanium

Squat?

fishbottom

i bet there is a lot more to this story than told.

blb078

There's always two sides to every storey so I wouldn't believe everything your employee says. Not saying they are lying but at the same time they may be leaving out some important info. If you're that concerned about the employee call the landlord yourself and try to work something out. If not let the employee deal with it, sometimes you have to adult. However if they really want to be a pain to the landlord then just don't leave and make the landlord evict them. Which usually involves going through the courts and right now that's probably not a fast process. May screw up the tenants credit but they may/may not care. The landlord could also just change the locks on them but if the tenant sues the landlord better make sure they did everything by the book. In most states the laws are pretty strict about kicking someone out of their primary residence and courts want to see everything was done properly and right now they definitely will want to see that. However they will also be looking to see that a tenant isn't trying to take advantage of a situation.

jillybird

A landlord cannot force a tenant out of a house on a day’s notice. If the tenant overstays, the landlord must file an action to evict him. With the COVID situation, even if Florida’s eviction moratorium ends, there’ll be a huge backlog in the courts. It will take the landlord months to evict the tenant.

Bamaman

State renter's rights laws are thoroughly slanted toward the renter. And right now, the landlord cannot process any eviction order. The landlord in this case obviously trying to take advantage of his renter. There's no way he can get double the current rent in most markets.

The right thing would be to tell the employee to look for somewhere else to live. In the meantime, continue paying his same rent perfectly on time.

To get the renter out, the landlord would file with Circuit Court, schedule a hearing in front of the judge and a summons issued to the renter to appear in court to tell his side of the story. Right now, courts are not scheduling eviction hearings. The whole process is a moot point at this time. Even with a court order, it takes weeks for a sheriff to schedule to be present when a moving company places belongings on "the curb."

I read yesterday that Memphis, Tennessee has 10,000 people that are not paying rent and they will be eventually evicted. It will take years to get them out of their current apartments and homes. I just feel sorry for the landlords that are having to make payments on apartments that they're not being paid on, etc. They cannot do anything like cut off utilities or do anything to the renters to get them out.

Saltydawg15

this was my thinking.

We found out about all of this because she was going to go out of town this weekend but canceled as she was trying to get a new place and was ready to make a poor decision on a new place because of this. I have told her to relax and find a place that her and her family wanted to move to, while letting the landlord know you won’t be leaving until February 1 and that you would pay January’s rent. If he gets pissy and threatens her then hold January’s rent until you move out.

I am a commercial landlord so I feel for landlords especially with tenants that are capable of deciding not to pay, but this couple has paid their full rent every month and have no intentions of squatting and just need time to get their things in order. If he decides to waste money on an attorney then he is a fool.

China Rider

In Florida, after a lease has ended and no new lease is signed, the lease automatically changes to a "month-to-month" lease. In this case, the tenant must give 30 days notice (if the rent is paid monthly) and the Landlord need only give 15 days notice. I'll bet the lease says the notice must be in writing.

Definitely pay Jan rent. If he accepts it, great, she gets another month plus 15 days. If he doesn't accept, he is an idiot.

.Look for another place.

FishHarder

The only way I see a landlord " I am a landlord" doing that is if he already has someone who will pay double January 1 ....evicting someone with out a tenant two days before the new month is stupid.

I am sure an attorney representing your employee can tie it up for months..maybe many months....which will cost the landlord the double rent that whole time.

I had a tenant agree to allow me to re-lease his space he could not afford..after finding the new tenant..he refused to leave and refused to pay....if I wanted the new tenant (5yrs) he said i had to pay him to get out. Guess what..he got paid because financially it was smarter to do that.

Your tenant should ask for 4 months rent and moving costs....or he will drag this out as long as possible....just because the landlord is being a dick.

ByrdmanFL

Has your employer been paying his rent? Usually takes a minimum of 30 days if the owner does everything perfect in our county and it costs the owner about $385. As long as he can prove that he has been paying, trying to pay with partial payments, applied for assistance to pay his rent, would become homeless (especially with children), or family earning less than $99K, he has a circumstance that is supposed to prevent eviction.

First thing the owner has to do is file a 3, 5,15, or 30 day Notice to Pay depending on the type of lease is involved. If lease is broken by the tenant, then a 3 Day will suffice. Then you have to wait 3 complete business days and then you can start eviction process according your counties legal process.

If he has not been paying, then he can also be sued in small claims court for any back rent or damages to the property once evicted.

GulfC

We don’t know the full story but either way, if an eviction is filed, good luck getting another decent place to live. I’d be making sure to avoid the filing however it occurred.

offshorefun

Florida had a law, not sure if it exists still, called tenancy in sufferance that allows the landlord to demand 2x rent.

Try contacting a local legal aid society.

airbrush

For a specific answer, tell us what state they are in.

agallant80

I’m calling BS on her story. I’m sure she earned what she is getting from the land lord.

Cres

I am inclined to agree with this. I love having head ache and drama free tenants. It's worth not getting top dollar.

Firecat1981

I believe the court processing is a county by county thing, as I spoke to 2 owners recently that had evictions processed this month. There is not a blanket moratorium on evictions right now, you have to go through the process of proving your hardship was caused by Covid to qualify for the moratorium. In other words you basically have to show you lost your job due to it, if you are still employed then you are most likely out of luck.

I agree with the others here, there has to be more to the story. The last lease I signed, its been a few years, stated I had to either submit in writing an intent to release 30 days prior, or vacate the property. There was no month to month available, and the penalty for not vacating on time was double the rent per month prorated to the date of exit.

GulfC

Statutes & Constitution :View Statutes : Online Sunshine

83.58 Remedies; tenant holding over.—If the tenant holds over and continues in possession of the dwelling unit or any part thereof after the expiration of the rental agreement without the permission of the landlord, the landlord may recover possession of the dwelling unit in the manner provided for in s. 83.59. The landlord may also recover double the amount of rent due on the dwelling unit, or any part thereof, for the period during which the tenant refuses to surrender possession.
History.—s. 2, ch. 73-330; s. 10, ch. 2013-136.