Florida PM kept security - subject to triple-damages ?

Question

This is in regard to a Florida based property management company.  Their basic MO (I have since discovered) is that they never return security deposits.  They tell the landlord that it was required to give the security deposit to the tenants - and they tell the tenants that the landlord refuses to give back the security deposit.  Usually this apparently flies and the PM keeps the security themselves.  When either of the parties sue them they go to court and always lose and always write a check when ordered to.

In NJ if a landlord refuses to give a security deposit back, and/or fails to detail the handling of the security. (Why it wasn't returned, etc.). The landlord is subject to triple damages.  That is: if the landlord loses in court he has to pay 300% of the security deposit to the tenants as 'damages'.

My question for you all now is:  Does Florida have such a penalty scheme in place?  And . . . . . Would it apply to this situation?

The tenant left the property six weeks early and did not pay the last months rent and there was some slight damage

.  So the tenant is Not entitled to receive the security deposit back in this case.  I have spoken to the ex-tenant and they Did Not receive the security deposit back.  Making the PM thieves AND liars.

Stephen

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Stephen S. · Answer

This tenant left the house six weeks early and did not pay the last month's rent. I fully expected the security deposit to show up as a direct deposit to this property's bank account. When it didn't I asked about the security. "We returned it to the tenant. She moved out because she was afraid to live there alone. That's justified - so we Had to return the security." "The security deposit is not your money, nor do you have discretion. I am the landlord and I alone make all decisions. You owe me the security - send it to me." "We had to give it to the tenant - we didn't want to get involved in a lawsuit or anything. She came in to turn in the keys and we gave her a check. We had to." "No you didn't: and I expressly forbid you to do so. So if you gave the security back to an non-deserving tenant, AND did it without my prior agreement - then You now owe Me the security." Soon after I was in Europe and busy with other things and it got back-burnered. Then one day the tenant called me to ask about the security deposit - would I be willing to split it with them? "I was told you got 100% of the security back." "No; we didn't - we were told that you refused to give us Anything back." At that point I contacted the PM and said: "What happened to the security deposit on this property? I never received it." PM: We have no forwarding address for the tenant so it's just sitting in our escrow account. "You have My address - so just send it to me. The tenant owes me more than the security amount anyway." "We can't do that." "Why" "We need the tenant's permission before we can release the security." "What if the tenant died? Or was in prison? Or moved to a foreign country under an assumed name? Then what?" "We wouldn't be able to release the money." "Ever?" "I guess not - there's really nothing we can do." So before I filed in small claims I started researching the PM (it's a family member run company) in terms of past legal actions and found that this is what they apparently Always do. And they seems to have a habit of moving from state to sate to state on a fairly regular basis. I don't know but it sure seems suspicious. They seem to need to relocate every so often. And why not pull this keep-the-security trick? Most of the time it probably works. And in the rare event that someone does take them to small claims court - all they have to do is to give up the same exact amount of money that they owed all along. It's a great scam - hell; there is zero down-side for them.

Stephen S. · Answer

That is where I started.  Eff Wreck is an apparently toothless do-nothing agency who apparently only notifies the subject of the complaint that a complaint has been filed.  Or that has been my experience thus far. <g>.

I was thinking more along the lines of the Attorney General's Office or the like..

Kim Meredith Hampton · Answer

@stephen

@Stephen S. I would file a complaint with the Florida Real Estate Commission (FREC) this is not ethical  nor right in the eyes of Florida Landlord Tenant. Please file immediately, we need these types of brokerages out of the business!!!!