Tenant unreasonably withholding consent

[Angela Brigido]

Hi, I'm a Florida Landlord and my tenant's lease is up on Sept. 30, 3012. We already agreed that she is leaving. However, she is not allowing my realtor to show it to prospective tenants. My tenant said that she is willing to give consent if an appointment is made and it's on weekends. Well, HERE IS THE PROBLEM: My realtor has been making appointments and already my tenant has cancelled 5 of them. She always has an excuse. I have tried to be nice but now I'm furious. It is now Sept. 9th and another weekend has gone by. The property is a condo and the new tenant must be screened and approved. Because of my tenants delays and uncooperativeness, I will not have a tenant in time for October 1st. What do I do? Is she breaching the contract by unreasonably withholding consent? Can this affect her security deposit in anyway? She also has a dog over 25 lbs and 2 cats which were not part of the lease. Although I approved the dog (after she lied), I did not approve the cats. I'm sooo upset and will now be out 2 months rent because of her being uncooperative. All comments are welcome. I respect your knowledge. Thank You!

[Jon Holdman]

Truly if the tenant wants to be uncooperative, there's little you can do. This just goes with the territory of being a landlord. Not sure why you say you will lose two months rent. If she's out, and you can find a new tenant in a couple of weeks, does it really take the HOA a month or more to approve them? If so, losing a month is going to be routine every time you have a turnover, so you better just plan for it.

What does your lease say? If it says you can show the place, then show it. Don't make an appointment and let her cancel it. Notify her about the showing per the lease or local law, but its a notification of what's going to happen, not a request for her approval. If the lease allows for the showings, she cannot refuse.

Now, she can still be uncooperative. She can be messy or rude during the showings, and that may still result in not getting a tenant. I had one tenant that was perfectly cooperative, but so messy there's no way I could find a tenant while they were still there.

The screening delays by the HOA are your problem, not hers. I'd never own a rental condo, let alone one that has these delays. But, unless you want to sell, you're stuck dealing with their rules.

You may well just have to wait until she leaves, then start seriously showing the property.