Tenant Issue/question in FL

[Manny Lamarre]

Greetings - I would love to hear feedback about this nightmare tenant. Any insights would be greatly appreciated. 

A Florida tenant has refused to pay rent since Nov. 2019. Said the reason was she's a foster mom and hasn't received payment from the govt. After 5 months of no rent she finally moves out (abruptly) in March and transfers the electricity to a new apt she moved to. She still has stuff in the apt., kept the key, left it trashed, and even has an old vehicle in front of it; and now the apt. does not have electricity and needs to be cleaned to be rented. 

Can the homeowner use the spare key to go inside the home to throw her things away to try to get the apt. rented? Or is there a waiting period before that can happen so the tenant don't claim she needs to be paid for her things that are thrown out? (I would think the transfer of electricity should count as her moving out) and the 5 month non payment is enough enter the home (since it's not occupied) to throw her things out. Also, is it worth trying to sue for those past five month rents or cut losses short? 

Thanks in advance for any insights. 

[Manny Lamarre]

Originally posted by @Nathan Gesner:

@Manny Lamarre in most cases, you can easily determine if a tenant has abandoned a property just by looking at what they left behind. It's usually junk/broken furniture, some food, and other crap that wouldn't sell at your average garage sale. The clothing is gone, their hygiene products are gone, and there's clearly nobody living there. Most states will allow you to consider it abandoned after a certain amount of time and then you can just toss it.

You've lost thousands from this one renter. As a professional property manager, I would have had her out within 45 days, which would have saved you thousands. You should seriously consider finding a professional that can manage this rental for you because it will save you time, money, and a lot of headaches.

Example: unit rents for $1,000 a month. Tenant failed to pay rent for six months so you've lost $6,000 in rent, $1,000 in utilities, and you spend another $600 on cleaning and maintenance. That's almost $8,000 lost on a property that should produce an income of $12,000 annually. A property manager generally charges 10% which is only $1,200 a year. Even if they charged you $2,000 a year, you would be saving $6,000 just from losses. This doesn't include the amount you would save in time and worry.

Thanks, Nathan. I figured out the abandonment issue and found the relevant FL statue for it. But either way, you're absolutely right. I agree with you. I should have added I didn't have experience before that so I'm living and learning.