issues with tenant breaching the lease

[Stephen Bishop]

We could use some advice based on Florida statutes.

We have tenants who've increasingly proven to be a pain. We've been patient and kind, gave them a break or two going in and along the way, but it became increasingly apparent that they were just the wrong fit, not least because they began giving us issues with the local HOA as it pertains to exterior upkeep, and because we discovered they'd breached the lease by basically turning the house into a family enclave that involved a number of people not on the lease living in the house. They even confirmed it in writing after the fact.

Both because of the fact they clearly have no interest in maintaining the exterior of the property, as required of the lease, and because they had no interest in resolving the issue of the additional people living in the house, we decided to gently suggest that they might be better suited to an apartment and that we were willing to discuss some form of negotiation to move them on somewhere else. We aren’t hard arses, we prefer a softly softly approach that avoids confrontation and animosity, even though this particular tenant had brazenly breached the lease and potentially given us grounds to evict them.

The tenant's response? Without any consultation whatsoever, he signed up for another place to live, notified us of it after the fact, and set about trying to set an agenda for his family to move out in mid-August on a time frame suitable to himself, even down to demanding to pay on a pro rata basis and be refunded the remaining portion for August! You'd really have to read this guy's emails to get a full picture of the arrogance at play. In his warped perspective, he and his family are the aggrieved victims in the scenario, the extra bodies in the house were basically an oversight, and the lawn care and garbage issues the HOA has complained about are a matter of harassment.

So at this point, short of referring the matter to our lawyer, we’re not sure how to progress. According to the terms of our lease, they forfeited the last month’s rent and deposit when they breached the lease. According the specific writing, the clause in question states that if the lease is terminated early, the last month and deposit is forfeited to us, whether they discussed it with us or not. They of course didn’t. By the strict wording of the document, I’d assume we could also chase them up for the remaining portion of the lease, though that isn’t a factor we were considering. Despite the fact we’ve repeatedly referred the tenant to the lease and clause in question, as well as reminding him of the breaches, he thinks he’s moving out in mid-August at his convenience, and is expecting his deposit back based on leaving the house in move-in condition, which I can assure you they won’t judging from what we’ve seen so far. Come the first of August we will not be receiving a payment for that month – the tenant thinks he’s covered by the ‘last month’s rent’ he paid when he and his family moved in.

So how do we move? By the terms of the breaches, the fact they broke the lease to sign elsewhere without any consultation with us, and by presumed non-payment for August, we feel we have multiple grounds to start the eviction process. On the other hand we’re concerned that doing so might appear to be some form of harassment given that they’ve stated they’re moving out on the 17th.

Any thoughts on the matter? We have tried being reasonable and kind with this young couple, yet at every turn they have proven deceptive, disingenuous, troublesome, and ultimately quite intransigent and arrogant when we finally voiced our concerns.