Landlord is kicking me out to make repairs to ceiling

[Allen Lopez]

Hey everybody. I have a question, my current landlord needs to do some repairs to the ceiling. Long story short the ceiling has had a leak for over a month now to the point that it

Will need to be completely demoed and redone. I still have About six months on my current lease. She is telling me that I will need to find a new place to lease. She has found me a new apartment in the same complex about five doors down but it will cost about $100 more per month. Additionally this will cost me because I will need to get my drivers license as well as those of my family changed, and not to mentioned the moving and relocating the utilities.

The main question I have is cant you really just up and break the lease like that for repairs. Shouldn’t she also have to reimburse me for my expenses and at least pay for the difference in rental price? It should be noted that she knew about the leak for months I said let her know but she refused to do anything about it. The property is located in Miami Florida.

[Kyle J.]

@Allen Lopez Well now that you tell us she’s offering you $1600, I think that’s more than fair. 

She can’t help that the ceiling needs to be repaired (“demoed and redone” according to you). So it’s a significant repair.

Look at it this way, if this didn’t happen now, it was definitely going to happen in 6 months when your lease is up. And at that time, you’d still have to move and all those same expenses you claim you have now (e.g. moving expenses, cost to change your address on driver’s licenses, moving utilities, etc). However, I guarantee you the landlord wouldn’t be offering you $1600 then. She’d be offering you zero because your lease would be up.

So take the $1600 offer and enjoy your new leak-free (and mold-free) apartment.