Last week, after two years in the same apartment complex, after paying rent on time- often three months in advance, I received a letter informing me that they wouldn’t be renewing my lease. Initially I thought perhaps they were finally going to just raze the property and build quality living over it. But no, really they decided that I no longer met their credit requirements.
This strikes me as further proof that business has more rights than they people who line their pockets. It also serves as a scathing indictment of landlord / tenant law in Florida. My credit now is exactly the same as it was two years ago when they accepted me, yet there are no protections for people with stellar rental records. Admittedly, I do have an eviction on my record, but the complex knew about this before I even signed my first lease, so it seems unfair that they can change their mind two years later.
During my stay at the Palms of Apalachee, my roof leaked for a year and a half and all of the window and door screens were either broken or missing altogether. I filled out over a dozen written maintenance requests. On three occaisions I was told that the roof had been repaired, numerous other times I was told they were just waiting for the home office to approve the estimate received from the roofers. But up until the day I moved, my roof leaked and my windows had no screens. Yet I continued to pay $606 a month.
Well, until this month, anyway. The notice of non-renewal served as the affront that broke this camel’s back. After appealing to their sensibilities (why kick out a tenant who pays in advance?) and failing, I resigned myself to my fate of moving… But not without spitting in their eye first. After the manager wrote me a letter attesting to my impeccable two years of rental at the complex, I handed her a letter notifying the complex of their material non-compliance with the terms of the lease, and my intent to withhold my final month’s rent.
Florida statutes state that landlords must provide a sound structure with a solid roof that does not leak. It also states tenants must allow reasonable time for repairs. A year and a half is more than enough allowance for repairs. As a tenant, I was expected to pay rent in a timely manner. I also had a reasonable expectation of repairs being made in just as timely a manner. So we’ll see what happens.
Really, though, the Palms of Apalachee aren’t the only ones standing in my way of a smooth month. Sprint, my local service provider, put a stick in the wheel of progress by changing my IP address (despite assurances to the contrary) and leaving all the websites I host offline for two days while the changes propagated around the net. As you can see I’m finally back online, but it was still a rather large inconvenience, because had they informed me that they would be changing my IP, I could have allowed for a smoother migration.
Regardless, I’ve finally moved, albeit into a smaller location that lacks air conditioning. At least the roof doesn’t leak.
