Question My husband and I have a commercial rental here in Fl. It is a standalone building. We rented it out in April with reduced rent paid up front for 3 months with the first regular payment due the first of July.The renter called a couple of weeks ago and asked that we mow the lawn. My husband had someone go over to take care of it for one time only just to help the guy out. Yesterday I stopped to see if or first regular rent check was ready. He said the check was ready then proceeded to tell me he didn't have a copy of the lease with our address to send it. We had a realtor when we leased it to him and his signature and initials are on all the pages.He said he called and left messages with the realtor but they never called him back.I told him I would make a copy and bring it to him. Then he said we need to take care of the lawn and then he will pay.I told him that was not in the lease and we would not be doing it again. Things went down hill from there and I had to walk away for fear I would say the wrong thing. We rented this place out before and the renters always took care of the lawn. Because the economy is so bad we lowered the rent on this place by $700 a month so with the mortgage and taxes there's really not much left. This may be his way of stalling for more time to pay I can't be sure. I have gone over the lease and there is nothing about lawn maintenance so hope you can help me out here with some advise. My husband recently injured his back and can't be hauling a mower over there and doing the lawn so the only thing left is to hire someone. Can we charge him for it? Since there is nothing in the lease the closest thing in the least is under repairs and it states that the only thing that we are responsible for would be the roof and major mechanical issues. we don't know how to handle this .Thanks
Answer Hi Joan
first my disclaimers: Im based in Toronto Canada and our laws are different from yours -- US laws also vary from state to state.
second, I would need to read the lease.
here, we use an "offer to lease" to draft out the basis of the actual lease.
the offer would usually be subject to the acceptance of the formal lease (within reason) things like term, payments etc all superseded the formal standard lease (here)
not sure if you have an accepted offer to lease or a formal lease?
third, I always include "subject to shot form leases act 2001" which is a law regarding leases here in Ontario - dont know if you have something similar in FL.
4th, not cutting the grass is no excuse for him not to pay the rent. If he wants, he could certainly argue that point separately, but clearly, that is a separate issue.
5th, again here, all parties would have a copy of the lease, so there would not be the issue of "I dont have a copy" -- obviously he signed something right?
regarding Realtor, again here, we have lots of different forms to fill in first, eg agency law, who is the agent acting for? you or the tenant or both? was there a conflict of interest waiver signed? I don't believe you have these in FL?
can he be sued? sure! anyone can be sued for anything all over the planet. Who wins? it cones down to who's lawyer tells the best story, mood of the judge at the time etc. I don't believe in Justice - sorry -- it "JUST IS". To many innocent people have fried and guilty got away -- winning in court today is like winning a lottery --even if you are clearly right! avoid it at all costs! only the lawyers win.
does the lease say anything about being a "NET NET LEASE"? or triple net? or "carefree to the landlord" - or anything to that effect? thats what I would be using in your defence.
pretty hard to give you a better opinion without being able to read what was signed and agreed to by both parties.
