I moved to Fl from IA in March. My LL decided he was going to redo the inside of the house I am renting. I was under the impression that eve...

Question

I moved to Fl from IA in March. My LL decided he was going to redo the inside of the house I am renting. I was under the impression that everything would be ready but move in was delayed for about 3 days due to the house not being ready. Once we moved in the contractor came back out to finish up a few things. Both himself and me made a list of things that needed to be done yet and the LL told me verbally that rent was not going to start until 4/1 after the repairs were finished. The lease was for 3 months that I paid upfront along with security. The repairs are still not completely finished. On 6/1 the LL was knocking on my door demanding rent and insisted the lease was 2 months rent upfront, last month and security. I ended up paying him the rent for June since he wasn't agreeing that the lease states 3 months upfront and said to stop playing my little games. On 6/25 the water heater tripped the breaker again and when I went to turn the breaker back on a blue flame shot out of the top of the water heater and it made a loud pop. I promptly turned it back off an informed the LL of the problem on 6/27. He was not in but his staff called and left him a message while I was standing there. On 7/1 he flagged me down and demanded rent. I asked about the water heater getting fixed. He said he'd never received any messages but that he'd call someone and again demanded rent. I started to state about the lease again but he demanded I pay rent since it was the 1st and rent is due. I ended up having to tell him it would be our last month since he was demanding rent payment before fixing the water heater. I dropped of the letter he was requesting stating this on 7/6. On the advise of a realtor and a lawyer in FL who deals in Real Estate Law in FL from another legal advise website I both hand delivered with a receipt and sent certified return receipt copies of letters Withdrawing my Intent to Vacate since I have not yet found a place to move into and will continue occupying the premises until further notice and 7 Day Notice of With-Holding Rent where I listed 22 items that needed repaired along with when I had notified him of these things. I did this on 7/22. Later on the 22nd after I had left for work the LL came down to the house and threatened my son, told him to tell me to stop playing my games and demanded we have to be out at the end of July since he has the house rented out already. He told my son to not even think about calling the police, but he did file a report after the LL left regarding the LL 's actions. The LL claims on the report he just threatened us with eviction and nothing else. No-one has come by to look at the house at all. USPS attempted to deliver the certified letter on 7/23 but he never signed for it until 7/29. On 7/27 he hand delivered a 3 day eviction notice which he just mentioned my letter to vacate. It does not list my son's name on it who's 21 and his name is listed as occupying the premises with me on the lease, does not have the LL's address or Phone number listed on it. I have had a Substandard Building Inspection done last week and waiting for the report to get finished so that I can pick up a copy of it. What are my rights on this matter and what are the next steps I can take?

Answer

when you are served with eviction papers in Florida you can file an answer with the court. You will have to pay the rent to the registry in the court. Looks to me that you have the right to stay in the place and he owes you rent. Check out ll/tenant pamplet in Florida on the internet. It will answer a lot of questions for you.