Florida Eviction Process and Tenant Rights

There is nothing worse than receiving a notice that the rental you are renting is going into forclosure and you expected to have many more months left on your lease. Now you are wondering what your Florida tenant rights in foreclosure situations are.

What can you do and what do you need to do?
I recently had a person that was talking to me about this very problem and concerned as to what they could go. They are in a position that it is impossible for them to come up with a security deposit and rent for another apartment and they have six months left on their lease.

The bottom line is that when the rental is foreclosed on and taken over by the bank you very likely will be evicted even though you still have time on your lease left. They will often want to start the eviction process and get you out so that the house can be sold quickly, which is easier to sell when the property is not lived in.

So what can possibly be some of your solutions?
1. Contact your landlord and see if you can work out a new contract with him to end your lease early without any penalties because you are still under contract with the landlord by signing your lease with him. The problem is that once the bank takes over they aren’t the ones that worked out the lease agreement with you and so they probably aren’t obligated to stick with the lease agreement contracts. So that is very likely why they could immediately evict you. So need to take care of yourself and be prepared. Make sure any agreements you make with him, you put in writing and both your landlord and you sign it. Keep a copy for your records.

2. You can contact an attorney to see what he can do to help you. You very well may want to do this to see if there is anything that can be done. This could be a costly expense and who knows if he can really help. If your landlord has had to let this property go to foreclosure, there is a really good chance that means he does not have money to pay even if your where able to go to court and get a judgment against him.


3. Contact an organization like the Rental Protection Agency that can help you with your rights. By filing a complaint with them, you will let them know exactly what you want to happen so you can get out of your lease. When you file your complaint, you will be assigned a file number and all the documentation will be documented that it is sent to your landlord. You will have records for your file showing you have tried to work with your landlord. Everything will be in writing which is very important to have. I suggest that you request a certified letter be sent as even better documentation. All of your landlord’s response will be documented for you also. Here are some options you may want to request when you file your complaint.

You should ask that you be allowed to break your lease early without any penalties.

Ask your landlord to give you rent abatement (reduction in rent or no rent charges) for a certain length of time so you can find other housing.

You should ask that if you break your lease because of the foreclosure process that you not be penalized with “early termination clause”, which could mean that you would need to pay up to two months of rent. Why should you be forced to do this when it isn’t your fault for the property going into foreclosure. After all you have paid your rent on time and followed all of the regulations of the lease contract. You would have fulfilled your contract on the lease had it not gone to foreclosure.

You should ask that be allowed to have your security deposit returned and not be penalized.

There may be other things but this will give you some ideas. You are in a tough situation and you need to do what you can to get the best results for your situation. There are no guarantees that you will get all of these things or any of these things but if you don’t try, you for sure will not get anything and will very likely be evicted quickly when the bank takes over. At least if you try this route, you may be allowed to break your lease and/or get some security deposit back or possibly get a break on your rent until you can find another place to live.