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Yes, under certain conditions. If the lease does not impose the duty of repair or maintenance of the HVAC on the tenant and you give the landlord written notice that substantially conforms with the notice provided in Chapter 83, Fla. Stat. The notice must identify the problem, and give the Landlord seven days to repair. Only then can you withhold your rent, if the repair is not performed. Chapter 83 is strictly construed so it’s important to use the right language in your notice. Check out www.collierclerk.com under Landlord-Tenant forms for a 7-day notice which tracks the statutory language.
Yes, under certain conditions and with proper notice. Florida Statutes provide a condo and homeowner’s association with the ability to obtain the rental payments from a tenant where an owner is delinquent in paying his/her monetary obligations owed to the association. The law provides that if you make payments in good faith reliance on the association’s notice, you are not subject to a claim by the owner.
Congress passed the Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act of 2009, which became effective in May of 2009. Federal law now provides that a tenant may occupy the premises until the end of the lease. If the lease is month-to-month, the tenant has 90 days to vacate after the property is sold at foreclosure sale. There is one exception to this rule: if the buyer of the property intends to live on the property, the tenant must vacate after having received 90 days notice.
Although you can certainly buy property without legal representation, the benefits of having a real estate attorney represent you and your interest in the transaction can not be overstated, especially if the property is bank-owned or was purchased by the seller at a foreclosure sale. You may have heard about some lenders filing erroneous or fraudulent papers to support their foreclosure judgments. If a foreclosure judgment is based on a fraudulent affidavit, the judgment and sale may be voidable. This creates a serious defect that can affect your title. In addition to the unique situation regarding foreclosed properties, there are any number of issues that can arise before a closing takes place during the due diligence phase. It’s important that you understand your legal rights and obligations before you arrive at the closing table. Don’t rely on the title/closing agent or the realtor to protect you. Only a real estate attorney can fully advise you and has the professional responsibility to protect your interest. Most attorney fees in real estate transactions are fixed fees and can be ascertained before you hire an attorney. Just ask!
If you own valuable assets, you should consider executing a Will, which will dictate who receives your property when you die. A Will is especially important in a blended family scenario or for single persons without children. In these instances, without a Will, any solely owned assets not transferred upon death through a Pay on Death agreement or designation of beneficiary will be distributed per the intestate statutes of Florida. These statutes direct that, absent a surviving spouse or children, all assets will be distributed to a decedent’s surviving parents, siblings, and nieces and nephews—whomever survives the decedent in that order of priority. Life partners or unrelated parties will receive nothing without a Will. In a blended family scenario, children from a previous marriage may lose out if the surviving spouse has his or her own children and dies without a Will, because the intestate statutes and homestead laws do not provide for stepchildren. My firm charges $250 to prepare a Will.
If acquired by you and your husband during the marriage, your home will be considered a marital asset, and its value (inclusive of mortgage debt) will be shared equally between the parties. Unfortunately, the home is often the largest asset a couple owns. If there are no other significant financial assets of the marriage, and one spouse cannot “buy out” the other spouse’s interest through the allocation of all marital assets, the home will be sold and the net proceeds divided. In some instances, where the couple has young children and the court determines that the house is needed for the benefit of the children, the court will grant the needy spouse “exclusive possession” of the home for an extended period of time.
It’s important to remember, if the house is to be sold, that the parties agree on the allocation of the Save Our Homes 3% assessment cap savings associated with the property. Under Florida law, each former spouse has approximately three years to transfer (“port”) their share of the savings to a new homestead property. This can be an important asset many couples forget about.
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