How does a landlord raise the tenant's rent in Florida?
Mike: I have a good tenant that's paying his rent. I rented the house for $1,100 and I'd like to raise the rent up higher to maybe $1,300 or $1,400 a month. I don't have a lease with this tenant. I procrastinated. I never did get one written up. I kept saying that I was going to get one, but he knows it was going to be a 30-day lease. What do I do in a situation like this, because I might want to just take the property over and re-lease the property on $1,400 or $1,600 or $1,700 a month actually?
Attorney Tom Olsen: Mike, for this, I'm going to turn you over to Attorney Caleb Maggio. Let's just start by making it clear that Mike has an oral lease, which is perfectly acceptable here in the state of Florida. Therefore, he's on a month-to-month basis with his tenant. What can Mike do as far as increasing rent to his tenant?
Attorney Caleb Maggio: Well, Tom, first thing you want to determine is, like you said, whether you have that month-to-month or fixed term. You can still have an oral lease that has a fixed term. If you have a month-to-month, then you want to determine how often is rent paid. Typically, every 30 days. If that's the case and you want to raise rent, what you have to do is give 30 days' notice of the raise in rent. If you don't give that 30 days' notice, you're not going to be able to raise the rent. For instance, you can't raise the rent in the middle of a month. If they pay on the 1st of the month, you can't raise the rent on the 15th and say, "Hey, next month on the 1st, you got to pay more." You got to give them 30 days, the full month.
Mike: I see.
Caleb: Now, if you don't want to raise that rent and you want them out, then you have to do a notice of termination. Again, under the Florida statutes, if you have a month-to-month that's 30 days, you need to give 30 days' notice for that termination.
Mike: Okay. How do I get a termination with the 30 days' notice to terminate the lease I have? Do we go [unintelligible 00:02:00] place or I call you guys or a professional attorney or what?
Caleb: You can call us or another attorney and they can, or we can, prepare that notice of termination for you. We can have it delivered as well. In that way, you'll have all your bases covered.
Tom: Hey, Caleb, let me ask on Mike's behalf. Could Mike do a notice to the tenant that says, "Look, you got two choices, either I'm terminating this lease or we're going to $1,600 a month. Take your choice."
Caleb: Absolutely. He can do that.
Tom: Mike, I think that might be a good solution for you because it literally gives your tenants a choice.
Mike: Actually, that was one of my questions. I was just going to say if I can give them a choice to raise rent to be fair because they've been paying, they've never missed a payment, and he's a really good person. I just wanted to know where I stand since I didn't have anything on paper, everything's just verbal, if I was to take the house over where I stood legally. As long as I give him a 30-day notice of termination, then things-- What happens if he refuses to move?
Caleb: Then you're looking at an eviction action.
Tom: Mike, you said he's been a good tenant. I might suggest a positive outcome to this. You might say, "Look, I'm going to raise your rent to $1,600 a month or you can move out. Take your choice." Your tenant might come back to you and say, "Mike, you know what? I really want to stay here. How about $1,400 a month?" You guys might negotiate something that meets with both of your approvals.
Mike: Okay. I'm just thinking of the worst. Some people get really upset when you start telling, "You're going to have to move or pay more." Say, he says he doesn't want to pay more, then he stops paying rent. Then actually I have to go through an eviction, but how long will an eviction take? Are we talking one month, two months, three months, four months? I'm wondering how much money I'm going to lose monthly by the time I get to--
Caleb: It's different for every situation, but typically the median is two to three months. The good thing about the scenario here, if that happens, is that if you deliver that notice of termination 30 days before the next month, he doesn't get out, you can immediately start charging him double rent. It's called holdover rent. It's provided for by Florida Statutes. At the end of that eviction, you can get a judgment against the tenant for double rent for every month he was in there during the eviction period.
Mike: Okay. How do I get that written up professionally and legally where he can understand this and present this to him?
Tom: Hey, Mike, you can go to our website, olsenlawgroup.com.
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