January 11, 2006 – Eviction Laws

Originally posted on LiveJournal.

After reading up on the Florida Landlord/Tenant laws for the state of Florida, I decided it was time for the inevitable eviction. Melissa and I headed over there to deliver the paperwork in person, as is required. The way it works (well, so I think) is that he has 3 days (so until friday) to pay or get out. Kim, my neighbor from 2 doors down who has lived there since I was in Kindergarten, came over to give me some bad news about my deadbeat tenant.

Where to start. He had a bonfire in my backyard (where Nate and dug a huge hole for no reason). The fire was left burning after they went in for the night with no one around, but luckily didn’t spread. Apparently there’s all kinds of teenagers coming and going from the apartment at all hours day and night (did I mention he’s in his 30s?). Everyone in the neighborhood thinks he’s a drug dealer. He broke into the garage. Well, it was broken into I should say without jumping to conclusions. The lock on the pool table side was clearly ripped off the hinges, the other side of the garage is accessible through an unlocked window. I didn’t notice anything missing, and there’s nothing valuable in there to begin with, but damn. Things are worse than I thought. He wasn’t there to receive the eviction notice, although I think he really was there just not answering. Apparently a neighbor overheard one of the people at the drunken, druggie bonfire say they’d have another one next saturday. If anyone wants to help break it up with me let me know.

So yeah, problems++.

Oh yeah, I made a major life changing decision today, but I’ll post about that tomorrow.