How Can I Dispute A Landlord’s Claim Of My Security Deposit?

 

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How can I dispute a landlord’s claim on my security deposit for repairs or damages?

 

Well it’s addressed in the Landlord Tenant Act and the landlord must give you a notice of their claim within so many days. I believe it’s 30 days from the termination. It may be 15 but they have a certain period of time where they must give you that notice. If they do not you’re entitled to the return of your deposit.

 

If they do send you the claim, you need to sue them in small claims court, get the return of your deposit whereupon they will have to prove what the damages are. Unfortunately your remedy is having to go to court which is usually in small claims court in order to recover your security deposit from a landlord. If you have any question about that, give me a call at 727-847-2288.

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After A Notice Of Comencement Is Signed Can You Change Contractors?

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After a Notice of Commencement has been signed, can you change your contractor?  The answer is yes; however, it is circumstances surrounding changing your contractor is what’s critical.

If you change it before you go in to get your building permits, or while you’re getting building permits under a different contractor, well then you will simply prepare an Amended Notice of Commencement before you ever start work.  If however you terminate your contractor, well then you’ve got to through a termination process as far as terminating the contractor and simply filing an amendment as your Notice of Commencement is concerned.  So yes, you can.  It is somewhat difficult to do.  And usually involves discharging a contractor and then filing a Notice of Recommencement under a – filing a Notice of Recommencement to start your work.  So I guess the best way to say this you can, but you need to do it very carefully, and what the circumstances would be.  So if you have any questions about your Notice of Commencement well give me a call at 727-847-2288.

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Am I Required To Allow Unattended Access Inside My Home To A Contractor?

 

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Am I required to allowed unattended access inside my home by my contractor?  The answer to the question is no; however, you need to look at the consequences and are you there, or someone there at every day to provide him access.

 

Because your contractor’s gonna want to be able to get in there and get the job done.  And so he’s not gonna want to have to wait until you’re at home or whatever.  Of course, if you have a contractor that hadn’t shown up, and he wants to show up every three of four weeks, well it sounds like you need to get rid of your contractor and get someone else.  But you could probably write into the contract that says that he is – that you will be available or negotiate that on the front end.  And particularly if you’re doing a remodeling and you’re living there in your home, the answer to the question is no.

 

However, it may impeded the progress of your job.  But my experience says, well, that hadn’t been a problem you being there to allow him access, it’s been a problem of him not showing up, and then him wanting to show up whenever he wants to and then complain that he couldn’t get in to do the work.  So it sounds like a problem between the owner and the contractor, and sounds we need to get a new contractor and go through that process rather than talking about access to the home.

 

So if you have any questions about your construction contract and your contractor, well give me a call at 727-847-2288.

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Do I Have Any Recourse In Obtaining A Home Warranty That Was Promised But Never Delivered?

 

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Do I have any recourse in obtaining a home warranty that was promised by never delivered by my contractor?  The answer to the question is yes, if that’s part of the contract and they don’t deliver it, you’re entitled to sue them for breach of contract and what your damages are.

 

The problem is, is measuring your damages and what it will cost you to obtain that warranty through another source, or whoever it was going to be issued through.  So it’s a question of coming up with the measure of your damage as far as getting the home warranty contract.  Any time you have a breach of contract by your contractor, the first thing that I will advise if you call me about the problem, is call in another contractor, ask him to advise you how much it’s going to cost to complete the job that you contracted for.  And so then we take his costs, add it to what you’ve already paid to the contractor, and then subtract the total contract price to see what your damages may be.  In the case of a home warranty, that will be interesting to see if another contractor would be able to issue that home warranty and then assigning a value to it as far as your damages are concerned.  A tough question, not a very good answer.  But it is what it is.  So if you have any questions about your contractor and your home warranties, well call me at 727-847-2288.

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Is A Land Contract Still A Viable Means To Purchase A Home?

 

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Is a land contract still a viable means of purchasing a home?  The answer to the question is, is that Florida does not have land contracts.

 

I know Michigan has land contracts and any number of other states.  And the reason why many people use land contracts is that they’re in a state that has a non-judicial foreclosure statute which allows them to foreclosure, or get the property back through non-judicial procedures.  Florida is a judicial procedure state which requires you to go through a court proceeding to foreclose and take back property.  And so a land contract, the closest thing we have to it in Florida is called an agreement for deed.  An agreement for deed is the same as – has to be enforced the same as a note and mortgage and therefore you don’t see too many agreements for deed, because although the seller retains the title to the property and puts you in possession, if the buyer defaults they still have to go through a foreclosure process and so it defeats the purpose of using a land contract.

 

The other way of avoiding going through a foreclosure process if you’re the seller, and the buyer has a very small down payment, is to go with a lease with an option to purchase.  And that way if the buyer defaults in the payment, you’re then in a position to evict them rather than going through a foreclosure process, which is much quicker and less expensive than a foreclosure process.  It’ll probably take six, nine months to a year to foreclose a piece of property and costs and anywhere from $4,000.00 to $5,000.00.  Whereas with an eviction process you’re looking at probably 30 to 45 days and approximately $1,500.00 to $2,000.00 for an eviction process.  So if you talk land contracts in Florida, they’re gonna look at you with a blank stare, because it’s something that comes out of the Midwest or a state that has non-judicial foreclosures, and they are so you don’t have those in Florida.

 

If you have any questions about land contracts or buying and selling real property with owner financing, well give me a call at 727-847-2288.

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