A Pembroke Pines apartment complex was
evacuated after the city deemed the building unsafe, partly
due to "signs of structural deterioration."
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Salazar explained that when building
officials say tenants have to vacate for safety reasons and
already determined that it was due to the owner's negligence
-- that owner must make arrangements for those tenants
within eight hours of the requirement to vacate. They are to
provide temporary housing for at least three months or until
the property is made safe.
Salazar then broke down a situation where the owner does not
meet those obligations.
"The ordinance says that the county can provide emergency
housing and meals for seven days – and that the county can
provide financial assistance for up to three months of
rent," Salazar explained. "The county has power to go back
and try to claw back whatever they spent from the owner."
The Miami-Dade Ordinance has since been complicated due to
legislation Florida passed in July stripping municipalities
from the ability to enact local tenant protections. House
Bill 1417, known as the Preemption Bill, "preempts local
tenant-rights ordinances and it says that there will be only
one uniform law across the state” said Salazar.
Salazar believes the future of the Miami-Dade ordinance is
unclear at this time, as the Preemption Bill has not been
litigated yet.
Salazar noted that the Legal Services of Greater Miami
believes Miami-Dade’s ordinance should remain in effect
because it appears in the section of the ordinances that
relate to the building codes and safety and not in the
section that relates to the Tenant Bill of Rights.
Can residents sue?
“Anyone can file a lawsuit in court at any time – whether
you’ll prevail in that case is a different matter," Salazar
said.
“You can file a lawsuit alleging that the landlord basically
breached their obligation under your lease,” added Salazar.
“So, the lease required the landlord to do X, Y and Z – and
they did not do that, and you’ve suffered damages as a
result – meaning that you’ve had to incur expenses or other
losses – then, you can certainly file a lawsuit at any time.
You’d have to prove your case.”
Do leases usually address forced
evacuations?
“I don’t think it’s very common for the lease to say that
'if the government shuts the building down, then this is
what will happen.' I haven’t seen that." Salazar explained.
"Leases sometimes say -- if the unit becomes unlivable, rent
will be abated for a period or something like that," she
continued. "But, you’d have to read the particular terms of
your lease."
Does the cause of an evacuation need
to be investigated first – to determine whether conditions
were within the residents’ control?
In short, Salazar said this is exactly the case.
"Building officials have to determine that the unsafe
conditions are due to the negligence of the owner – in order
for the protection to kick in. So yes, it would be up to the
building official to make that determination," she said.
If tenants would rather move out than wait for management to
fix things – would they be allowed to break leases in that
case?
Salazar explained that unit owners don't usually have
control over a building's structural problems, so it would
not be in your landlord's hands. However, you should always
look at the terms of your lease.
"If you’re renting the unit and the problem is structural –
then your unit owner is probably not responsible for that
issue. The issues need to be address by the condo
association," said Salazar.
What if an issue is in the landlord's
control?
Salazar explained that if a landlord refuses to make repairs
to a unit, then a tenant can "send a seven-day rent
withholding letter or a seven-day letter terminating the
tenancy."
"You can say -- if you don’t make these repairs in seven
days, then I’m going to be moving out or I’m going to
withhold the rent that comes through the following month,"
Salazar explained.
"Under Landlord/Tenant Law – if you are in a situation where
there are bad conditions in your unit – the applicable
statute is Florida Statute is 83.51 and Florida Statue 83.60
– those lay out what the landlord’s obligations are to
maintain the unit," Salazar continued.
She explained in that case, it would be the unit, but in the
Pembroke Pines condo case, it is the structural integrity of
the whole building, which would not be in the control of
that unit’s landlord.