Florida Realtor Residential Lease Agreement: Fill & Download for Free

I’ve just reviewed my files of various residential leases - New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Florida.Not surprisingly, neither the Massachusetts or New Jersey leases provide for an early termination/escape clause - i.e., “breaking the lease.” The Florida lease document carefully spells out that even if the tenant leave before the end of the lease term set out in the agreement, the tenant is responsible for all the rent set out for the one year lease term. No “maybe’s”, no options in any of these leases.It’s not surprising because you and your landlord entered into a one-year legal contract - your benefit was that you were guaranteed uninterrupted occupancy for twelve months, and there would be no increase in rent for that 12-month period. The landlord’s benefit was that s/he had a guaranteed 12 months minimum of tenancy before having to find a new tenant for the apartment (and usually tenants stay for significantly longer than just one year).Now, 4 months of rent to break the lease sound greedy? There are costs associated with the acquisition of a tenant. It’s getting more expensive nowadays - a realtor will charge, at the very least, one month’s rent as commission for finding that tenant. Then there is the cost for a background and credit check. So there’s a built-in extra cost to the landlord of perhaps more than two month’s rent he’s out due to your breaking the lease. There is also cleaning of the apartment and making sure everything is the same as when you first occupied the premises.Then, there’s no guarantee that he will find a tenant immediately. An unanticipated vacancy means that the landlord would not have a month or two of notice before he needed to re-rent the apartment. As Donald Tepper mentions, there are locations with high demand “rental seasons” and low (to dead) demand times for finding a tenant.No, I don’t think the landlord is greedy.Other answers have suggested various negotiation strategies to try to work out with your landlord. Think about them and see if you can work out a deal. But I repeat, your landlord isn’t greedy at all - he just might break even.

Andrew,Read your lease agreement. Everything you and the previous owner agreed to in the rental agreement is a contractual obligation for both parties.Does it say anything about limiting the amount of increases?My best guess, as a Native Floridian and Realtor for Beach Home Residential properties and Commercial Properties is that this is going to be a continuing occurrence.Florida is the happy recipient of buyers moving to our Smart State…in droves.So Andrew what can you do? Let’s consider the new owner’s side first;The new owner’s cost increased with the purchase automatically. The purchase price was an initial investment but taxes are based upon the purchase price and as taxes go up, the insurance costs too. Likely, there is a mortgage now and those have to be covered. Everything goes up. Mortgage, Taxes, Insurance…Also, There are usually some improvements or maintenances that were deferred that will now be undertaken, and these things cost more money as well.Now consider your choices:Talk to the new owner. Find out the plans for the place. Maybe there is some room for negotiations to reduce your lease amount for a period of time?Look around for a new place. What’s out there? Do you have to live in Sarasota? Can you move further out of town? Will another area of Florida work?Can you look for land to own? Mortgage rates are crazy low and you might be surprised how affordable land is inland.I love Florida and pray you don’t consider leaving, but prepare for this supply demand proposition to continue. This whole year has made our beautiful state more desirable in every way!2020 clearly gave the country eyes for Florida.😎😎