i own a house in key west florida. this house was rented, with a one
year lease, through a property manager in july 2001. the tenants broke
their lease in january and moved out leaving two months rent in
escrow. the first months rent went to pay my mortgage. the second
months rent paid for cleaning, painting and repairing of property
after they moved out. the second tenant moved in the middle of january
2002. i returned to the house july 11, 2002. there is $1600 of damages
and loss to the property. the second tenant says that most of the
damage was done before he moved in. i was not aware of the estent of
the damage and believed that the house had been restored to the
condition i left it. the second tenant says he is not responsible for
this $1600 bill. what are my rights and responsibilities and what is
the responsibility of the property manager in this case?

I am sorry, oneheart, but I am compelled to suggest to you that this
is a very complex question involving issues of Florida landlord/tenant
law as well as the law of contracts as interpreted by Florida courts.

Certainly the assistance of an attorney specializing in
landlord/tenant relationships would be an asset to you - some might
suggest that it is a necessity, given the amount of money at stake,
the conflicting testimony, the civil procedure requirements of
obtaining service of process, and other issues of getting a Key West
court to give you a judgment.

Good luck,
weisstho-ga

Dear oneheart,

This is not a legal response, just based on experience... You haven't
mentioned the response of the property manager.

Whenever I have interacted with a property manager as tenant or
landlord, they have done a property inspection/checklist which the
tenant also signs.

This should describe the state of the property following repairs and
before Tenant 2's occupation????

Regards,