Tenants and little children walking through bat droppings and urine corroded carpet on hallway in apt complex every day.

Landlord Tenant 3 views 4 answers
I live in apt. complex It has been said bats can only be removed a certain time of year in Florida.Bats inside of bldg. in hallway upstairs.{side of bldg.}Droppings and urine falling down onto carpet.{outside of rabies}Tenants and children breathing droppings and urine smell coming into living room,which is next to hallway.Manager and corp.told....did nothing.What can be done..since this is a highly exceptional health hazardous situation? This is definitely ..the exceptional.

Attorney Answers

4
Roger Moss ·
Immediately write a letter to the landlord respectfully requesting they take action to clean up the situation. While you are waiting for a reply, take your lease to a tenants' rights attorney or social agency and ask for guidance. Keep in mind that there is a lot of bad information about bats. They're good neighbors and eat tons of mosquitos. But it is unacceptable for management to ignore any harmful condition in common areas, or that affect your unit, as you describe.
0 upvotes
Edward Fucillo ·
Florida law allows you to serve a written 7-day notice to your landlord if you are seeking correction of a material problem that is the landlord's responsibility. If the problem is not resolved, you can either terminate the lease or withhold an amount of rent that is consistent with the diminished rental value. Before attempting to do this, I highly recommend you consult with a local attorney who can prepare an appropriate notice to your landlord. If done incorrectly, you could be sued for breach of the lease agreement and eviction.
0 upvotes
Mark Theodore TischhauserLitigation LawyerTampa, FL ·
You would typically need to do a 7 day notice and then be prepared to move and respond to any action by the LL claiming damages if there is no agreement that you can vacate otherwise. As a tenant/renters lawyer, this is best done with a lawyer as it is usually taken more seriously.
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Jonathan Klurfeld ·
I've actually dealt with similar case in South Florida with bats. If the bats are protected there may simply be no options for the association to remove them. There is case law that they may be able to do nothing about wild animals such as bats ans have no liability to you or any resident. They should be trying to clean up though. You also have the issue that you could send a 7 day notice to the landlord, but the lease doesn't say landlord shall clean up bat droppings from the common areas. It may be hard to hold landlord to a breach of the lease for the association's failure to maintain the common areas.
0 upvotes

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