ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Nearly seven weeks after Hurricane Helene impacted parts of the Tampa Bay area, one St. Pete man is still fighting to get some of his money back on an unlivable rental property.
It's a case that raises questions about tenants' rights and what you're responsible for paying if your property is deemed "uninhabitable."
"We came back to find we had about 14 inches of water inside and about two feet in the garage," Matthew Capron said of his Venetian Isles rental. "The drywall was wet, the baseboard was wet. There was no power, no A/C. We had no choice, we had to get out."
He said he and his family packed up what they could, but were delayed by the high demand for movers locally. He said they were fully out of the home nine days after Helene hit.
But now, Capron said he's out thousands, as his landlord is still charging him for the final days of September after the storm hit, and the additional days of October when they were cleaning out.
Capron argues this violates his lease agreement in which a "casualty damage" clause allows him to terminate his lease in the event the property is destroyed in a natural disaster. However, his landlord doesn't see the clause giving him that protection.
"His position is that because we were still taking items out of the house, we need to pay full rent," Capron explained.
Capron's landlord spoke with 10 Tampa Bay over the phone Tuesday afternoon, telling us he has paid back all Capron is owed, doubling down that his tenant can be charged for not being fully vacated.
The landlord said he is prepared to take legal action, if necessary, to protect his interests.
After so much loss from the hurricane, Capron said he's also willing to fight for what he believes he's owed.
"This adds insult to injury. We were ready to be done with this. Now, we have to go through months or years of litigation. We're not looking forward to that," he said.
Consumer law expert Charles Gallagher said a judge will likely side with a tenant whose lease agreement has a "casualty loss clause" like Capron's.
"Say a tornado comes through, a fire comes through, whatever it might be. If you can't use it, there's a provision in there most often outlining what rights you have. And typically that's the right to withhold rent if you can't live there," Gallagher said.
Even without that clause, Gallagher said the state protects renters within a week if they file a complaint.
"There's a provision called "notice of material non-compliance" where it provides a tenant a seven-day written notice to a landlord to fix whatever deficient condition it is. They have seven days to cure that and if they don't cure that within seven days, then on that eighth day you can exit that lease without penalty and without further rent," Gallagher said.