CLEARWATER, Fla. — Twenty Clearwater families are in limbo after the new property management company gave them little notice to move out.
Days after letters were taped to their doors saying they had to move out in 15 days, they each received another round of letters stating they owe thousands of dollars.
Clearwater police are investigating and now, local attorneys are raising some red flags.
The tenants of Westchester Apartments said they were blindsided on Feb. 2 when they received two papers — a welcome letter from a new property management company and a notice to vacate.
They were given 15 days to move out.
"I have nowhere to go. You know, everything is so high around here. I can't afford it," Lynn Davidoff said, a tenant of 16 years.
Davidoff is elderly and likes living at Westchester Apartments because she doesn't have a car but she can walk to the grocery store, laundry mat and bank.
The neighbors really started to panic days later when another round of letters was taped to their doors saying they had three days to pay thousands of dollars.
A Clearwater official with the Economic Development & Housing Department confirmed the property was sold at the beginning of the month and since our reporting, Clearwater Police is investigating whether the previous landlord properly recorded tenant payments.
The neighbors fear being left on the streets and now one tenant, a mother of three, including a foster child, got in a car accident Tuesday night.
"The car is totaled, the only car for the family. It's completely totaled," Tonya Robertson said, another tenant.
The mother didn't want to give her name or go on camera but she told 10 Tampa Bay reporter Liz Crawford she's dealing with aches, pains and a concussion.
"She's not doing well, I mean the stress of all this, at least she would have had the car to move, and now she doesn't have a vehicle, now she doesn't know what she's going to do. It just made the situation 10 times worse," Robertson said.
10 Tampa Bay connected the tenants with Gulfcoast Legal Services. The managing attorney for housing, James Kushner, pointed out some potential red flags in the notices the tenants received.
"A notice to terminate a month-to-month tenancy can only terminate a tenancy at the end of the lease period which in this case is to say the end of the month," Kushner explained.
Assuming the tenants are under month-to-month leases, Florida law allows for a 15-day notice to vacate before the end of the rental period, which is more than likely the end of the month.
"So a notice that terminates the lease in the middle of the month, Feb. 18, is ineffective," Kushner said, who has not reviewed any of the tenants' leases.
Additionally, the three-day notices requiring thousands of dollars in rental payment in addition to late fees could also be problematic.
"Under Florida law, a three-day notice can only demand the payment of rent, not everything a tenant owes a landlord is necessarily rent," Kushner added.
Kushner explained that a landlord cannot demand the payment of late fees under a three-day notice unless the lease explicitly says that late fees are to be considered rental payment by the landlord.
Neighbors say the property management company hasn't returned their calls since the beginning of the month.
10 Tampa Bay's calls and requests have also gone unanswered.