Is there a law for when a tenant moves out that the locks have to be changed?
Full Question:
My daughter lives in an apartment in Tallahassee. She is a student at FSU. At her apartment there were 4 tenants for a four bedroom 2 bath apartment. Each tenant was on a separate lease and only responsible for their portion of the rent. Two of the tenants transferred to another apartment in the same complex and paid $175.00 to transfer. They came back into my daughters apartment after moving out last week without my daughter being there and used their old key. I called the rental office and told them about it and asked them when they were going to change the locks. The rental office told me they just ask for the keys back and were not required to change the locks. Isn't there a law for when a tenant moves out that the locks are to be changed?
01/10/2007 |
Category: Landlord Tenant |
State: Florida |
#314
Answer:
We cannot adequately answer your question without seeing the lease. There are laws forcing a landlord to change locks after an episode of domestic violence in order to protect the victim however, that law is not applicable here.
If the rental office is under an obligation to ask that the keys of your daughters former roommates be returned, and it fails to do so, she could change the locks herself and argue that the cost should be deducted from her rent.
