We've been renting a condo in Florida for the last 3 years. Recently we were shocked to hear that our landlord murdered his wife and is now held in jail with no bond waiting for trial.
The title for the condo is on both names (hasband and wife) so wife and husbands names both took title when property was purchased and as of now we have 1 owner (hasbund) alive and held in county jail.
We received a notice letter from a lawyer representing PR of the wife estate in probate court requesting to send future rent payments payable to the estate of the wife or threat he will start eviction process even though he doesn't even have a copy of the lease or any info at all.
We don't know what to do. We would like to stay and continue to pay rent but we we are not sure how. We have the following important questions:
1. We're not sure if the property is legally belongs to the estate and therefore don't know if we should send rent payment to the estate as the letter we received from the estate lawyer demands. Since 1 owner is still alive (the husband) he can also technically request us to send him rent payment as well. We also in problematic situation since the estate demand rent but don't take landlord responsibilities towards us?
2. The condo association maintenance fees are past due and we received a letter from association that cable TV and parking privileges may be terminated soon. Should we deduct these costs from future rent payments?
3. We were informed that since the condo is underwater with no equity at all. Mortgage payments are not paid and probably the estate will have no interest to fight or manage this condo. The condo will probably go to foreclosure which can take few years till the bank buy it at auction here in FL. We prefer to stay if possible but wondering what should we expect to happen next?
4. How do we recover the first and last months deposits we gave when we initially signed the lease? should we hold rent payments in escrow account till things will be clearer?.
5. What should we do if the estate representative file an eviction against us with no lease on hand?
Thanks in advance for your help.
The title for the condo is on both names (hasband and wife) so wife and husbands names both took title when property was purchased and as of now we have 1 owner (hasbund) alive and held in county jail.
We received a notice letter from a lawyer representing PR of the wife estate in probate court requesting to send future rent payments payable to the estate of the wife or threat he will start eviction process even though he doesn't even have a copy of the lease or any info at all.
We don't know what to do. We would like to stay and continue to pay rent but we we are not sure how. We have the following important questions:
1. We're not sure if the property is legally belongs to the estate and therefore don't know if we should send rent payment to the estate as the letter we received from the estate lawyer demands. Since 1 owner is still alive (the husband) he can also technically request us to send him rent payment as well. We also in problematic situation since the estate demand rent but don't take landlord responsibilities towards us?
2. The condo association maintenance fees are past due and we received a letter from association that cable TV and parking privileges may be terminated soon. Should we deduct these costs from future rent payments?
3. We were informed that since the condo is underwater with no equity at all. Mortgage payments are not paid and probably the estate will have no interest to fight or manage this condo. The condo will probably go to foreclosure which can take few years till the bank buy it at auction here in FL. We prefer to stay if possible but wondering what should we expect to happen next?
4. How do we recover the first and last months deposits we gave when we initially signed the lease? should we hold rent payments in escrow account till things will be clearer?.
5. What should we do if the estate representative file an eviction against us with no lease on hand?
Thanks in advance for your help.
