Common problems landlords and tenants face before they sign their residential lease

Board Certified business lawyer David Steinfeld's article is part one in a three-part series addressing common problems that landlords and tenants face in residential leasing in Florida.

The three phases in which problems can arise are before the lease is signed, during the lease, and at the end of the lease. Each phase has unique issues. This article covers those issues that most often arise before the lease is signed and looks at perspectives of both the tenant and the landlord.

The important components of the pre-leasing phase are the money and the property. With regard to the money, normally a landlord will require some form of a deposit and payment of at least the first month of the lease. Sometimes they also require payment of the last month of the lease as well. Those payments are different from a traditional security deposit of which there are two types. One kind of security deposit guarantees performance of the lease and the other provides security for damage to the property. In both cases, upon full performance of the lease, the security deposit is generally refunded to the renter unless provided for otherwise by the lease.

For the landlord getting the largest deposit and prepayment of rent is tremendously beneficial. If a tenant defaults on rent the deposit essentially prefunds the eviction. Likewise if the tenant damages the property the deposit will cover those repairs. So the deposits and advanced rent insulate the landlord in those scenarios.

Board Certified business law specialist attorney David Steinfeld explains the issues that most often arise before a residential lease is signed from the perspectives of both the tenant and the landlord.

David Steinfeld has almost 30 years of experience and is one of the just over 200 board certified business law experts out of the more than 120,000 lawyers licensed in Florida. Mr. Steinfeld opened his business law firm in Palm Beach Gardens almost 15 years ago and practices throughout Florida specializing in business law, business litigation, and real estate and construction disputes.

Dave is an AV-Preeminent rated business lawyer and has received both Martindale-Hubbell's prestigious Judicial Edition Award for high reviews by judges and its Platinum Client Champion Award for many years. Additionally, Avvo awarded him a 10.0-Superb rating, recognized him with its annual Client Choice Award, and the Justia lawyer reviews website has given him a 10.0 rating.

The article is available at https://www.davidsteinfeld.com/security-deposit-problems.html

Law Office of David Steinfeld
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David Steinfeld has been consistently recognized as one of the Best Lawyers in America by U.S. News and World Report, a Florida Super Lawyer, and one of Florida's Legal Elite. He has also been named one of the Top 100 Bet-the-Company Litigators in South Florida, a Top Lawyer in South Florida, and Top Attorney in Florida by several organizations including being named one of the Best Lawyers in South Florida by the Wall Street Journal.

This release was published on openPR.