Did my landlord violate the law??

We bought a house and informed our landlord that we would be moving out. We were breaking our lease but she was very understanding because it was a very bad neiborhood. We moved out completly and dropped the key off to someone in the leasing office on june 14. We called a few days later to verify that everything was ok and she yes we were fine. 10 days later she sent our account to a collection agency. We were shocked because she knew how to contact us we did not skip town we even called to follow up. And she did not indicate that we owed anything. She is charging us for the remainder of the month that we left. My question is in Florida isn't there some process that she should have followed. I mean don't you need to attempt to contact the person before sending the account to a collection agency? Like I said we did not skip town and she knew how to contact us. We would have had no problem paying any remainding rent if she had contacted us.

In a case like this you must get any agreements you made in writing. This is what she is doing, seems like she has changed her mind.

That probably would have been the sensible and courteous thing to do, but unfortunately since you broke the contract I think she is within her legal rights.

She could have sent the entire lease amount.

If the rent had been due June 1 she could sent it to collections 30 days later, July 1.

Why not just pay her and be done? She was very kind to let you out of the lease.

When they said you were fine they were refering to inspection of premises after departing. The were not assessing any fees due to damage, theft or vandalism. You are of course responsible for uncollected lease or rental fees under the said lease. If they can not rent or lease this property out before the end of your lease period you will be responsible for the fees. They should have been more clear on your obligations when you gave notice and they could have been more civil with you over collecting amount due before taking the action they chose. Congradulations on your new home.

READ, READ, YOUR LEASE. Look on early termination; what rules/conditions are stated. How long have you lived at that address? What type of lease was it; six months, one year, five years, etc.
NEVER, NEVER, HANDLE LEGAL ISSUES WITH A VERBAL RESPONSE. There are legal forms to handle this situation.
Normally you would have discussion this with the management company what if we move out before xx date; the end of the current lease. They would have told you to read paragraph xx and draw your own conclusions.

Living in a poor neighborhood does not except you from a contract. Did you request for the owner of the property to install some type of security system? Have you contact the police to request extra patrol in your area? Do you have a neighborhood watch program??

I feel sorry for you because when you request credit approval in the future the collection agency status is going to send up red flags.

yes she should have spoken to you but in reality she has a right to collect the whole months rent. ifi were you i would pay her and be done so it doesnt affect your credit report.

If you moved out mid-lease and mid-month, plus you were breaking the lease, what made you think that you did not have to give a 30-day notice?

Your landlord had the option of not allowing you to break your lease at all, and could have charged you for up to 3 months, rather than the 2 weeks they are trying to collect.

Unless you got it in writing, you'll have to pay immediately before it hits your credit.