My landlord has made his intention to evict me clear, and has thus far supplied an illegal 15-day notice (He tried to evict me for not keeping the premises clean, but did not provide the mandatory 7-day notice to fix beforehand). He then accepted another month’s rent, but made it clear his intentions have not changed as “his friend wants to move in by January”.
He has also made it clear he intends to keep my security deposit one way or another, whether it’s in payment for a door he wrongfully believes I broke (I could not have done so, as I was at work when it was broken, and, well, I’m a 5’6″ 95lb girl who had NO visible marks on her hand) or in payment for the elimination of a roach infestation he wrongfully believes I brought in (There were roaches in the house before I moved in).
As such, I have decided to forgo paying this month’s electric bill. Not only do I need the money to afford the deposit and first month’s rent at my new place, but I do not feel that it is a fair split of the bill – one of my roommate’s sons lived on our living room floor for the past three weeks without my consent, and the bill clearly shows an unusual spike in both electrical and water usage consistent with his living there.
As of right now, to evict me he would have to go through the 15-day eviction notice process. However, in light of my not paying the electrical bill, could he change that to a 3-day notice to vacate? As far as I can tell, in Florida the 3-day notice applies solely to the non-payment of rent, and my utilities are not included in my monthly rent payment, but could it, in fact, count? There is no formal lease, only e-mails exchanged between myself and the landlord when I responded to his craigslist ad.
Thank you!