[RPPTL LandTen] Florida Unclaimed Property Act Issue

[George Pincus]

Under the heading of "no good deed goes unpunished" I have the following problem:


*        Tenant leaves premises in office building at end of lease term

*        At the end of the same calendar year, Landlord does OP EX reconciliation and ends up owing the former Tenant money (a few thousand dollars - not a big number)

*        Landlord makes diligent effort to find Tenant but the entity has been administratively dissolved and it can't find principals of the now dissolved company

*        After not being able to find anyone to send the refund to, Landlord fills out the form required by the Unclaimed Property Act (F.S. Chapter 717) and sends it in, with a check, to the Department of Financial Services

*        The Department now wants to come in and do and extensive audit of Landlord's financial records, saying that Landlord is an entity that holds other people's monies and may not be in compliance with the Act.

*        Landlord really does not want to undergo the audit and just wants this to go away (regretting that it tried to do the right thing in sending the unclaimed funds into the State).

Does anyone have any relevant experience with a similar situation?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

George A. Pincus, Esq.
Shareholder
Stearns Weaver Miller Weissler
  Alhadeff & Sitterson, P.A.
New River Center, Suite 2100
200 East Las Olas Boulevard
Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33301
Telephone: 954-766-9705
Facsimile:    954-766-9719
E-mail: gpincus at stearnsweaver.com<mailto:gpincus at swmwas.com>
www.stearnsweaver.com



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