[RPPTL Leasing Committee] Strange Landlord Question

[Carol Grondzik]

As to questions two and three, it may be impractical to enforce because the practice would have to be applied to all applicants equally so that one day when someone in a protected class claims discrimination there is a plausible defense.  Also, because it will must be a voluntary criteria, will denial to allow inspection be an automatic disqualification?  That seems problematic.

Carol

Carol S. Grondzik, Esq.
Lutz Bobo & Telfair, P.A.
2155 Delta Blvd.  Suite 210-B
Tallahassee, FL  32303
Telephone 1-850-521-0890
Toll Free 1-877-521-0890
Facsimile 1-850-5210891

IMPORTANT / CONFIDENTIAL
This message from LUTZ, BOBO & TELFAIR, P.A. is intended only for the use of the addressees shown above. This message contains information that may be privileged, confidential and/or exempt from disclosure under applicable law. If you are not the intended recipient of this message, then you are hereby notified that the copying, use, forwarding or other distribution of any information or materials transmitted in or with, or as an attachment to, this message is strictly prohibited. If you received this message by mistake, then please immediately send it back to us and then immediately destroy this message. Your cooperation is appreciated.
Pursuant to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, it is required that we state the following to you: This is a communication from a debt collector. This may be an attempt to collect a debt and any information obtained may be used for that purpose.

From: landten-bounces at lists.flabarrpptl.org <landten-bounces at lists.flabarrpptl.org> On Behalf Of csabol sabollaw.com
Sent: Friday, July 26, 2024 1:12 PM
To: Landlord - Tenant Listserve <landten at lists.flabarrpptl.org>
Subject: [RPPTL Leasing Committee] Strange Landlord Question

Hi All,

I got a strange (or maybe not so strange) question from a Landlord client of mine.  Landlord is asking if they can require a prospective tenant to allow them to come visit the tenant's current home before approving them to rent?  The idea is if they are excessively dirty or messy and do not take care of their current place of residence, that they will likely do the same in the future.  As I write this out, it does sound reasonable since people do tend to live a certain way no matter where they live.

Anyhow, the questions are: (1) Has anyone ever heard of a Landlord doing this? (2) Is it legal? (3) Would denying someone a rental because they live dirty be any type of housing violation?

Cary Sabol
Cary P. Sabol, Esq. J.D. (2001), LLM (2009)
Law Offices of Cary P. Sabol
P.O. Box 15981 | West Palm Beach | Florida | 33416
Office: (561) 413-4449
Cell:     (561) 281-2744
Fax:     (888) 316-2881
Email: CSABOL at SABOLLAW.COM<mailto:CSABOL at SABOLLAW.COM>

BEWARE OF CYBER-CRIME: IF YOU RECEIVE AN E-MAIL OR ANY OTHER COMMUNICATION THAT APPEARS TO BE GENERATED FROM OUR OFFICE THAT CONTAINS NEW, REVISED, OR ALTERED BANK WIRE INSTRUCTIONS, CONSIDER IT SUSPECT AND CALL OUR OFFICE AT A NUMBER YOU TRUST. OUR BANK WIRE INSTRUCTIONS SELDOM CHANGE.  ALWAYS CALL TO VERBALLY CONFIRM OUR WIRE INSTRUCTIONS PRIOR TO SENDING ANY WIRE TRANSFERS.

PLEASE NOTE:  On Closings with a Loan, we require "CLOSING INSTRUCTIONS and LOAN PACKAGES" by NOON the day BEFORE Closing"
CASH TO CLOSE for real estate transactions must be WIRED to our account prior to closing. (SAME DAY WIRE - NO ACH TRANSFERS) Wire instructions will be provided upon request. ACH transfers are NOT SAME DAY wires and cannot be accepted.

THIS COMMUNICATION MAY BE AN ATTEMPT TO COLLECT A DEBT AS DEFINED BY FLORIDA AND FEDERAL LAW AND ANY INFORMATION OBTAINED WILL BE USED FOR THAT PURPOSE. THIS IS A COMMUNICATION FROM A DEBT COLLECTOR.

IRS Circular 230 Notice: Pursuant to recently enacted U.S. Treasury Department Regulations, we are now required to advise you that, unless otherwise expressly indicated, any federal tax advice expressed above was neither written nor intended by the sender or this firm to be used and cannot be used by any taxpayer for the purpose of avoiding penalties that may be imposed under U.S. tax law. If any person uses or refers to any such tax advice in promoting, marketing or recommending a partnership or other entity, investment plan or arrangement to any taxpayer, then the advice should be considered to have been written to support the promotion or marketing by a person other than the sender or this firm of that transaction or matter, and such taxpayer should seek advice based on the taxpayer's particular circumstances from an independent tax advisor.

Confidentiality Notice: This electronic mail transmission is intended for the use of the individual or entity to which it is addressed and may contain confidential information belonging to the sender which is protected by the attorney-client privilege. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any disclosure, copying, distribution, or the taking of any action in reliance on the contents of this information is strictly prohibited. If you have received this transmission in error, please notify the sender immediately by e-mail and delete the original message. Thank you for your cooperation.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.fsr.com/pipermail/landten/attachments/20240730/c7d1e725/attachment-0001.html>