PORT TAMPA, Fla. — The impact of Hurricane Helene is being felt by local renters whose units were damaged by flooding.
ABC Action News wanted to find out if tenants still have to pay rent when their units are damaged and when they can break their lease.
The perfect little apartment
Emily Mittani showed us the patio of her former apartment in the Port Tampa neighborhood.
“It was just the perfect size little apartment, and it had an outdoor area for the kids,” she said.
Emily shared the apartment with her daughters, 6-year-old Solin and 4-year-old Zilan.
But the apartment is no longer perfect, despite her landlord’s best efforts.
“They bought door dams and raised all of the appliances, but it obviously went way over that,” Emily said.
The video she shot when she returned to her apartment after Hurricane Helene shows her furniture turned upside down and thick muck covering the floor.
About four feet of water seeped inside.
Now, most of her belongings are in a pile by the curb.
“My kids’ bunk beds, dressers, all of their toys,” Emily said. “They let us know that once everything was cleared out, we could turn the keys in and we got our deposits back as well. So that will help.”
Emily says she’s glad she’ll be getting at least some money for her losses.
“We had to have in addition to renter’s insurance, flood insurance to even rent,” she said.
Do you still have to pay rent if your unit is damaged?
Attorney Steven Hachey says her landlord followed the law by letting her out of her lease and giving her deposit back.
But he says that under Florida law, just because your unit is damaged doesn’t mean you don’t have to pay rent.
“If the unit is a complete loss, then the tenant has the right to terminate the lease altogether. If it’s not a complete loss, then essentially the tenant can pro-rate the rent for the portion of the unit that’s not livable,” Hachey said.
For example, if a three-bedroom home rents for $2,100 and one bedroom is unlivable, the tenant would still have to pay $1,400 dollars.
“It’s a pretty big mess”
Hachey says because hurricane damage is so widespread, it may take landlords months to get units repaired.
“It’s a pretty big mess. Ultimately, there was already very high demand for rental properties. I believe for every one unit there were 10 applicants,” Hachey said.
With more homeowners whose houses were damaged entering the rental market,the demand will grow even more.
Emily now has no long-term place to go.
“My situation is I'm at a hotel right down the street until I can find a new place,” Emily said.
Hachey says that knowing there are few options, renters need to be patient, even if things aren’t perfect for a while.
“Everyone needs a roof over their head and if you can only utilize two of three bedrooms, a lot of people out there have zero bedrooms and two’s certainly better than zero,” he said.
A state report says hundreds of frail elderly nursing home residents were stacked side by side, head to toe in a small church with no working air conditioning or refrigerator during Hurricane Helene.
