Almost every state discourages  landlords from retaliating against tenants for exerting their legal rights. For example, in Florida, a landlord can be severely punished for evicting, harassing, changing locks, turning off utilities, removing walls or doors, or raising the rent of a tenant in direct response to the tenant complaining to a government agency or requesting legally-mandated repairs.

Therefore, when a tenant is experiencing such retaliation, the landlord can be stopped and sued. However, the tenant's path to enforcing their rights may be a time and money consuming endeavor, depending on the circumstances of their case.  Therefore, before doing so, tenants should consult with competent tenant counsel.

In our next article, we will discuss what constitutes illegal retaliation by a landlord.

Do you think your landlord is retaliating against you? If you are ready to move forward—or if you have any questions about us or our process, email us at [email protected], text us, or call us at (407) 294-9959. Otherwise, we wish you good luck with your legal matter.