As a tenant in Florida, understanding your rights and the process of proving damages in a landlord-tenant dispute is crucial.  While tenants have the right to seek compensation for various damages, establishing these damages and receiving a fair settlement is often riddled with challenges.

A.                 The Importance of Proving Damages

Tenants can seek compensation for various types of damages, including:

• Breach of Implied Warranty of Habitability: If a landlord fails to maintain a habitable living environment, tenants can seek compensation for repairs, rent refunds, and even emotional distress or medical expenses in some instances.
• Wrongful Eviction: If a landlord unlawfully evicts a tenant, compensation may include moving expenses, lost income, and refunded rent payments.
• Property Damage: If a landlord's negligence or inaction leads to property damage, tenants can seek compensation for repairs or replacement of their belongings.
• Wrongfully Withheld Security Deposit: Tenants can sometimes sue for the return of their security deposit, along with interest or even triple damages.

However, tenants can't just show up in court, ask for them, and expect to be awarded them.  Courts must be able to calculate a tenant's damages using a formula.  Since judges are lawyers and not accountants, they rely on the parties to provide them with detailed calculations to calculate the damages tenants seek.  If the tenant fails to do so, the court may not have sufficient evidence to grant the tenant's request for damages.

Therefore, if a tenant wants damages, the tenant will have to put in the work!

B.                 Proving Damages: A Complex Process

Proving damages in a landlord-tenant dispute is a complex task.  It often requires a combination of thorough documentation, expert testimony, and legal knowledge.  Here's why:

1. Economic Damages: Proving economic damages, such as the cost of repairs or replacement of damaged property, requires detailed evidence.  Securing This evidence includes obtaining repair estimates from qualified professionals, providing receipts proving the tenant actually owned the property, providing receipts for expenses incurred, and documenting any financial losses resulting from the damages.
2. Non-Economic Damages: Non-economic damages, such as emotional distress, pain, and suffering, are considerably more challenging to prove.  Emotional distress, also known as mental anguish, is a legal term for psychological injury caused by a traumatic event.  In Florida, parties can sue for emotional distress if the party can show that another party's negligence or recklessness caused thier emotional suffering.  However, Florida's Impact Rule often requires a physical injury to claim emotional distress.  This impact rule means that many tenants cannot prove non-economic damages for a landlord's negligence.

Those tenants who can do so require substantial documentation, including medical records, therapist notes, and witness testimonies, to establish a direct link between the landlord's actions and the tenant's emotional distress.

3. Expert Testimony: In many cases, expert testimony is essential to prove damages.  For instance, tenants may need to hire an expert mold inspector to assess the extent of mold damage and its impact on the tenant's health.  Expert witnesses can provide credible evidence to support a tenant's claims.  Moreover, most attorneys rely on experts to calculate a tenant's damages and explain such calculations and opinions to the court, if necessary.  This reliance on experts underscores the complexity of proving damages in legal proceedings.

C.                Emotional Distress Damages: A High Bar

While tenants may be entitled to emotional distress damages in certain situations, proving these damages is a significant challenge.  The legal standard for emotional distress is high, requiring evidence of severe and lasting psychological harm directly caused by the landlord's actions.  Additionally, courts often scrutinize emotional distress claims in landlord-tenant disputes, making it difficult for tenants to prevail.

·         Document your distress

Keep a daily journal to document your emotional state and any physical symptoms.

·         Provide medical documentation

If you've sought psychological treatment, include records of your visits, diagnoses, and treatments.  You can also include documentation of treatment for self-injury.

·         Get witness testimony

Ask friends, family, or co-workers to provide testimony about your emotional state.

·         Establish causation

Prove that the defendant's actions directly caused your emotional distress.

D.                The Waiver Clause and Issue of Waiver: A Major Obstacle

Many lease agreements contain waiver clauses that may require tenants to relinquish their right to sue the landlord for certain types of damages, such as emotional distress and punitive damages.  These clauses and certain aspects of the law can pose a significant challenge for tenants seeking compensation.  However, it's important to note that not all waiver clauses are legally enforceable, and tenants might not necessarily forfeit their rights to claim these damages unknowingly.  Additionally, many tenants unknowingly waive thier claims to these damages.

Therefore, consulting with a qualified attorney is crucial to clarify one's rights and options. 

E.                 Seek Legal Counsel:  Your Best Bet

Navigating the complexities of proving damages in a landlord-tenant dispute can be overwhelming for tenants.  Seeking legal counsel from an experienced attorney experienced in landlord-tenant law is strongly recommended.  An attorney can help you understand your rights, gather necessary evidence, and navigate the legal process effectively.

F.                  Use these Forms as a Guide to Assist In Proving Your Damages

Although we highly recommend the use of experts to assist you in proving your damages, for those who choose to proceed otherwise (or if you need to document your damages for us), we encourage you to use the following forms as a guide and for usable templates to create your own inventory lists.  

Detailed documentation is critical to proving damages and protecting your rights as a tenant:

Excel:  Documenting Tenant Damages

Google Sheets:  Documenting Tenant Damages Google Sheets Style

G.                Conclusion:

Have you ever successfully navigated a landlord-tenant dispute?  Share your experience in the comments below!  What are your top tips for documenting your damages?  Let's start a conversation!  Do you have any lingering questions about documenting your damages?  We're here to help!  If you're a tenant facing a landlord-tenant dispute, don't panic.  Reach out to us today and schedule your ‘Talk to the Attorney" session by visiting us at our Talk to the Attorney page. 

 Our experienced attorneys are here to guide you through the legal process and protect your rights.

Disclaimer: This blog post is intended to provide general information and should not be considered legal advice.  Always consult with a qualified attorney for legal guidance specific to your situation.