Some deadbeat landlords must forfeit rents to condo associations
Each month, Judd Tyler, the president of his townhome association, discovers his community doesn’t have enough money to pay all of its bills.
So the townhome board took action. It is among the first in the area to obtain a court order to force delinquent landlords to turn over rent payments to them.
“The problem is these investors have given up hope on keeping their unit,” Tyler said of Charleston Place Townhomes, near the Westchase area. “They just wait to lose the home in foreclosure. Meanwhile, their tenant is using all of these amenities, and the rest of us have to pay for it.”
The court order, signed late last month, grants what’s called a blanket receivership. It requires many of the tenants to pay their rent to a court-approved, third-party receiver instead of the landlord. In fact, it’s against the law for the landlord to collect rent until all past-due fees and legal costs are paid.