The rights of tenants in the conversion of apartments to condominium
By Commissioner Lewis J. Thaler

Several weeks ago, I read an article in a local newspaper about tenants who were being evicted without adequate notice when their landlord decided to convert their apartments to condominiums. After reading this article, I decided it was necessary for me to provide information to tenants about their rights when their apartments are converted to condominiums.

TENANTS' RIGHTS

A. Notice of Intent
Under Florida law, a property owner is required to provide written notice of its intent to convert an apartment to condominium to all tenants of the apartment. All notices must be provided within a 72-hour period.

B. Contents of Notice
In its notice to all the tenants, the property owner must advise the tenants of the following:

(a) The tenant has the right to remain as a resident of the apartment complex until the expiration of his or her rental agreement.

(b) The tenant has the right to extend his or her rental agreement based on the following:

(c) If they have continuously been a resident of the apartment during the last 180 days and their rental agreement expires during the next 270 days, they may extend their rental agreement for up to 270 days after the date of this notice.

(d) If they have not been a continuous resident of the apartments for the last 180 days and their rental agreement expires during the next 180 days, they may extend their rental agreement for up to 180 days after the date of receiving the notice of intended conversion.

C. Steps Tenant Must Follow to Extend Rental agreement
(1) To extend the rental agreement, the tenant must give the property owner written notice within 45 days after receiving the notice of intended conversion.

(2) If the rental agreement expires in the next 45 days, the tenant may extend the rental agreement for up to 45 days after the date of receiving notice of intended conversion, while the tenant decides to extend the rental agreement either for 270 days or 180 days.

D. Cancellation of Rental Agreement by Tenant
(1) If the rental agreement has an unexpired term of 180 days or less, the tenant may cancel the rental agreement upon 30 days written notice and move. Further, the tenant may cancel any extension of the rental agreement upon 30 days written notice.

E. Right to Purchase Apartment
(1) A tenant, who has been a resident of the apartment during the last 180 days, has the right to purchase the apartment.

(2) The tenant shall have 45 days to decide whether to purchase his or her apartment. If the apartment unit is offered at a lower price than the price that was offered to the tenant, the tenant will have the right to purchase the unit at the lower price.

(3) The property owner is required to provide the tenant with purchase information within 90 days of the notice of intended conversion. If the tenant does not receive the purchase information within 90 days, the rental agreement and any extension will be extended for 1 day of each day over 90 days until they are given the purchase information.

F. Optional Relocation Payment
(1) A property owner may provide certain eligible tenant with a cash relocation payment at lease equal to 1 month's rent in consideration for extending the rental agreement for not more than 180 days, rather than extending the rental agreement for up to 270 days. These tenants must be continuous residents for at least 180 days.

G. Prohibition of Discrimination
(1) Under Florida law, the property owner is prohibited from discriminating against non-purchasing tenants during the conversion process. The non-purchasing tenants shall enjoy all the rights and privileges that are granted, offered, or provided to condominium purchases.

I hope this information that I have provided is helpful. Should you need a better understanding of your rights, I would urge you to contact the Division of Land Sales, Condominiums and Mobile Homes within the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation at (850) 488-1122. Please note that the information provided in this article does not pertain to tenants' rights when their apartments are subject to condemnation proceedings.



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