Azealia Banks Battles Eviction For Allegedly Not Paying Rent In Florida

A landlord sought the eviction of Azealia Banks from her home in Palmetto Bay, Florida. According to court documents obtained by AllHIpHop, Isis Claro asked a Florida court for a final judgment of possession in a complaint against Banks for failure to pay rent on Tuesday (July 2).

“This eviction was filed because Tenant owes Plaintiff’s past due rent,” Claro’s motion read. “Defendant filed an Answer thereby preventing a clerk’s default; however, Defendant failed to deposit rent into the Court Registry. Florida Statutes specifically state that in an action by the landlord for possession of a dwelling unit, if the tenant interposes any defense other than payment, including but not limited to the defense of a defective 3-day notice, the tenant shall pay into the registry of the court the accrued rent as alleged in the complaint.”

The motion continued, “Failure of the tenant to pay the rent into the registry of the court or to file a motion to determine the amount of rent to be paid into the registry within 5 days … after the date of service of process constitutes an absolute waiver of the tenant’s defenses other than payment. And the landlord is entitled to an immediate default judgment for the removal of the tenant.”

Claro pursued Banks’ eviction over rent in June. The controversial rapper allegedly owed $8,000.

Banks filed a motion claiming she worked out an agreement with her landlord before a month-to-month tenancy term’s expiration. She supposedly agreed to provide $2,950 to cover the month of June and Claro would apply an advanced payment of $7,050 to cover the prior month’s rent.

Claro denied the alleged arrangement. The landlord accused Banks of trying to “delay making the deposit and frustrate the process.” Claro urged the court to strike Banks’ answer and grant the landlord’s default judgment.