Luxury Homes and Estates in FloridaIf you miss a lease renewal deadline consult an attorney.
Leases often grant the tenant the right to renew the lease for an additional term. However, tenants routinely forget to give the appropriate notice. Once the error has been discovered the tenant provides a delinquent notice.
The landlord may terminate the lease in order to sell the property or re-let the premises and collect higher rent. The tenant can suffer extreme hardship due to loss of business location and loss of investment from build out of the premises. The courts can and do intervene on behalf of tenants to reinstate and mandate the renewal of a lease for an additional term. The courts recognize that it may be inequitable for a landlord to seize upon a technical breach to deny a tenant valuable property rights. The court may reinstate and renew the lease if the following factors are presented:
1. the delay in giving notice of renewal is slight;
2. the delay did not prejudice the landlord; and
3. the failure to renew the lease would cause the tenant extreme hardship.
A myriad of other factors are considered by the court and are deemed persuasive including whether or not the landlord allowed the tenant to make improvements and additional investment in the premises. The tenant will argue that he acted in reliance upon the renewed lease in making substantial improvements. The courts deem it unfair for a landlord to allow the tenant to make improvements only to snatch away the property.
The courts are also anxious to hear whether or not the landlord continued to have an open dialogue with the tenant and never objected to the tardy notice.
The tenant bears the burden to demonstrate that his failure to renew the lease was a product of a mistake, accident or other special circumstances.
In short, if you missed a deadline to renew your lease all may not be lost. A court of equity can intervene to renew the lease.
*See Dungan v. Haige, 54 So.2d 201 (Fla. 1951); Ledford v. Skinner, 328 So.2d 219 (Fla. 1st DCA 1976); Friendship Park Property Corporation v. Shaw, 505 So.2d 456 (Fla. 1st DCA 1987); and Thrifty Dutchman, Inc. v. Florida Supermarkets, Inc., 541 So.2d 634 (Fla. 3rd DCA 1989).
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Houston Short grew up in the Central Florida area, and continues to reside in Orlando with his family. He provides representation in arbitration actions for the American Arbitration Association and engages in alternative dispute resolutions including mediation both binding and non-binding arbitration, and settlement negotiations. He is an active member of the American Arbitration Association Panel Review Committee, the Orange County Bar Association, and the Florida Bar. He graduated from Florida State University in 1984 with a bachelors of science degree (cum laude) and received his juris doctor from the University of Florida in 1987 (with honors). Houston co-authored, "The Constitutionality of the Legislatures Mandate to Sever Counterclaims in Mortgage Foreclosure Action," the Real Property, Probate and Trust Law Section, The Florida Bar.
Visit our website for more information on this subject.
Houston Short grew up in the Central Florida area, and continues to reside in Orlando with his family. He provides representation in arbitration actions for the American Arbitration Association and engages in alternative dispute resolutions including mediation both binding and non-binding arbitration, and settlement negotiations. He is an active member of the American Arbitration Association Panel Review Committee, the Orange County Bar Association, and the Florida Bar. He graduated from Florida State University in 1984 with a bachelors of science degree (cum laude) and received his juris doctor from the University of Florida in 1987 (with honors). Houston co-authored, "The Constitutionality of the Legislatures Mandate to Sever Counterclaims in Mortgage Foreclosure Action," the Real Property, Probate and Trust Law Section, The Florida Bar.
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