The need for statutory change to the right to terminate residential leases.

• Author: Gunewardene, Roshani M.

Florida's residential landlord-tenant law is governed by F.S. Ch. 83, Part II, the Florida Residential Landlord and Tenant Act (LL/TE Act). (1) Although there are many provisions in the LL/ TE Act that cover what remedies are available for a landlord to terminate a lease at the end of the lease term, the LL/TE Act is silent as to what remedies a tenant has if the landlord refuses to renew the lease.

There have been many documented cases around the state of Florida in which landlords have unjustifiably nonrenewed tenants' leases where those tenants have paid the rent on time and abided by all provisions in the lease agreements. In one case documented by WKMG, a CBS station in central Florida, the tenant had received a certificate of good tenancy from the landlord, but was nonrenewed without any reason after 16 years of residence in that apartment complex. (2) This particular landlord had numerous vacant units at the time, and the tenant had even offered to pay a higher rent to remain, however, the lease was nonrenewed.

Common law rules govern what a landlord is permitted to do in nonrenewal of lease situations in Florida. A brief history of how common law evolved with respect to our Florida law system in landlord-tenant relations reveals why the LL/TE Act is silent on this issue. Florida adopted the common law and statute laws of England as of July 4, 1776.3 "Unfortunately, Florida and other American States found themselves laboring under a truncated version of common law with regard to the evolution of the residential landlord's" transactions with tenants, and were thereby unable to accept the fluid development of common law that took place in England after 1776 and the social changes created by the industrial revolution. (4) Florida and other states' residential landlord-tenant law was based on the landlord's having a contract for farming. One case exemplified how difficult it was for the American courts to deal with social change when the tenant was held liable for rent for a tenement house that was destroyed by fire. (5)

Traditionally, a lease was considered a conveyance of an interest in land, and courts tended to use special rules governing property transactions to resolve controversies in leases. (6) It was not until the 1960s that a revolution in American landlord-tenant law erupted with a direction that landlord-tenant transactions be based on pure contract theory. (7) Javins v. First National Realty Corp., 428 F.2d 1071 (D.C. Cir. 1970), was one of the first ground-breaking cases to hold that "courts have a duty to reappraise old doctrines in the light of the facts and values of contemporary life; particularly old common law doctrines which the courts themselves created and developed." (8) Florida did not follow the pure contract theory as espoused by Javins and its progeny. (9) However, there is a lesson to be learned from the ruling in the Javins case. (10) Changing rules in landlord-tenant laws in a piecemeal fashion by the courts may lead to frequently conflicting decisions which do not assist either the landlord or the tenant in understanding his or her legal rights. (11)

Currently in Florida, common law rules permit landlords to remain silent as to their rationale for not renewing leases. This creates uncertainty and anxiety for tenants who feel that they have not materially violated the lease terms. Landlords argue that they may terminate leases for any reason and in secrecy under common law. (12) The author asserts, however, this argument is misplaced.

Common law rules apply as a common sense safeguard against arbitrary actions and in this case, arbitrary nonrenewal of leases. The two principal foundations of common law are established customs and established rules and maxims. (13) "Law is the perfection of reason, that it always intends to conform thereto and that what is not reason is not law." (14) "Not that a particular reason of every rule in the law can be precisely aligned, but it is sufficient that there be nothing in the rule flatly contradictory to reason, and then the law will presume it to be well-founded." (15)

The common law practice of...