Residential landlord seeks reciprocial right with tenant to terminate lease.
Full Question:
Answer:
All states have adopted statutes governing the residential landlord-tenant relationship. Landlord's may look not only to the lease but also to the state statute governing the residential landlord-tenant relationship. The Florida statutes are linked immediately below. Florida's landlord-tenant statutes are designated as Chapter 83 of the 2008 Florida statutes, and the residential landlord-tenant statues are designated as Sections 83.40-83.682.
For a landlord's purpose of seeking to terminate a residential tenancy, not for any default by the tenant, but simply because the landlord wants to terminate the tenancy at that time, a Florida landlord could cite Section 83.46, which provides as follows;
"83.46 Rent; duration of tenancies.--
(1) Unless otherwise agreed, rent is payable without demand or notice; periodic rent is payable at the beginning of each rent payment period; and rent is uniformly apportionable from day to day.
(2) If the rental agreement contains no provision as to duration of the tenancy, the duration is determined by the periods for which the rent is payable. If the rent is payable weekly, then the tenancy is from week to week; if payable monthly, tenancy is from month to month; if payable quarterly, tenancy is from quarter to quarter; if payable yearly, tenancy is from year to year.
(3) If the dwelling unit is furnished without rent as an incident of employment and there is no agreement as to the duration of the tenancy, the duration is determined by the periods for which wages are payable. If wages are payable weekly or more frequently, then the tenancy is from week to week; and if wages are payable monthly or no wages are payable, then the tenancy is from month to month. In the event that the employee ceases employment, the employer shall be entitled to rent for the period from the day after the employee ceases employment until the day that the dwelling unit is vacated at a rate equivalent to the rate charged for similarly situated residences in the area. This subsection shall not apply to an employee or a resident manager of an apartment house or an apartment complex when there is a written agreement to the contrary."
The first sentence of paragraph 2 of Section 83.46 statutorily defines the duration of a residential tenancy. It reads as follws: "If the rental agreement contains no provision as to duration of the tenancy, the duration is determined by the periods for which the rent is payable." A provision as to the duration of a tenancy would be, for example, a period of one year, or three years, or six months. If there is no such language in the written agreement, then the duration of the tenancy is the period for which the rent is payable, which generally is monthly. The statutory language of 83.46 (2) defines the duration of residential tenancies in Florida. Any Florida landlord may rely upon that language in choosing to terminate a residential tenancy in that state.
Please read the statute and the links carefully. A link to US Legal's state-specific lease termination forms for Florida appears at the bottom of this response.
Please see the information at the following links:
http://www.flsenate.gov/Statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=Ch0083/titl0083.htm
http://www.flsenate.gov/Statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=Ch0083/part02.htm
