Business Law 101 / How to Terminate a lease for Non-Monetary Reasons

By Albert L. Kelley, Esq.

There are other ways for a tenant to breach a lease besides not paying the rent, and the type of breach will determine how the lease gets terminated. Most of the time, these are issues that arise under written leases, as verbal leases are governed by statute and therefore only statutory violations would be deemed breaches (such as a failure to comply with the tenant’s maintenance obligations of Florida Statute 83.52-keeing the property clean and sanitary, disposing of garbage, using the utilities in a reasonable manner, not damaging the property, not disturbing the peace). However, a written lease can put additional non-monetary obligation on the tenant as well.

If the breach of the lease is minor where the Tenant should be given the right to correct the violation, such as when there are unauthorized guests in the apartment, or the Tenant has pets without permission, or has unregistered cars in the parking area, the Landlord cannot evict the tenant without giving them a chance to fix the issue. Before proceeding to eviction, the Landlord must give the Tenant a seven-day Notice to Cure in substantially the following format: You are hereby notified that (cite the noncompliance). Demand is hereby made that you remedy the noncompliance within 7 days of receipt of this notice or your lease shall be deemed terminated and you shall vacate the premises upon such termination. If this same conduct or conduct of a similar nature is repeated within 12 months, your tenancy is subject to termination without further warning and without your being given an opportunity to cure the noncompliance. This Notice must be personally delivered to the tenant, or if they are not home, it may be posted on the front door. If the violation is not cured within the 7-day period or once cured recurs within the next twelve months, then the Landlord is allowed to proceed with eviction. If the Tenant does cure the violation, then the lease continues as if there had been no breach (unless the violation recurs during the next twelve months).

Where the violation is more severe and is of such a character that the Tenant should not be given the right to cure (such as when the tenant damages to the property, threatens other tenants, commits a crime on the property or takes any action which puts the property at risk), the Landlord may terminate the lease by giving the Tenant a seven-day Notice to Vacate in substantially the following format: You are advised that your lease is terminated effective immediately. You shall have 7 days from the delivery of this letter to vacate the premises. This action is taken because (cite the noncompliance). Like the Notice to Cure, this Notice also must be personally delivered to the Tenant or posted on the main door of the property. Because this Notice is only issued for severe violations, the Tenant cannot simply cure the breach but is required to vacate the premises, even if the rent is current. If they do not vacate at the end of the seen day period, the Landlord may start the eviction process.

Al Kelley is a Florida business law attorney located in Key West and previously taught business law, personnel law and labor law at St. Leo University. He is also the author of “Basics of Business Law” “Basics of Florida’s Small Claims Court” and “Basics of Florida’s Landlord-Tenant Law” (Absolutely Amazing e-Books). This article is being offered as a public service and is not intended to provide specific legal advice. If you have any questions about legal issues, you should confer with a licensed Florida attorney.

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