Business Law 101 / Residential Landlord-Tenant Issues

By Albert L. Kelley, Esq.

Roughly one-third of Americans live in rental apartments. In addition, roughly one-sixth of the population are landlords. This means the total number of people affected by Landlord Tenant law is around 40% of the population. Eviction cases make up over 31% of all lawsuits filed in County Courts in Florida, second only to small claims actions.

Renting residential property is big business. It is estimated that rent and utilities for rented units (including imputed rents) is 12-13% of the gross domestic product. Or in other words, around $2.2 trillion last year was spent on residential rents across the country. In Florida, over 25% of all earned income is from residential rent (5% higher than the national average).

With so many people affected by residential Landlord-Tenant Law, and so much money on the line, it is important to know what it is, how it works and what the procedures are. Luckily, most people will never have to go to Court, but that also means those who do will often be facing a stressful, confusing system and process that they are unfamiliar with.

The majority of landlords and tenants that I have dealt with are not familiar with the nuances of the various laws and lease violations occur frequently on both sides. The statutes differentiate between residential leases, commercial leases and storage unit leases and the requirements and conditions are vastly different for each. Because residential leases affect so many people who may not be well versed in contracts, the residential lease statutes are much more detailed than the commercial and self-storage laws. It is presumed that if you are entering into a commercial lease, you understand enough about business and contracts that you can negotiate the terms of the lease. This is also why commercial lease tend to be longer than written residential leases.

While most states tend to favor residential tenants, Florida is not one of them. Aside from some protections regarding security deposits, Florida is considered a pro-landlord state. This means that the laws make it easier for a landlord to both get a tenant and get rid of a tenant. Florida does not require written leases, only gives the tenant three days to pay past due rent, and allows a verbal lease to be cancelled with just 15 days notice. In addition, the statutes greatly restrict the tenants’ ability to present defenses in an eviction action. If the landlord follows the statutes carefully, they will win the vast majority of eviction cases.

In this column last year I wrote briefly about this issue. However, it is such an important topic that I want to spend more time going through it in a little more detail. For the next several weeks, we will be covering the various aspect of residential landlord-tenant law. Later we will look to the commercial landlord-tenant laws, and finally to the self-storage laws.

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.

[livemarket market_name="KONK Life LiveMarket" limit=3 category=“” show_signup=0 show_more=0]