PROFESSIONAL SAVINGS BANK F/K/A SECURITY FEDERAL SAVINGS AND LOAN ASSOCIATION AND PSB PROPERTIES MANAGEMENT CORPORATION, NUMBER ONE, APPELLANTS,
v.
RICHARD J. FOWLER, CHARLES A. FOWLER III AND ANNA L. FOWLER, APPELLEES

Fla. 3d DCA | 1990-08-14
No. 90-639
Before NESBITT, JORGENSON and GODERICH, JJ.
566 So. 2d 28 Florida District Court of Appeal, Third District (1990) Positive Treatment
Cited by 2 cases

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Synopsis

Professional Savings Bank and PSB Properties Management sought forfeiture of a 45-year remaining leasehold interest in a Miami Beach hotel from the Fowlers, who owned the fee simple. The lessee defended on grounds of equitable estoppel, claiming the fee owners' conduct was unconscionable. The trial court granted forfeiture, and this appeal affirms that decision.


Holding

The fee owners were not equitably estopped from obtaining forfeiture. The trial court properly determined that the lessee failed to meet the conditional requirements for approval of the proposed sale and that the lessee's minimal efforts to maintain the property and avoid building code violations did not constitute sufficient compliance or equitable grounds to prevent forfeiture.


Headnotes

[1] Equitable estoppel may not be invoked to excuse a lessee's failure to comply with material lease obligations, particularly when the lessee's efforts to cure defaults are…

[2] A trial court acts within its discretion in granting forfeiture of a leasehold when the lessee fails to maintain the premises in a habitable condition and makes only mini…

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Key Quotes

“the hotel, contrary to the lessee's obligation under the lease, had become dilapidated to the point that it was uninhabitable”

Establishes the material breach of the lessee's maintenance obligations under the lease

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Facts & Procedural History

The Fowlers owned fee simple title to a Miami Beach hotel subject to a 99-year leasehold. The lessee assignees failed to maintain the hotel, which bec…

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Opinion of the Court
PER CURIAM.

PER CURIAM.

Appellees, the Fowlers, are the fee owners of a Miami Beach hotel which was subject to a ninety-nine-year leasehold. They brought suit seeking the forfeiture of the remaining forty-five years of the leasehold against the appellant assignees [hereinafter “lessee”] of the lease. The lessee interposed the defense of equitable estoppel, claiming that enforcement of the lease’s defaults would result in an unconscionable and inequitable eviction. At a bench trial, the evidence and testimony established that the hotel, contrary to the lessee’s obligation under the lease, had become dilapidated to the point that it was uninhabitable. The trial judge granted the forfeiture, finding that the lessee’s only material effort to comply with the lease’s terms was payment of two years’ ad valo-rem taxes plus insurance expenses and the costs of boarding up the premises to guard against premises liability. This appeal followed.

We affirm.

The lessee claims that the fee owners are estopped from obtaining forfeiture because the defaults were non-monetary and because the lessee’s expenditures in boarding up the building avoided building code violations for which the fee owners would otherwise be accountable. The lessee also claims that the fee owners refused to communicate with the lessee and to consent to a proposed sale of the leasehold to a third party who planned to renovate the structure.

Viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the lessors as the prevailing party, see Cuna Mutual Ins. Soc. v. Adamides, 334 So. 2d 75 (Fla. 3d DCA 1976); DeLalio v. Food Palace, Inc., 330 So. 2d 835 (Fla. 3d DCA), cert. denied, 341 So. 2d 1081 (Fla.1976), the trial judge acted within his discretion in determining that the owners had conditionally agreed to approve the lessee’s plan to sell the property to a party who would renovate the hotel only if: (a) satisfactory financing could be obtained and (b) architectural drawings detailing a renovation plan acceptable to the owners were submitted for the owners’ approval. While a financing plan was submitted to the owners, the lessee totally failed to present the owners with the requisite architectural plans for the hotel’s renovation for their analysis and approval.

Moreover, considering the failure of the lessee to maintain the premises in a habitable condition or to contribute anything but a token and indirect benefit upon the lessors by boarding up and securing the property, the trial judge acted within his discretion to grant forfeiture and deny the lessee’s equitable defense.

Accordingly, finding the other points raised to be without merit, we affirm the trial court’s order.

Affirmed.


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Citator

Cited By

  • Horatio Enters., Inc. v. Rabin, 614 So. 2d 555 (Fla. 3d DCA 1993)
    …ission prior to closing the restaurant for renovations. Moreover, the majority opinion precludes enforcement of the contract’s termination provision so long as the tenants do not completely shut down the restaurant. Professional Sav. Bank v. Fowler, 566 So. 2d 28 (Fla. 3d DCA 1990). For these reasons, I would deny the petition.…

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