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Pritchett v. Afzal

The trial court was authorized to find that the plaintiff improperly refused rent payments, which the defendant tendered and that the defendant exercised his option to renew their lease for another 10-year term.

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Following a bench trial in a commercial lease dispossessory case, Melvin Pritchett landlord appeals the trial court’s judgment in favor of the defendant, Mian Afzal tenant, contending that the trial court erred 1 by resolving certain factual issues against Pritchett, and 2 by ruling that a sublease subsequent to Afzal’s lease was not a novation and release of Afzal. For the reasons that follow, we affirm. “On appeal from a bench trial, we construe the evidence in favor of the judgment and will not disturb fact findings of a trial court if there is any evidence to sustain them.” Hampshire Homes, Inc. v. Espinosa Constr. Svcs., Inc. 1 So viewed, the evidence shows that in March 2000, Pritchett and Afzal entered into a commercial lease whereby Afzal rented a gas station from Pritchett. The monthly rent was $3,500, and the lease was to expire in August 2006, with a ten-year renewal option.

In 2002, Afzal needed to leave the country to attend to deaths in his family, and he orally requested that Pritchett allow him to sublease the property to an uncle and a friend. In September 2002, Pritchett executed a lease between himself and the uncle and the friend, which purported to lease the property to them for $3,600 monthly rent for the same duration as Afzal’s lease. Afzal was not a party to that lease. In 2005, Afzal requested in writing that the sublease be terminated and that he be allowed to resume his tenancy under the March 2000 lease. It is undisputed that Afzal then resumed occupancy and operation of the gas station.

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