What Happened: An office lease gave the landlord the right to deduct arrearages from the security deposit upon the tenant’s default, while also requiring the tenant to restore the security deposit within five days of receiving the landlord’s replenishment request.

When the tenant fell behind on rent during the COVID crisis, the landlord took the back rent out of the security deposit. It then sent the tenant an email notifying it of the default and deduction but not mentioning anything about replenishment. Five months later, the tenant exercised its lease renewal option and sent the landlord a check replenishing the security deposit. The landlord objected, citing the tenant’s failure to restore the security deposit within five days of receiving the email notice of default. The court granted the landlord summary judgment, and the tenant appealed.

Ruling: The Florida court reversed the ruling.

Reasoning: The lease said that the landlord had to request replenishment of the security deposit to treat the tenant’s failure to do so as a breach. The exact language:    

Upon any default by Tenant hereunder, all or part of said [security] deposit may, at the Landlord[‘]s sole option, be applied on account of such default and thereafter, Tenant shall promptly restore the resulting delinquency in said deposit, within (5) days from request thereof. Failure to do so within Five (5) days after receipt of such demand shall constitute a breach of this Lease” (emphasis added).

The email notifying the tenant of the landlord’s application of the security to the unpaid rent was not, either expressly or otherwise, a “request” for replenishment. Failure to replenish within five days of the email would have constituted a breach had the lease merely required the landlord to give the tenant notice that the deposit had been depleted, the court reasoned. But this particular clause made request for replenishment the triggering event. And because the landlord didn’t make such a request, the tenant wasn’t in breach. 

• RSM 18, LLC v. Exec. Ctr., LLC, 2026 Fla. App. LEXIS 157, 2026 LX 18412