BEASON-SIMONS, D/B/A BEASON-SIMONS, LTD., INC., APPELLANT,
v.
AVION TECHNOLOGIES, INC., SNET CREDIT, INC., AND UNITRON INCORPORATED, APPELLEES
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A landlord's statutory lien under Florida law is superior to an unpaid seller's unperfected security interest in equipment installed on leased premises. The court reversed the trial court's decision, holding that because the seller failed to perfect its security interest through UCC filing, the landlord's statutory lien takes priority.
The landlord's statutory lien is superior to the seller's unperfected security interest. The seller's right of reclamation under section 672.507(2) gives the seller an interest superior to the buyer, but does not determine priorities against third parties like a landlord. The seller could have protected itself by perfecting its security interest under the UCC before delivery.
[1] A landlord's statutory lien for rent is perfected and attaches without the need for filing or recording.
[2] A landlord's statutory lien on property found on the leased premises is superior to a seller's unperfected security interest in that property.
Previewing 2 of 4 headnotes on this case. FLexlaw’s editorially structured points of law — every proposition, pinpointed — are reserved for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“A landlord's statutory hen is not required to be filed or recorded in order to be perfected, and attaches at the commencement of tenancy or as soon as the property is brought onto the premises.”
Establishes that the landlord's lien is automatically perfected without any filing requirement
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceUnitron sold and delivered an electronic frequency converter to Avion Technologies, which leased the premises from Beason-Simons. The sales contract r…
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KLEIN, Judge.
The trial court concluded that a landlord’s statutory lien on a piece of equipment was inferior to the unpaid seller’s right to reclaim the equipment. We reverse because the landlord’s statutory lien is superior to this seller’s unperfected security interest.
Appellee Unitron delivered and installed an electronic frequency converter on premises leased to Avion by landlord Beason-Si-mon. The sales contract for the equipment provided that title to the equipment would remain with the seller until the purchaser made full payment; however, the seller did not record the purchasing agreement or file a UCC financing statement.
The purchaser of the converter, who did not pay for it, abandoned the leased premises, and the landlord and the seller each claimed that they were entitled to the converter — the landlord by virtue of its statutory landlord’s lien under section 83.08(2), Florida Statutes (1989), and the seller by virtue of a right of reclamation under section 672.507(2), Florida Statutes (1989).
Section 83.08 provides in part:
Landlord’s lien for rent. — Every person to whom rent may be due ... shall have a lien for such rent upon the property found upon or off the premises leased or rented, and in the possession of any person, as follows:
* * * * *
(2) Upon all other property of the lessee or his sublessee or assigns, usually kept on the premises. This lien shall be superior to any lien acquired subsequent to the bringing of the property on the premises leased.
A landlord’s statutory hen is not required to be filed or recorded in order to be perfected, and attaches at the commencement of tenancy or as soon as the property is brought onto the premises. Lovett v. Lee, 141 Fla. 395, 193 So. 538, 542 (Fla.1940). See also Fla. E. Coast Properties, Inc. v. Best Contract Furnishings, Inc., 593 So. 2d 560, 562, n. 6 (Fla. 3d DCA 1992).
Section 672.507(2), Florida Statutes (1989), on which seller relies, provides:
Effect of seller’s tender; delivery on condition.—
* * Hi * * *
(2) Where payment is due and demanded on the delivery to the buyer of goods or documents of title, his right as against the seller to retain or dispose of them is conditional upon his making the payment due.
The problem with the seller’s argument, and thus with the resolution of the issue by the trial court, is that although section 672.507(2) gives an unpaid seller an interest superior to that of the buyer, it does not determine priorities between an unpaid seller and a third party such as a landlord. Fla. E. Coast Properties, 593 So. 2d at 562. See also Suburbia Fed. Sav. & Loan Ass’n v. Bel-Air Conditioning Co., 385 So. 2d 1151 (Fla. 4th DCA 1980) (a construction mortgage on real property was superior in priority to the claim of a seller of air conditioning equipment which had been installed on the property, where the seller’s claim was only by virtue of a retain title contract and not by a perfected security interest).
As the court observed in Fla. East Coast Properties, the seller of this equipment could have protected itself by perfecting its security interest under the UCC before delivery to the premises.1 593 So. 2d at 562 n. 8. Because this seller did not perfect its security-interest the landlord’s lien was superior. We therefore reverse.
GUNTHER, C.J., and FARMER, J., concur. . Whether a seller's right of reclamation under section 672.702, Florida Statutes, where seller discovers buyer is insolvent after delivery, is not involved here. We are not, therefore, determining who would have priority between the seller and the landlord under those circumstances.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
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Robie v. Port Douglas (Florida), Inc., 662 So. 2d 1389 (Fla. 4th DCA 1995)…be filed or recorded in order to be perfected, attaches at the commencement of the tenancy or as soon as the property is brought onto the premises. Lovett v. Lee, 141 Fla. 395, 193 So. 538, 542 (Fla.1940); Beason-Simons v. Avion Technologies, Inc., 662 So. 2d 1317 (Fla. 4th DCA November 1, 1995). Section 83.08 therefore granted priority to landlord’s lien derived from the original lease over the subsequently perfected chattel mortgage. See G.M.C.A. Corp. v. Noni, Inc., 227 So. 2d 891 (Fla. 3d DCA 1969), disap…
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Oaks Shopping Ctr., Inc. v. Just. Mktg., Inc., 688 So. 2d 456 (Fla. 5th DCA 1997)…rmined that Oaks’ hen was inferior to Justice’s hen because Oaks had failed to “perfect” its lien. The trial court erred. A landlord hen is not required to be filed or recorded in order to be perfected. See Beason-Simons v. Avion Technologies, Inc., 662 So. 2d 1317 (Fla. 4th DCA 1995). On the other hand, the Justice hen, even if prior in time, would not take precedence over the landlord hen because it needed to be but was not perfected. See Lynch Austin Realty, Inc. v. Engler, 647 So. 2d 988 (Fla. 2d DCA 1994)…
Authorities Cited
- Lovett v. Lee, 141 Fla. 395 (Fla. 1940)
- Suburbia Fed. Sav. & Loan Ass'n & Irving Krassner v. Bel-Air Conditioning Co., Inc., 385 So. 2d 1151 (Fla. 4th DCA 1980)
- Fla. E. Coast Props., Inc. v. Best Contract Furnishings, Inc., 593 So. 2d 560 (Fla. 3d DCA 1992)