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Landlord and Tenant agreed that Tenant would live in the house for modest rent, so long as Tenant performed certain renovations on the property. Under the arrangement, Tenant would be compensated for the cost of materials used in the renovation. Tenant performed the renovations, and (to everyone's shock) Landlord refused to compensate Tenant for the materials. Tenant sued.
Here's where it gets weird. Landlord defended Tenant's claim, citing a little known provision of Florida law making contracts with unlicensed contractors unenforceable (Section 489.128). The appellate court agreed, holding that because the Tenant was not a licensed contractor, he could not enforce the agreement. The court hinted that, if the result seems unfair, that the legislature should amend the statute. We may be hearing more about this from Tallahassee.
Moral: Hire an unlicensed contractor today. Sterner v. Phillips, 721 So.2d 450 (Fla. 5DCA 1998). |
