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In Hourglass Entertainment v. NRG Investments, 50 Fla. L. Weekly D1538 (Fla. 2d DCA 2025), Florida’s Second District Court of Appeal reiterated a simple but often-overlooked rule in commercial lease disputes: you can’t recover future rent unless your lease expressly allows it.
In this case, the landlord obtained a final judgment in a commercial eviction action that included two sets of damages:
- Back rent — for amounts owed up to the date of the final judgment; and
- Future rent — for the entire remaining term of the lease.
The problem? The lease did not include an acceleration clause. Without such a provision, the court held, the landlord was not entitled to damages for rent that would have become due after judgment.
The appellate court reversed the future rent award and limited recovery to the unpaid amounts accruing before judgment. The decision underscores the fact that contractual acceleration clauses are the only legal mechanism that permit a landlord to demand all unpaid future rent upon breach or eviction.
Takeaway: If your lease doesn’t contain an acceleration clause, your client is out of luck when it comes to future rent. This is a drafting issue with major consequences in litigation. Before pursuing damages beyond the judgment date, check — and double-check — the lease language.
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