Opinion ID: 1117446
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 11

Heading: The Expiration of the Four Original Leases

Text: By their express terms, the four original leases expired as follows: the Cluster Springs lease expired in March 1979; the Beltona lease expired in September 1982; the Kellerman lease expired in May 1983; and the Flat Top lease expired in October 1984. After the expiration of the leases, Drummond and United continued to conduct themselves in accordance with their previously existing contractual relationship. Based on correspondence between, and actions taken by, the parties, it is clear that both Drummond and United believed the 1972 agreement had worked to extend indefinitely the terms of the four original leases. However, as discussed above, that purported extension was ineffective as a matter of law. Because Drummond and United continued their lessor-lessee relationship after the expiration of the original leases, we must agree with the trial court that Drummond's continued presence on United's properties was as a tenant at will. See Linton Coal Co., 590 So.2d at 912 (holding that the term of the lease was so incapable of ascertainment that it rendered the lease void as anything other than a tenancy at will, which the parties continued for years before that tenancy was terminated); see also Industrial Machinery, 344 So.2d at 745 (Where the end of the term [of a lease] is indefinite and uncertain there is no valid lease for a term of years, but an estate at will is thereby created.). For these reasons, the trial court did not err in concluding that, after the expiration of the four original leases, Drummond continued mining on United's lands as a tenant at will.