Florida Landlord-Tenant Law Guide

Last reviewed: October 2026. Statute text checked against the 2026 Florida Statutes on the Florida Legislature’s official site, chiefly the Florida Residential Landlord and Tenant Act (Chapter 83, Part II).

Florida does not cap security deposits or late fees, but it is one of the most procedural states in the country about everything else. Deposits must be held in a specific way and returned or claimed on a 15-day and 30-day clock, notices must use statutory wording, and an eviction moves fast only if every notice is right. Self-help is expensive: an illegal lockout or utility shutoff costs at least three months’ rent.

Almost every rule below comes from Florida Statutes Chapter 83, Part II, sections 83.40 to 83.683. The state also preempts most local regulation of residential tenancies (Fla. Stat. § 83.425), so the statewide rules are, for the most part, the rules.

Lease requirements and required disclosures

A Florida “rental agreement” can be written or, for a term under a year, oral (Fla. Stat. § 83.43). Any lease clause that waives a tenant’s rights under Part II or limits either party’s liability under law is void (Fla. Stat. § 83.47), and a court may refuse to enforce unconscionable terms (Fla. Stat. § 83.45). Required disclosures:

• Landlord’s name and address. In writing, at or before the start of the tenancy, disclose the name and address of the landlord or the person authorized to receive notices (Fla. Stat. § 83.50).
• Deposit notice. In the lease or within 30 days after receiving a deposit or advance rent, give written notice of where it is held (or that a surety bond is posted), whether interest is paid, and the statutory disclosure paragraph about the move-out process. This notice requirement does not apply to landlords who rent fewer than five individual units (Fla. Stat. § 83.49, subsection (2)), though following it anyway is good practice.
• Radon. At least one document signed at or before lease execution must contain the statutory radon gas notice (Fla. Stat. § 404.056(5)).
• Flood disclosure. For leases of one year or longer, give a separate flood disclosure, in the statutory form, at or before signing. It covers known flood damage during your ownership, flood insurance claims and federal flood assistance. If you skip it and the tenant suffers a substantial flood loss, the tenant may terminate (Fla. Stat. § 83.512).
• Lead-based paint. For housing built before 1978, the federal EPA pamphlet and disclosure of known lead hazards (40 C.F.R. § 745.107).
• Optional clauses with required wording. Email delivery of notices requires a signed addendum in the statutory form (Fla. Stat. § 83.505). An early termination fee or liquidated damages (up to two months’ rent) requires a separate signed addendum (Fla. Stat. § 83.595). A clause releasing you from storing a tenant’s belongings after surrender or abandonment needs the statutory legend (Fla. Stat. § 83.67). A fee in lieu of a security deposit has its own disclosure rules (Fla. Stat. § 83.491).

You can start from our lease agreement template, but have a Florida attorney add the state-specific addenda.

Security deposits: holding, notice and return

Florida sets no maximum, but Fla. Stat. § 83.49 treats a deposit as the tenant’s money held in trust. It applies to security deposits and to advance rent other than the next period’s rent.

How you must hold it

1. In a separate non-interest-bearing account in a Florida financial institution, with no commingling or pledging until the money is actually due to you; or
2. In a separate interest-bearing account in a Florida financial institution, paying the tenant at least 75 percent of the annualized average interest rate on the account or 5 percent simple interest per year, whichever you elect; or
3. By posting a surety bond with the clerk of the circuit court for the total deposits held or $50,000, whichever is less, and paying the tenant 5 percent simple interest per year.

Where interest is owed, pay it to the tenant or credit it against rent at least once a year; no interest is owed to a tenant who wrongfully ends the tenancy early (§ 83.49(9)). If you change how or where you hold the money after giving the deposit notice, tell the tenant within 30 days. A renewal counts as a new rental agreement, and a deposit carried forward is treated as a new deposit (§ 83.49(6)).

Returning it or making a claim

• No claim: return the deposit, plus any required interest, within 15 days after the rental agreement terminates and the tenant vacates.
• Claim: within 30 days, send written notice by certified mail to the tenant’s last known mailing address (or by email under a § 83.505 addendum) stating the amount and reason, in the statutory form.
• Tenant response: the tenant has 15 days after receipt to object in writing. If there is no objection, deduct the claim and remit the balance within 30 days after the date of the notice.
• Missed deadline: if you do not send the notice within 30 days, you forfeit the right to claim against the deposit; you must return it and can only sue separately for damages.
• Tenant notice: unless the lease says otherwise, a tenant leaving early or ending a periodic tenancy must give at least 7 days’ written notice with a forwarding address; if not, you are relieved of the claim-notice requirement, but the tenant keeps any right to the deposit (§ 83.49(5)).
• Disputes: the prevailing party in a deposit suit recovers court costs and a reasonable attorney fee (§ 83.49(3)(c)).

Check your timeline with the security deposit calculator, and use the move-in/move-out inspection checklist to support any claim.

Rent increases and late fees

No rent control. Local governments may not adopt or maintain any measure that has the effect of controlling rents (Fla. Stat. § 125.0103(2)), and Part II preempts local rules on lease terms and landlord fees (Fla. Stat. § 83.425).

Increases. Part II does not set a separate notice period for raising rent. During a fixed term, rent changes only if the lease allows it. For a month-to-month tenancy, either side may end it with at least 30 days’ written notice before the end of a monthly period (Fla. Stat. § 83.57), which is the usual way to put new terms in place. Retaliatory or discriminatory increases are unlawful (Fla. Stat. § 83.64). See our rent increase templates.

Late fees. Florida’s landlord-tenant act does not cap late fees or set a grace period. Put the fee in the written lease. A lease may designate other charges as “rent” (Fla. Stat. § 83.43), which affects what can be demanded in a 3-day notice; ask a Florida attorney before including anything other than periodic rent in that notice, because a defective notice can derail the case. A court may refuse to enforce an unconscionable lease provision (Fla. Stat. § 83.45).

Landlord entry

Under Fla. Stat. § 83.53, the tenant may not unreasonably withhold consent for the landlord to inspect, make repairs or improvements, supply agreed services, or show the unit to prospective or actual purchasers, lenders, tenants, workers or contractors. Specifically:

• Any time to protect or preserve the premises.
• Repairs: at least 24 hours’ notice, entering between 7:30 a.m. and 8:00 p.m.
• Other purposes: with the tenant’s consent, in an emergency, when the tenant unreasonably withholds consent, or if the tenant is absent for half the rental period (unless rent is current and the tenant gave notice of the absence).
• You may not abuse the right of access or use it to harass the tenant.

Repairs and habitability

Landlord’s duties under § 83.51

Throughout the tenancy you must comply with applicable building, housing and health codes or, where none apply, keep the roof, windows, doors, floors, steps, porches, exterior walls, foundation and other structural parts in good repair and the plumbing in reasonable working condition (Fla. Stat. § 83.51, subsection (1)). Screens must be in reasonable condition at move-in and repaired once a year when needed. For a single-family home or duplex, these duties may be altered in writing.

For units other than single-family homes and duplexes, unless otherwise agreed in writing, you must also provide for extermination of rats, mice, roaches, ants, wood-destroying organisms and bedbugs, locks and keys, clean and safe common areas, garbage removal, and functioning heat in winter, running water and hot water (§ 83.51(2)(a)). If a tenant must vacate for extermination, give 7 days’ written notice, the stay may not exceed 4 days, and you must abate the rent. For a single-family home or duplex, install working smoke detectors at the start of the tenancy unless otherwise agreed in writing. You are not responsible for conditions caused by the tenant, family or guests (§ 83.51(4)). The tenant has matching duties to keep the unit clean and use it reasonably (Fla. Stat. § 83.52).

Tenant remedies and procedure

• Termination. If you materially fail to comply with § 83.51(1) or material lease terms within 7 days after the tenant delivers written notice specifying the problem and stating an intent to terminate, the tenant may terminate. If the failure is beyond your control and you are making every reasonable effort, the rent abates while the unit is untenantable or is reduced in proportion to the lost value (Fla. Stat. § 83.56, subsection (1)).
• Withholding rent. A material noncompliance with § 83.51(1) is a complete defense to an eviction for nonpayment, but only if 7 days have passed after the tenant delivered written notice specifying the problem and stating the intent to withhold rent. The court then decides how much the rent is reduced (Fla. Stat. § 83.60, subsection (1)).
• Registry requirement. Even a tenant raising a habitability defense must pay the alleged rent into the court registry, or move to determine rent, within 5 days of service, excluding weekends and holidays (§ 83.60(2)). Noncompliance with the additional § 83.51(2) duties is not a defense to possession (§ 83.51(2)(c)).
• Damages. Either side may sue for damages caused by the other’s noncompliance (Fla. Stat. § 83.55), and the prevailing party recovers attorney fees (Fla. Stat. § 83.48).

Florida has no statutory repair-and-deduct remedy in Part II. Casualty damage that substantially impairs the premises lets the tenant terminate or reduce rent for the unusable part (Fla. Stat. § 83.63).

Retaliation

It is unlawful to discriminatorily raise rent, decrease services, or bring or threaten an eviction or other suit primarily in retaliation (Fla. Stat. § 83.64). Protected acts include, among others, a good faith complaint to a code enforcement agency, participating in a tenant organization, a complaint to the landlord under § 83.56(1), a servicemember’s lawful termination, paying rent to an association on its demand, and exercising fair housing rights. The tenant must have acted in good faith and may raise retaliation as a defense to eviction, but the defense fails if you prove good cause, such as nonpayment or a lease violation. Florida does not set a fixed time window, so document the legitimate reasons for any rent change or non-renewal.

Lockouts and utility cutoffs

Fla. Stat. § 83.67 flatly prohibits self-help. A landlord may not, directly or indirectly, cut off or interrupt any utility (water, heat, light, electricity, gas, elevator, garbage collection or refrigeration) whether or not the landlord controls or pays for it; may not prevent reasonable access by changing locks or using a bootlock; and may not remove outside doors, locks, roof, walls or windows except for maintenance, repair or replacement, or remove the tenant’s belongings except after surrender, abandonment or a lawful eviction. The penalty is the greater of actual and consequential damages or three months’ rent, plus costs and attorney fees, with separate awards for later repeat violations. A violation counts as irreparable harm for an injunction.

You may recover possession without a court only if the tenant surrenders, abandons (presumed after an absence of half the rental period when rent is unpaid and no notice was given), or in narrow circumstances after the death of the last tenant (Fla. Stat. § 83.59, subsection (3)).

Notices to terminate

Notices under § 83.56 may be delivered by mail, by hand, by email under a signed § 83.505 addendum, or by leaving a copy at the residence if the tenant is absent, and these notice requirements cannot be waived in the lease (§ 83.56(4)).

• 3-day notice for nonpayment. Demand payment or possession within 3 days, excluding Saturday, Sunday and court-observed holidays, in substantially the statutory form, including the property address and county (§ 83.56(3)).
• 7-day notice to cure. For curable breaches such as unauthorized pets, guests or vehicles, or failing to keep the unit clean, the tenant has 7 days to fix the problem. A repeat within 12 months allows eviction without another notice (§ 83.56(2)(b)).
• 7-day notice without cure. For breaches that should not be curable, such as intentional damage, fraudulent entry, or a repeated unreasonable disturbance, or a repeat of a similar violation within 12 months of a written warning, the tenant has 7 days to vacate (§ 83.56(2)(a)).
• Periodic tenancies. Week-to-week: 7 days; month-to-month: 30 days; quarter-to-quarter: 30 days; year-to-year: 60 days, each before the end of the period (Fla. Stat. § 83.57).
• Fixed terms. A lease may require end-of-term notice from the tenant only if it also requires the landlord to give notice of non-renewal, and the period must be 30 to 60 days (Fla. Stat. § 83.575). A tenant who holds over without permission can owe double rent (Fla. Stat. § 83.58).
• Partial payment trap. Accepting rent with knowledge of a breach waives that breach. Accepting partial rent after a 3-day notice is allowed only if you give a receipt with the agreed date and balance, deposit the amount in the court registry on filing, or post a new 3-day notice ( § 83.56(5)).

Servicemembers may end a lease early with 30 days’ notice in the situations listed in Fla. Stat. § 83.682, and that right cannot be waived.

The Florida eviction process, step by step

1. Serve the correct notice (3-day, 7-day or termination) and let it fully run.
2. File a complaint for possession in the county court where the property is located (Fla. Stat. § 83.59). The case uses the summary procedure in Fla. Stat. § 51.011, and the court advances it on the calendar. An agent who is not an attorney may file the complaint but take no further action. You may add a claim for unpaid rent (Fla. Stat. § 83.625).
3. Service. If the tenant cannot be found in the county and no one 15 or older is at the residence after two service attempts at least six hours apart, the summons may be posted on the property; you must give the clerk a copy and a stamped envelope for mailing, and at least 5 days must pass after service before a final judgment (Fla. Stat. § 48.183). A money judgment requires personal service or another method the law authorizes (§ 83.625).
4. 5-day response window. The answer is due within 5 days after service (§ 51.011). A tenant raising any defense other than payment must deposit the alleged rent into the court registry, or file a motion to determine rent, within 5 days excluding weekends and legal holidays, and keep paying rent into the registry as it comes due. If not, defenses other than payment are waived and you are entitled to an immediate default judgment and writ (Fla. Stat. § 83.60, subsection (2)).
5. Hearing or default judgment. If the tenant deposits rent and contests, the court sets a hearing; you may ask for disbursement of registry funds if you face hardship (Fla. Stat. § 83.61).
6. Writ of possession. After judgment, the clerk issues a writ directing the sheriff to put you in possession after 24 hours’ notice posted on the premises; weekends and holidays do not pause the 24 hours. When the writ is executed, or later, you may remove remaining belongings to or near the property line (Fla. Stat. § 83.62).

Estimate lost rent and fees with the eviction cost calculator.

Worked example: a nonpayment eviction and the deposit clock

Hypothetical. You rent a condo in Florida for $2,000 a month, due on the 1st, with a $2,000 deposit in a separate non-interest-bearing account at a Florida bank. March rent is not paid.

Fair housing: federal and Florida law

The federal Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination in renting because of race, color, religion, sex, familial status, national origin or disability (42 U.S.C. § 3604). The Florida Fair Housing Act covers the same classes (Fla. Stat. § 760.23), including discriminatory advertising. Florida also bars landlords from discriminating against servicemembers in offering a unit or in lease terms (§ 83.67(3)) and requires a decision on a servicemember’s rental application within 7 days (Fla. Stat. § 83.683).

Use one set of written screening criteria for everyone, do not ask about children, pregnancy or national origin, and treat assistance-animal and accessibility requests as reasonable accommodation requests. Some Florida counties and cities have their own human rights ordinances; how those interact with the state preemption in § 83.425 is a question for a local attorney. See our fair housing cheat sheet and tenant screening checklist.

Local considerations

Since 2023, Fla. Stat. § 83.425 has preempted to the state the regulation of residential tenancies and the matters covered by Part II, superseding local rules on screening, deposits, applications and fees, lease terms, disclosures, landlord fees and notice requirements. Local governments also cannot impose rent control (§ 125.0103(2)). What remains local is mostly physical: building, housing and health codes, which define your maintenance duty under § 83.51(1)(a), along with zoning, short-term rental rules and business tax receipts. Condominium and homeowners associations often have their own leasing approval rules and rental restrictions. Check your city or county code office and your association documents before you lease.

Selling a Florida rental with tenants in place

A sale does not, on its own, end a tenant’s lease; the buyer generally takes the property subject to it. That makes the lease a feature for an investor buyer and an obstacle for an owner-occupant buyer who needs the unit empty. Plan around the lease end date, the § 83.575 notice window in a fixed-term lease, or the § 83.57 notice for a month-to-month tenancy, or negotiate a voluntary move-out.

Transfer the deposits. Under Fla. Stat. § 83.49(7), on a sale or transfer of title, every security deposit and advance rent must be transferred to the new owner with any earned interest and an accurate accounting of each tenant’s balance. Once the funds and records are transferred and the buyer gives you a written receipt, you are released from the duty to hold them. There is a rebuttable presumption that the buyer received the deposit, limited to one month’s rent, so a buyer should insist on the full accounting at closing. A buyer who rents five or more units should then give tenants the written § 83.49(2) deposit notice stating where it holds the funds and whether interest is paid.

Showings. Tenants may not unreasonably withhold consent to show the unit to prospective purchasers (§ 83.53(1)); arrange times in advance and keep within reasonable hours. To decide whether selling occupied, selling vacant or holding makes more sense financially, run the numbers in the keep-or-sell rental property calculator, and compare a 1031 exchange if you plan to reinvest.

Common mistakes Florida landlords make

• Counting weekends or court holidays in a 3-day notice, or including late fees and other charges that are not designated rent.
• Missing the 30-day certified-mail claim notice, which forfeits the right to deduct from the deposit.
• Commingling deposits with operating funds instead of a separate Florida account.
• Accepting partial rent after a 3-day notice without a receipt, registry deposit or new notice.
• Using one 7-day notice form for both curable and non-curable violations.
• Entering for repairs without 24 hours’ notice or outside 7:30 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.
• Changing locks or shutting off utilities, even briefly, which triggers the three-months’-rent penalty.
• Selling without transferring deposits and a per-tenant accounting to the buyer.

Landlord checklist for Florida

Related resources

• All state legal guides, including Texas
• Keep-or-sell rental property calculator
• Eviction cost calculator
• Security deposit calculator
• Security deposit interest guide
• Tenant communication templates