Florida Landlord-Tenant Laws

Security Deposits

No cap on amount, but a two-track deadline: 15 days to return in full, or 30 days to send a certified-mail claim notice — miss the notice and you forfeit the claim.

Florida doesn't cap deposit amounts, but §83.49 prescribes exactly how deposits are held and returned. During the tenancy the deposit must sit in a Florida bank account (interest-bearing or not) or be covered by a surety bond, and landlords with five or more units must disclose in writing, within 30 days of receiving the money, where and how it's held.

At move-out the path forks. If you're returning everything, you have 15 days. If you intend to keep any portion, you have 30 days to send the tenant written notice by certified mail to their last known address stating your intent to impose a claim and the reason — the statute includes the exact wording. The tenant then has 15 days to object in writing; if they don't, you may deduct your claim and return the balance within 30 days of the original notice.

Miss the 30-day certified-mail notice and you forfeit the right to claim against the deposit — you must return it in full and pursue damages separately. Email, text, or regular mail doesn't satisfy the statute. In litigation over a deposit, the prevailing party recovers attorney fees, which raises the stakes on getting the procedure right.

Rent & Late Fees

No rent control (state law forbids it), no statutory late-fee cap — but fees must be reasonable, and the lease must authorize them.

Florida prohibits local rent control, and 2023 legislation broadly preempted local landlord-tenant ordinances to the state statute, eliminating county-level tenant bills of rights that had emerged in Miami-Dade and elsewhere. Rent amounts and increases are contractual; for month-to-month tenancies, an increase effectively requires the same advance notice as termination (30 days) since the tenant is free to leave instead.

Late fees have no statutory cap but must be authorized by the lease and bear a reasonable relationship to actual costs — Florida courts treat plainly punitive fees as unenforceable penalties. Flat fees in the $50–$100 range or percentage fees around 5% with a short grace period are common market practice and rarely challenged.

Lease Requirements & Disclosures

Few state-mandated disclosures beyond the deposit notice — but radon, lead paint, and the fire-safety notice apply, and oral leases are enforceable.

Florida enforces oral and written leases alike (leases over one year must be written under the statute of frauds), but a written lease is the practical standard. Mandatory disclosures are lighter than in most large states:

• Radon gas: every rental agreement must contain the statutory radon disclosure paragraph.
• Security deposit holding disclosure (landlords of 5+ units), within 30 days of receipt.
• Fire protection notice for buildings over three stories.
• Lead-based paint disclosure (federal, pre-1978 housing).
• Landlord's name and address, or that of an authorized agent, must be disclosed in writing.

Landlord Entry & Notice

24 hours' reasonable notice for repairs, entry at reasonable times — narrower purposes than many states, so lease clauses matter.

Section 83.53 requires the tenant not to unreasonably withhold consent to enter for inspection, repairs, showings, and similar purposes, and specifically authorizes repair entry on at least 24 hours' notice at reasonable times. Entry without consent is allowed in emergencies, when the tenant unreasonably withholds consent, or during extended tenant absence. A clear lease entry clause covering showings and inspections fills the gaps the statute leaves open.

Evictions

3-day pay-or-quit (business days) for nonpayment, 7-day notices for other violations, and a summary procedure where the tenant must deposit rent to contest.

Nonpayment starts with the 3-day notice to pay rent or vacate — three business days, excluding weekends and legal holidays, with the statutory form language. Lease violations get a 7-day notice: curable violations require an opportunity to cure; repeat violations within 12 months or incurable conduct (destruction, serious nuisance) support a 7-day unconditional termination.

Eviction suits proceed under Florida's summary procedure and move quickly — often 3–6 weeks uncontested. A distinctive Florida feature: to contest an eviction on grounds other than payment, the tenant must deposit the disputed rent into the court registry, or the landlord is entitled to a default judgment of possession. Self-help (lockouts, utility shutoffs) is prohibited, with statutory damages of at least three months' rent plus fees.

Habitability & Repairs

Landlords must meet code and keep structural elements and plumbing functional; tenants can withhold rent after a 7-day written warning — but only by the statute's script.

Where a building code applies, the landlord must comply with it; absent a code, the landlord must maintain roofs, windows, doors, floors, steps, porches, exterior walls, foundations, and plumbing in good repair. In multifamily buildings the landlord also handles extermination, locks and keys, common areas, garbage removal, and functioning heat during winter — several of these duties are shiftable to the tenant by lease in single-family homes and duplexes.

A tenant's rent-withholding remedy exists but is procedural: written notice specifying the noncompliance and intent to withhold, delivered at least 7 days before rent is due. Florida has no statutory repair-and-deduct remedy — tenants who unilaterally deduct do so at their own risk, which is worth explaining early rather than in court.

Termination & Renewal

Month-to-month tenancies now require 30 days' notice from either side; fixed-term leases end per their terms.

Since mid-2023, terminating a month-to-month tenancy requires at least 30 days' written notice before the end of the monthly period — up from the long-standing 15 days, and applicable to landlords and tenants alike. Week-to-week tenancies still end on 7 days' notice. Fixed-term leases end on their stated date; if the lease requires advance non-renewal notice (60 days is common in Florida form leases), that clause is enforceable and can bind the tenant to fees for missing it.

Fair Housing

Federal protections plus the Florida Fair Housing Act; several large counties add local protected classes.

The Florida Fair Housing Act mirrors federal law's protected classes: race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status, and disability. County human-rights ordinances — Miami-Dade and Broward among them — add categories such as sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, and in some cases source of income, and survived the 2023 preemption because fair-housing ordinances weren't its target. Screen against the county's list for each property.

The practical basics hold: uniform written screening criteria, documented decisions, individualized review of criminal history, and assistance animals handled as reasonable accommodations (Florida also criminalizes misrepresenting a pet as a service animal, but verification requests must stay within HUD's rules).