Understanding Your Lease Rights in Florida

Florida's residential landlord-tenant law, Part II of Chapter 83 of the Florida Statutes, voids any lease clause that waives your rights under that law or limits either side's legal liability (section 83.47). Within those limits, a lease can add an early termination fee of up to 2 months' rent if you accept it in a separate addendum, and it can require 30 to 60 days' notice before you move out at the end of the term. At or before signing, the landlord must give you the state's radon notice and, on a lease of 1 year or longer, a flood disclosure; it must give you its name and address in writing by the start of the tenancy, and a landlord with five or more units must tell you in writing where your deposit is held.

Which lease clauses are void in Florida?

A provision in a Florida lease is void and unenforceable to the extent that it:

• Waives or blocks rights, remedies, or requirements in Part II, such as the 24-hour notice before repair entries, the 60-day ceiling on end-of-lease notice, or a servicemember's right to end the lease.
• Limits either side's liability under the law, such as a clause saying the landlord is never responsible for injuries the law makes it answer for.

If a void clause is in a lease you signed, extended, or renewed and it causes you actual damages, you can recover those damages from the landlord. Other one-sided terms are not automatically void, so read the lease before you sign; red flag lease clauses to watch for lists common examples. For how a lease is organized, see understanding your lease terms.

What must the landlord disclose?

Radon notice. At least one document you sign at or before the lease, such as the lease itself or the application, must carry the state's radon statement. It says radon is a naturally occurring radioactive gas that can pose health risks over time, that levels above federal and state guidelines have been found in Florida buildings, and that your county health department has information on testing.

Landlord's name and address. In writing, at or before the start of the tenancy, the landlord must give you the name and address of the landlord or of a person authorized to receive notices and demands for it. That is where your written notices, such as a move-out or military termination notice, should go.

Deposit details. A landlord that rents five or more units must, in the lease or within 30 days after receiving your deposit or advance rent, give you written notice that:

• Names the bank and its address where the money is held, or states that the landlord posted a surety bond, a guarantee filed with the court clerk that covers tenants' deposits.
• Says whether you will earn interest.
• Includes a required statement that the landlord has 30 days after you move out to notify you of any claim against the deposit, and that you have 15 days after receiving that notice to object in writing.

A landlord with fewer than five units does not have to send this notice. Florida security deposit rights covers how the deposit must be held and returned.

Flood disclosure. For a lease of 1 year or longer, the landlord must give you a flood disclosure on a separate document at or before signing. It states whether the landlord knows of flooding that damaged the unit while it owned it, whether it filed a flood insurance claim for the unit, and whether it received flood aid, such as from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The form also warns that renters insurance does not cover flood damage. If the landlord does not comply and a flood damages your belongings badly enough that repair or replacement costs at least 50% of their market value, you can end the lease by giving written notice and moving out within 30 days after the damage, and the landlord must refund rent you paid in advance for the time after you leave.

How much notice must your landlord give before entering?

Florida's entry rule, section 83.53, sets these limits, and because section 83.47 voids clauses that waive Part II rights, a lease cannot cut them:

• Repairs: at least 24 hours' notice, and entry only between 7:30 a.m. and 8:00 p.m.
• Inspections, agreed services, and showings to buyers, lenders, new tenants, or contractors: entry with your consent, in an emergency, when you unreasonably refuse consent, or when you have been away for half a rental period, about 15 days on monthly rent. If your rent is current and you told the landlord you would be away, it may enter during that time only with your consent or to protect the property.
• Protecting the property: entry at any time.

The landlord may not abuse its access or use it to harass you, and you may not unreasonably refuse entry for these purposes.

How do Florida leases end or renew?

Leases with an end date. Under section 83.575, a lease can require you to notify the landlord before you move out at the end of the term only if it also requires the landlord to notify you, in the same time frame, if it will not renew. The required notice must be at least 30 days and no more than 60 days for either side.

If you miss that notice, the lease's preset charge for it, called liquidated damages, applies only if the landlord sent you a written reminder in the 15 days before your notice period began. The reminder must state your notice obligation, the date the lease ends, and every fee, penalty, or charge you would owe.

Example: your lease ends June 30 and requires 60 days' notice. Your notice is due by May 1, and the landlord's reminder must go out in the 15 days before May 1. If no reminder came, the late-notice charge cannot be collected.

Month-to-month and other periodic tenancies. If your lease has no end date, either side ends a month-to-month tenancy with at least 30 days' written notice before the end of a monthly rental period. Week-to-week takes 7 days, quarter-to-quarter takes 30 days, and year-to-year takes 60 days. Example: if your rent covers each calendar month, notice delivered by July 1 ends the tenancy on July 31.

Staying on after the lease ends. If you stay with the landlord's permission after the lease ends and then move out without giving that 30 days' notice, you owe 1 extra month's rent. Florida eviction protections explains the court process if a landlord files to remove you.

How can you end a Florida lease early?

With an early termination addendum (section 83.595). At signing, the landlord can offer a separate addendum with two boxes: one to agree to pay a set fee, no more than 2 months' rent, if you choose to end the lease early, and one to decline. If you checked "agree," the landlord gives up rent beyond the month it retakes the unit, and the lease can require no more than 60 days' notice before you leave. You still owe rent and charges through the end of that month, plus the cost of any damage to the unit.

Example: your rent is $1,800 and you signed the addendum. You give 60 days' notice and move out August 31. You owe rent through August plus a fee of no more than 2 times $1,800, or $3,600, and no rent for September onward.

Without the addendum. If you break the lease and move out, the landlord chooses one of three options:

1. End the lease and take the unit back for itself, which ends what you owe for future rent.
2. Take the unit back on your behalf and try in good faith to re-rent it, holding you liable for the difference between your rent and what the new tenant pays.
3. Do nothing and hold you liable for the rent as each month comes due.

Good faith means at least the same effort the landlord used to rent your unit the first time, or uses for its similar units, though it does not have to fill your unit before its other vacancies. Under option 3, 6 months left at $1,800 a month could mean up to $10,800 in rent as it comes due, compared with the addendum's $3,600 cap. Breaking a lease early covers negotiating a release or finding a replacement tenant.

Military orders (section 83.682). A servicemember can end the lease with written notice that takes effect on a date at least 30 days after the landlord receives it, in any of these cases:

• Permanent change of station orders require a move of 35 miles or more from the rental.
• You are discharged or released from active duty or state active duty early or involuntarily.
• You are released from active duty after leasing while on active duty, and the rental is 35 miles or more from your home of record.
• Orders require you to move into government quarters, or you become eligible for and choose military housing.
• Temporary duty, temporary change of station, or state active duty orders send you 35 miles or more away for more than 60 days.
• Before you move in, your orders change to an area 35 miles or more away.

Include a copy of the orders or a written verification signed by your commanding officer. You owe rent only through the termination date, prorated, and no other rent or damages for leaving early; if you end the lease 14 or more days before your move-in date, you owe nothing. No lease can waive these rights. If a servicemember dies on active duty, an adult member of the immediate family can end the lease the same way, adding a copy of the death certificate.

Repair problems. If the landlord fails to maintain the unit as the law requires, a written notice process can let you end the lease; your right to habitable housing in Florida explains the steps and deadlines.