Florida Landlord Basics: Deposits, Disclosures, Homestead

Florida Landlord Basics: Deposits, Disclosures, Notices, and the Homestead Trap

You might buy a property as a rental, keep a home you’re not ready to sell, or rent out a room in the house you live in. Any of these makes you a Florida landlord, and the state’s rules apply the same way whether you meant to start a business or not. Florida’s landlord-tenant law is detailed and runs on fixed deadlines, so knowing the main ones before the first lease is signed saves a lot of trouble later.

Short version: Residential rentals in Florida are governed by Florida Statutes Chapter 83, Part II, and the state preempts local rules on the topics it covers. Security deposits go in a Florida financial institution or are backed by a surety bond. After the lease ends, you have 15 days to return a deposit, or 30 days to send a certified-mail notice of any claim. Miss that 30-day notice and you lose the right to take anything from the deposit. Unpaid rent gets a 3-day notice. Most other lease violations get a 7-day notice. Month-to-month tenancies need 30 days’ notice to end, and you must give at least 24 hours’ notice before entering for repairs. Leases need your name and address, the state radon warning, a lead paint disclosure for pre-1978 homes, and a flood disclosure for leases of a year or more. The big Florida-specific trap: renting all of your homesteaded home for more than 30 days a year, two years in a row, can cost you the homestead exemption.

The law that governs almost everything

Florida’s Residential Landlord and Tenant Act, Chapter 83, Part II, covers nearly every residential tenancy in the state. Section 83.425 preempts the regulation of residential tenancies to the state, so local governments can’t add their own rules on matters the Act covers. Florida has no statewide rent control. The Act is precise about timing, and missing a deadline, even by a day, can cost you rights you would otherwise have.

Here are the main deadlines in one place:

Situation	Deadline	Statute
Notice of where the deposit is held	In the lease, or within 30 days of receiving the deposit (not required for landlords renting fewer than 5 units)	83.49(2)
Return deposit, no claim	Within 15 days after the lease ends	83.49(3)(a)
Notice of a claim on the deposit	Within 30 days after the lease ends, by certified mail	83.49(3)(a)
Tenant objection to a claim	Within 15 days after receiving the notice	83.49(3)(b)
Unpaid rent	3 days, excluding weekends and court-observed holidays	83.56(3)
Curable violation (pets, guests, cleanliness)	7 days to fix it	83.56(2)(b)
Serious or repeat violation	7 days to move out, no chance to cure	83.56(2)(a)
Ending a month-to-month tenancy	At least 30 days before the end of a monthly period	83.57
Entry for repairs	At least 24 hours’ notice, between 7:30 a.m. and 8:00 p.m.	83.53(2)

Year-to-year tenancies with no set end date need 60 days’ notice, and week-to-week tenancies need 7. For what happens after a notice runs out, see Florida eviction and foreclosure process.

Security deposits

Section 83.49 gives you three ways to hold a deposit: a separate non-interest-bearing account at a Florida financial institution, a separate interest-bearing account there, or a surety bond. You can’t mix the deposit with your own money. Unless you rent fewer than five units, you must tell the tenant in writing, either in the lease or within 30 days of receiving the deposit, how and where it’s held. That notice must also include the statute’s language about deposit claims.

The deadline that matters most comes at move-out:

No deductions: return the full deposit within 15 days after the lease ends.
Deductions: send written notice of your claim by certified mail to the tenant’s last known mailing address within 30 days. If you don’t, you forfeit the right to make any claim on the deposit, even for real damage. You could still sue for damages separately after returning the deposit.
Tenant’s turn: the tenant has 15 days after receiving your notice to object in writing. If they don’t, you can deduct the claimed amount and must send the rest within 30 days of the notice.

Florida also lets landlords offer a fee in lieu of a security deposit under Section 83.491. It’s optional for both sides: you don’t have to offer it, and a tenant who takes it can switch to paying the regular deposit at any time. The fee is not a deposit, may be nonrefundable, and doesn’t reduce the tenant’s responsibility for damage. The statute requires specific written disclosures if you offer it.

Disclosures every qualifying lease needs

Landlord name and address (83.50): in writing, at or before the start of the tenancy. This is the landlord’s own name and address, or the name and address of whoever is authorized to manage the property and receive notices.
Radon gas notice (404.056(5)): the exact statutory radon paragraph, on at least one document signed at or before the lease. It applies regardless of the home’s age. Stays of 45 days or less are exempt.
Lead-based paint disclosure (federal): for most housing built before 1978. You must disclose any known lead paint or hazards, provide records, give the tenant the EPA pamphlet, and include a lead warning in the lease.
Flood disclosure (83.512): for leases of one year or longer, at or before signing. It has been required since October 1, 2025. It’s a separate form stating whether you know of flooding that damaged the unit while you owned it, and whether you’ve filed a flood insurance claim or received federal flood assistance, such as from FEMA, for it. If you skip it and the tenant later loses 50 percent or more of their belongings’ value to flooding, the tenant can end the lease within 30 days and get back any prepaid rent.

If you’d like to send notices by email, Section 83.505 allows it only when both you and the tenant sign an email-notice addendum, which either side can revoke later. Keep a copy of each email notice and proof that it was sent.

Notices, entry, and repairs

Late rent: a written 3-day notice demanding rent or possession, not counting weekends or court-observed holidays. Chapter 83 doesn’t require a grace period, but your lease might give one, and if it does, you have to honor it.
Other violations: Section 83.56(2) separates problems the tenant should get a chance to fix, like an unauthorized pet or a dirty unit (7 days to cure), from those they shouldn’t, like intentional damage or a repeat violation within 12 months after a written warning (7 days to vacate).
Ending a tenancy with no fixed term: 30 days’ written notice before the end of the monthly period for month-to-month tenancies.
Entry: you can enter at reasonable times to inspect, repair, or show the unit. For repairs, Section 83.53 requires at least 24 hours’ notice, and entry between 7:30 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. In an emergency, you can enter at any time.
Maintenance: Section 83.51 requires you to follow building, housing, and health codes. For units other than single-family homes and duplexes, unless the lease says otherwise in writing, it also covers items like pest extermination, locks and keys, garbage removal, heat in winter, and running and hot water.
No self-help: you can’t change the locks, shut off utilities, or remove the tenant’s belongings to force them out. Removing a tenant goes through the courts, covered in our eviction and foreclosure guide.

Federal and Florida fair housing laws also apply. Florida’s Fair Housing Act (Section 760.23) bars refusing to rent, or setting different terms, based on race, color, national origin, sex, disability, familial status, or religion. For the tenant’s side of all this, see Florida tenant rights.

The homestead exemption trap

If the property is your own homesteaded primary residence, this section matters more than anything else here. Under Section 196.061, renting all or substantially all of a homestead counts as abandoning it. The exemption is lost if the home is rented for more than 30 days per calendar year for 2 consecutive years. Renting out a single room while you still live there generally doesn’t count as renting substantially all of the home.

The statute has exceptions for certain military members and federal foreign-service personnel stationed outside Florida. Losing homestead also means losing the Save Our Homes assessment cap, so the tax hit can be large. Property appraisers handle the gray areas differently, so call yours before you sign a lease on a homesteaded property, not after.

HOA, condo, and short-term rental rules run separately

Section 509.032(7)(b) stops cities and counties from banning vacation rentals or regulating how long or how often they’re rented, unless the local rule was adopted on or before June 1, 2011. That limit applies to local governments, not to private associations.

HOAs (720.306(1)(h)): a new rental restriction adopted by amendment generally binds only owners who buy after it passes, or who consent to it. But an amendment banning rentals shorter than 6 months, or more than 3 rentals a year, applies to every owner. Restrictions that were already in the original declaration apply to everyone. See Florida HOA rules.
Condos (718.110(13)): an amendment that prohibits or regulates rentals applies only to owners who consent to it, and to owners who take title after it passes. See buying a condo in Florida.

City permission doesn’t help if your governing documents say no, so read the declaration and any amendments before you plan a rental. For short-term rentals specifically, see our Florida short-term rentals overview and the STR host guide.

Insurance is a different policy, not an add-on

A standard homeowners policy is written for a home you live in, and it generally won’t cover a property you rent out to someone else. Landlord or dwelling policies are built for rentals. They often include loss-of-rent coverage if the home becomes unlivable during repairs, plus liability coverage suited to having a tenant. Tenants need their own renters policy for their belongings. Get an actual quote on the specific property before you run the numbers. See Florida homeowners insurance and Florida flood insurance, since flood isn’t covered by either kind of policy without separate coverage.

Running the numbers before you commit

Everything above is the legal framework. Whether a specific property is worth renting is a separate financial question. The Rental Property Calculator runs cash flow, cap rate, and cash-on-cash return. If you’re looking at a loan that qualifies based on the property’s rental income rather than your personal debt-to-income, the DSCR Loan Calculator shows how the down payment affects the deal. Wrench & Wallet’s Becoming a Landlord guide covers the parts of the decision that don’t depend on the state, like financing, self-managing versus hiring a property manager, and LLC versus personal ownership.

Frequently Asked Questions

15 days after the lease ends if there’s no claim. To keep any part of it, the landlord must send a written notice of the claim by certified mail within 30 days, or lose the right to make a claim on the deposit.

Yes, if you rent all or substantially all of it for more than 30 days per calendar year for 2 consecutive years. Renting a single room while you still live there generally doesn’t trigger this.

The landlord or agent’s name and address, the statutory radon gas notice, a federal lead-based paint disclosure for most homes built before 1978, and, for leases of a year or longer, a flood disclosure covering known flood damage, flood claims, and federal flood assistance.

For repairs, at least 24 hours, with entry between 7:30 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. In an emergency, a landlord may enter at any time.

Often, yes. The state limits on local vacation rental rules don’t apply to HOA or condo documents. A new HOA amendment usually binds only later buyers or owners who consent, but one banning rentals under 6 months or more than 3 times a year applies to everyone.

Generally no. A standard homeowners policy is written for a home you live in. A landlord or dwelling policy is the usual coverage for a rental, and flood needs its own policy either way.

Sources

This article is for general informational purposes only and isn’t financial, legal, insurance, or tax advice – for guidance specific to your situation, talk to a licensed professional.

Becoming a Landlord in Florida