Florida Landlord-Tenant Laws 2026: What Renters and Landlords Need to Know
Florida Landlord-Tenant Laws 2026: What Renters and Landlords Need to Know
Florida’s landlord entry notice is 24 hours, not 12, for repairs — Fla. Stat. § 83.53 ties that 24-hour figure and the 7:30 a.m.–8:00 p.m. window specifically to entry “for the purpose of repair,” not to every non-emergency visit, and guides that quote 12 hours are citing a number absent from the current statute either way. A second, more consequential gap: several guides cite § 83.682 for domestic-violence lease termination, but that section governs servicemembers changing duty stations, not domestic violence at all — and Florida currently has no statewide statute letting a domestic-violence victim break a lease early without penalty. Two bills that would have created one, SB 142 and HB 107, died in committee in March 2026 and are not moving. The Florida Residential Landlord and Tenant Act, Fla. Stat. Chapter 83, Part II, is still the right starting point for everything else below.
Security Deposits in Florida
| Requirement | Florida Law |
|---|---|
| Maximum Deposit | No statutory limit (Fla. Stat. § 83.49) |
| Interest Required? | Depends on which of three holding methods the landlord picks — not on how long the deposit is held |
| Return, No Claim | 15 days after the lease ends |
| Return, With Claim | Landlord has 30 days to send written notice of intent to claim; tenant then has 15 days to object; if the tenant doesn’t object, landlord remits the balance within 30 days of that notice |
| Missed-Notice Penalty | Landlord forfeits the right to claim anything against the deposit and may only sue for damages after returning the full amount |
The interest question is where a “held for more than 12 months” rule keeps showing up in rental guides, and it isn’t in § 83.49 anywhere. The statute gives landlords three options, full stop: hold the money in a plain non-interest account (no interest ever owed, for any length of time), hold it in an interest-bearing account (pay the tenant at least 75% of the actual rate earned, or a flat 5% simple interest, landlord’s choice), or post a surety bond (pay 5% simple interest). Which option the landlord picked on day one determines whether interest is owed — the length of the tenancy doesn’t enter into it. Landlords must tell tenants in writing, within 30 days of receiving the deposit, which of the three they chose.
Lease Agreements and Disclosures
Florida’s statute of frauds threshold, Fla. Stat. § 725.01, requires a lease running longer than one year to be in writing; a term of exactly one year or less can be oral and still enforceable. Required disclosures before or at signing:
- Lead-based paint hazards for housing built before 1978 (federal requirement)
- Radon gas information
- Known building code violations
- The name and address of the owner or an authorized agent
Rent Control, Rent Increases, and Late Fees
| Rule | Florida Law |
|---|---|
| Rent Control | Banned outright statewide (Fla. Stat. § 166.043) |
| Local Tenant Ordinances | Also preempted, but by a different 2023 law than the rent-control ban — see below |
| Rent Increase Notice | No dedicated rent-increase statute; a landlord who wants a higher month-to-month rent simply terminates and re-offers, so the effective notice is whatever § 83.57 requires for termination |
| Termination Notice by Tenancy Type | Week-to-week: 7 days · Month-to-month: 30 days (raised from 15 days, effective 2023-07-01) · Quarter-to-quarter: 30 days · Year-to-year: 60 days (§ 83.57) — only the month-to-month line actually changed in 2023; the other three are unchanged from the prior version of the statute |
| Late Fee Limit | No statutory cap; must be reasonable |
| Grace Period | None required by statute |
Florida used to let a city or county impose rent control during a declared housing emergency, subject to a voter referendum and a one-year cap — that escape hatch is gone. Chapter 2023-17 (the Live Local Act) removed it entirely, effective July 1, 2023, so there is now no path, emergency or otherwise, for local rent control anywhere in the state. That’s a different 2023 law from chapter 2023-314, which is what changed the month-to-month termination notice in the table above — two separate bills passed the same year, not one law doing both jobs.
Eviction Process in Florida
| Eviction Type | Notice Period | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Non-Payment of Rent | 3 days, excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays (§ 83.56(3)) | A notice delivered Friday afternoon effectively runs past the weekend to the following Wednesday — the “3 days” is business days, not calendar days |
| Curable Lease Violation | 7 days from receipt to fix the problem (§ 83.56(2)(b)) | Notice must specify the noncompliance and state that the lease terminates if it isn’t cured |
| Non-Curable Violation | 7 days from delivery to vacate, no fix-it option (§ 83.56(2)(a)) | Covers conduct like destruction of property or repeated violations of the same term |
Florida courts don’t publish one official case-to-writ average, and a guide handing readers a fixed week-range for “how long eviction takes” is estimating, not citing a source — the real driver is which county’s court is hearing it and whether the tenant answers the complaint at all.
Maintenance and Repair Obligations
Implied Warranty of Habitability
Fla. Stat. § 83.51 requires landlords to maintain the premises in a condition fit for habitation; a lease clause trying to shift that duty entirely onto the tenant doesn’t work.
Rent Withholding — and a Statute That Doesn’t Apply Here
For residential tenancies, § 83.56(1) gives the mechanism: the tenant serves written notice of the specific problem, the landlord gets 7 days to fix it, and only after that window closes may the tenant withhold rent or move to terminate. This is the statute to cite for a residential dispute. Fla. Stat. § 83.201 also deals with withholding rent over an untenantable condition, with a 20-day cure window — but it sits in Part I of Chapter 83, which governs nonresidential (commercial) tenancies. Applying its 20-day number to a residential lease is a mistake worth flagging by name, because the two sections sit one chapter apart and get confused constantly. Florida has no separate “repair-and-deduct” statute for residential units — the tenant’s remedy is withholding rent through § 83.56(1), or terminating, not hiring a repair and billing the landlord directly.
Tenant Rights and Protections
| Protection | Florida Law |
|---|---|
| Entry Notice | At least 24 hours specifically for entry to make a repair, and that entry must fall between 7:30 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. (§ 83.53); the statute doesn’t set a separate numeric notice period for other non-emergency entry like showings or inspections; emergency entry needs no notice at all |
| Retaliation Protection | Prohibited (§ 83.64) for good-faith code complaints, joining a tenant organization, fair-housing complaints, servicemember status, and paying the landlord’s condo/HOA assessments to avoid a lien — the statute names no fixed time window the way some states do, and doesn’t apply if the landlord shows a good-cause reason like nonpayment |
| Domestic Violence | No dedicated statewide early-termination statute exists; § 83.682 (often miscited for this) actually covers servicemembers with military orders, not domestic violence. SB 142 and HB 107, filed for the 2026 session, would have created a DV termination right — both died in committee in March 2026. |
Frequently Asked Questions
How much notice does a Florida landlord need to enter my apartment? For a repair specifically, 24 hours, not 12 — § 83.53 sets that number and requires the visit to fall between 7:30 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. The statute doesn’t hang a separate numeric notice period on other non-emergency visits like a showing or inspection.
Can a domestic violence victim break a Florida lease early under state law? Not under a dedicated statute. § 83.682, which some guides cite for this, actually covers military servicemembers changing duty stations. Two 2026-session bills that would have created a DV termination right, SB 142 and HB 107, both died in committee in March 2026 — check your lease and local ordinances for any protection in the meantime.
Is there a cap on security deposits in Florida? No. Landlords set the amount, and whether interest is owed depends on which of three holding methods they chose when they took the deposit, not on how long they’ve held it.
Does Florida allow rent control? No, and as of chapter 2023-17 (the Live Local Act) it doesn’t even allow the old emergency-referendum exception anymore — rent control is banned outright statewide. A separate 2023 law, chapter 2023-314, is what changed the termination-notice periods elsewhere on this page; the two aren’t the same bill.
What’s the difference between §§ 83.56(1), 83.201, and 83.682? § 83.56(1) is the residential rent-withholding notice (7 days). § 83.201 is its nonresidential lookalike (20 days) — don’t use it for an apartment lease. § 83.682 is the servicemember early-termination statute, not a domestic-violence provision, despite showing up cited that way.