What this guide covers
Search for your rights as a Florida renter and one of the top results is the statute itself: raw legislative text, cross-referenced, written for lawyers. That it ranks at all tells you something. The translation is missing.
This page is that translation. Chapter 83, Part II mapped section by section, then organised the way a tenancy actually unfolds, from the application through to the day you hand back the keys.
If you specifically want the prohibitions and the penalties attached to them, that is a different page: Florida tenant rights covers what a landlord cannot do and what it costs them. This one is the law itself, end to end.
The Law That Governs Florida Rentals
Chapter 83, Part II at a glance
The Florida Residential Landlord and Tenant Act sits at Chapter 83, Part II of the Florida Statutes, running from section 83.40 through section 83.683. It applies to residential tenancies whether the agreement is written, oral, or an expired lease that has rolled into a month-to-month arrangement.
The Act does two jobs. It sets out what each side owes the other, and it sets out the only lawful procedure for ending a tenancy. Where a lease term conflicts with the Act, the Act generally wins: your landlord cannot write their way out of a statutory duty.
Section-by-section quick reference
| Statute | What it covers | What it means for you |
|---|---|---|
| § 83.43 | Definitions | Defines rent, premises, rental agreement, and who counts as a landlord |
| § 83.46 | Rent and duration | Rent is payable without demand at the time and place agreed; if no term is set, duration follows how rent is paid |
| § 83.49 | Security deposits | 15 days to return with no claim; 30 days for a certified-mail claim notice; you get 15 days to object |
| § 83.491 | Fee in lieu of deposit | Optional monthly fee instead of a deposit. Nonrefundable. You can cancel and switch to a deposit |
| § 83.51 | Landlord duties | Codes, structure, plumbing, and in most rentals pests, locks, heat, running water, and hot water |
| § 83.52 | Tenant duties | Keep the unit clean and sanitary, dispose of rubbish, use fixtures reasonably, do not destroy or disturb |
| § 83.53 | Landlord access | 24 hours’ notice for repairs, entry between 7:30 a.m. and 8:00 p.m., no abuse of access |
| § 83.56 | Termination for cause | Your 7-day letter to the landlord; their 3-day and 7-day notices to you |
| § 83.57 | Termination without a specific term | Month-to-month now needs at least 30 days’ notice before the end of a monthly period |
| § 83.575 | End of a fixed-term lease | A lease can require notice of non-renewal, but not less than 30 or more than 60 days |
| § 83.595 | Early termination | An early termination fee is allowed only if you agreed in writing, capped at 2 months’ rent |
| § 83.60 | Defences and rent withholding | The 7-day letter precondition, and the court registry deposit once a case is filed |
| § 83.64 | Retaliatory conduct | Protects complaints and organising; raised as a defence to eviction |
| § 83.67 | Prohibited practices | No lockouts, shutoffs, or removals. Actual damages or 3 months’ rent, whichever is greater |
| § 83.425 | State preemption | Local tenant ordinances on Chapter 83 subjects are void |
| § 83.682 | Servicemember termination | Early termination on written notice with a copy of qualifying orders |
What Changed Recently for Florida Renters
Florida rewrote meaningful parts of this law in 2023, and a large share of the guides, templates, and forum answers online still describe the old rules. If a source tells you 15 days or 12 hours, it is out of date.
Longer month-to-month notice periods
House Bill 1417 raised the notice required to end a month-to-month tenancy from 15 days to at least 30 days before the end of a monthly rental period, effective 1 July 2023. It also fixed the range a fixed-term lease may demand for notice of non-renewal at not less than 30 and not more than 60 days.
The same bill raised the notice a landlord must give before entering for repairs from 12 hours to 24 hours. That change in particular has not filtered through to most published guidance.
The statewide preemption law and local ordinances
The same bill created section 83.425, preempting the regulation of residential tenancies, the landlord-tenant relationship, and all other matters covered by Chapter 83, Part II to the state. Local government ordinances addressing those subjects were rendered null and void.
What this means in practice: if you were relying on a city or county tenant protection ordinance for longer notice periods, mandatory notice of rent increases, or a local eviction diversion requirement, check whether it survived. For matters Chapter 83 covers, state law is now both the floor and the ceiling, applied identically statewide. Local rules can still apply to things outside the Act, such as building and housing code enforcement, which remains a genuinely useful lever.
Before You Sign: Applications, Screening, and Leases
Oral vs written agreements
An oral rental agreement is valid in Florida and Chapter 83 protects you under one exactly as it would under a written lease. The practical difficulty is proof: with nothing in writing, disputes about the rent amount, what was included, or what was promised come down to competing recollections.
If your arrangement is oral, build a paper trail. Pay in a traceable way, keep receipts, and confirm anything important by text or email so there is a dated record of what was agreed.
What a Florida lease can and cannot contain
A lease can set rent, term, late fees, pet rules, and maintenance responsibilities within limits. What it cannot do is waive rights the statute gives you or the duties it imposes on your landlord. A clause purporting to let a landlord change the locks over unpaid rent does not become lawful because you signed it.
Worth reading closely before you sign:
- What counts as rent. If the lease defines late fees or utilities as rent, they can be demanded in a 3-day notice. If it does not, they cannot.
- Early termination. A fee is only enforceable if you agreed in writing, and it cannot exceed two months’ rent.
- Non-renewal notice. If the lease requires it, the period must fall between 30 and 60 days.
- Attorney’s fees. Where a lease provides for them, they follow the case, and in Florida they generally run both ways.
- Fee in lieu of deposit. If offered, the agreement must be in writing and signed, must state the amount and how it is paid, and must tell you that you can cancel at any time. The fee is nonrefundable, so you get none of it back at move-out, and there is no cap on the amount. You can cancel and pay a deposit instead, and your application cannot be refused because of which option you choose.
While You Rent: Your Legal Protections
The livable-home standard
Section 83.51 requires your landlord to comply with applicable building, housing, and health codes, and where no code applies, to keep the roof, windows, doors, floors, steps, porches, exterior walls, foundations, and other structural elements in good repair, and the plumbing in reasonable working order.
For most rentals other than single-family homes and duplexes, the landlord must also provide pest extermination, locks and keys, clean common areas, garbage removal, functioning heat during winter, running water, and hot water. In single-family homes and duplexes, some of these obligations can be shifted to the tenant by written agreement, so check your lease.
Rent, fees, and increases
Under section 83.46 rent is payable without demand at the time and place agreed. Where no term is specified, the duration follows the payment interval: pay monthly and you have a month-to-month tenancy.
There is no rent control in Florida and no cap on increases. A landlord cannot raise rent mid-lease unless the lease allows it, and changing a month-to-month tenancy requires the same 30-day notice as ending one. Late fees are a matter of contract, so what your lease says governs, and whether they count as rent for notice purposes depends on that same wording.
Entry and privacy
Your landlord may enter to inspect, repair, supply agreed services, or show the unit. For repairs, that requires at least 24 hours’ notice and entry between 7:30 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. They may enter without consent in an emergency, if you unreasonably withhold consent, or if you have been absent for at least half a rental period without notifying them where rent is not current.
Section 83.53 says directly that a landlord must not abuse the right of access nor use it to harass you. Repeated unannounced visits after you raised a complaint are documentable evidence, not an inconvenience to tolerate.
What you can withhold rent for, and the 7-day letter that comes first
Withholding is available for a material failure by the landlord to meet the obligations in section 83.51 or the lease: no running water, no hot water, no working heat in winter, a serious roof leak, sewage backups, a persistent infestation, an unsafe structural problem, or an unaddressed code violation affecting health or safety. It is not available for cosmetic complaints, slow non-urgent repairs, or a broken appliance the lease does not require them to provide.
The precondition that decides these cases
Before withholding a dollar, deliver written notice to your landlord at least seven days in advance. State the specific problem, that it is a material failure to comply with section 83.51 or the lease, and that you intend to withhold rent if it is not corrected within seven days.
Keep a dated copy and send it in a way you can prove. Without that letter, the condition of the property is largely irrelevant in court and you are simply a renter who did not pay.
Hold the money rather than spending it. If a case is filed, you may need to deposit it into the court registry to keep your defence alive.
If the underlying problem is money, not law
Assistance paid directly to your landlord clears arrears and removes the ground for a nonpayment eviction. Free check, about two minutes.
Check My Eligibility FreeYour Deposit
Timelines, claims, and disputes in brief
Florida sets no maximum deposit. Your landlord must hold it in a separate non-interest-bearing account, a separate interest-bearing account, or post a surety bond. Where an interest-bearing account is used you are entitled to interest, paid at least once a year.
At the end of the tenancy, two deadlines control everything:
- 15 days to return the deposit in full if no claim is being made against it.
- 30 days to send written notice by certified mail of an intention to impose a claim, stating the amount and the reason. Miss it and the landlord forfeits the right to impose a claim on the deposit.
- 15 days for you to object in writing once you receive a claim notice.
The prevailing party in a deposit dispute is entitled to court costs and a reasonable attorney’s fee. The full walkthrough, including what to put in an objection letter and how the small claims route works, is on the Florida security deposit law page.
Leaving or Losing the Rental
How much notice a landlord must give you to move out, by situation
| Situation | Notice you must get |
|---|---|
| Unpaid rent | 3 days, excluding the delivery day, weekends, and legal holidays |
| Curable lease violation | 7 days to cure |
| Serious non-curable violation | 7 days, tenancy terminates |
| Month-to-month, no reason given | At least 30 days before the end of a monthly rental period |
| Fixed-term lease ending | None required unless the lease says so; if it does, 30 to 60 days |
| After a writ of possession | 24 hours from the sheriff posting it |
Notice is not the same as removal. Even after any of these periods expire, your landlord still has to go to court. The only person who can lawfully put you out is a sheriff acting on a writ.
Ending a lease early
Leaving before the term ends generally leaves you liable for rent until the unit is re-let or the term expires. Where your lease contains an early termination clause you agreed to in writing, section 83.595 caps the fee at two months’ rent. Grounds that may justify leaving include your landlord’s material noncompliance after a proper seven-day letter, and military service under section 83.682, which lets a servicemember terminate on written notice with a copy of qualifying orders.
Eviction basics and where our guides go deeper
Written notice, then a complaint filed in county court, then service on you. From service you have five days, excluding the day of service, weekends, and legal holidays, to file a written answer with the clerk. In a nonpayment case you must also deposit the rent claimed into the court registry or file a motion asking the judge to determine the correct amount, or a default can be entered without your defence being heard.
Deeper: Florida eviction process, eviction notice Florida, Florida 3 day notice, Florida eviction laws, how long does eviction take in Florida, how to stop eviction in Florida.
Enforcement: What Happens When the Law Is Broken
Prohibited practices and penalties in brief
Section 83.67 prohibits your landlord from cutting off utilities, changing the locks or otherwise blocking your access, removing doors, windows, walls, or the roof other than for repair, and removing your personal property from the unit. A landlord who does any of it is liable for actual damages or three months’ rent, whichever is greater, plus court costs and attorney’s fees.
These prohibitions do not switch off because you owe money. They apply during arrears, after a lease expires, and after a judgment, right up until a sheriff executes a writ. The Florida tenant rights page covers each prohibition and how to evidence it.
Retaliation protections
Section 83.64 makes it unlawful to discriminatorily raise rent, cut services, or bring or threaten an eviction primarily in retaliation for protected activity: complaining to a government agency about code violations, complaining to the landlord about maintenance duties, organising or joining a tenant organisation, exercising servicemember termination rights, or otherwise exercising rights under the law.
Two honest limits. Retaliation is raised as a defence when your landlord sues you, rather than as a standalone claim you bring first. And it does not apply where the landlord proves the eviction is for good cause, which expressly includes good-faith actions for nonpayment or a lease violation. See landlord retaliation Florida for how to prove it.
Where to Get Help
Legal aid, the Florida Bar, and FDACS
Florida’s civil legal aid organisations handle landlord-tenant matters free for income-qualifying renters, and several publish online tools that generate court documents. Florida Law Help and Florida Legal Services can direct you to the provider covering your county, and many county clerks operate self-help centres. The Florida Bar publishes a consumer pamphlet on the rights and duties of tenants and landlords, and the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services maintains a plain-language landlord-tenant overview.
Florida rental assistance programs
Where the real problem is affordability, a free eligibility check against 100+ Florida rental assistance programs takes about two minutes and a real person calls within 24 hours. Dial 211 for immediate local referrals, and see Section 8 Florida, the Florida Housing Finance Corporation, and LIHEAP Florida.
Florida Renters Rights FAQ
What is the new law in Florida for renters?
The most significant recent change is House Bill 1417, effective 1 July 2023. It raised the notice to end a month-to-month tenancy from 15 to at least 30 days before the end of a monthly rental period, raised the notice required before a landlord enters for repairs from 12 to 24 hours, set the permissible range for lease non-renewal notice at 30 to 60 days, and created section 83.425, which preempted local tenant-protection ordinances on matters Chapter 83 covers and rendered them null and void. Separately, section 83.491 now allows landlords to offer an optional monthly fee in lieu of a security deposit, which is nonrefundable.
What is the 408 rule in Florida?
There is no provision known as the “408 rule” in Florida landlord-tenant law. Chapter 83, Part II runs from section 83.40 to section 83.683 and contains no section 408, and no Florida rental rule is commonly called by that name. If you have been told about one, ask for the specific statute number in writing.
People asking this are usually after one of a few real provisions: section 83.40, which opens Part II and sets its scope; section 83.53, the entry and access rule now requiring 24 hours’ notice for repairs; or section 83.425, the 2023 preemption provision. Rather than guess at what a mislabelled rule might say, work from the section numbers above, which are the actual law.
How much time does a landlord have to give a tenant to move out in Florida?
It depends entirely on why. Unpaid rent gets a 3-day notice, counted excluding the delivery day, weekends, and legal holidays, so usually about five calendar days. A curable lease violation gets 7 days to fix it. A serious non-curable violation gets 7 days. Ending a month-to-month tenancy for no reason requires at least 30 days before the end of a monthly rental period. A fixed-term lease ending needs no notice unless the lease requires it, in which case it must be between 30 and 60 days. After a writ of possession, you have 24 hours from the sheriff posting it. In every case except the writ, notice expiring does not mean you must leave: the landlord still has to win a court case first.
What can you withhold rent for in Florida?
Only for a material failure by your landlord to meet the obligations in section 83.51 or the lease, such as no running water, no hot water, no heat in winter, a serious leak, sewage problems, a persistent infestation, or an unsafe structural or code issue. Before withholding anything, you must give written notice at least seven days in advance stating the problem and that you intend to withhold if it is not corrected. Without that letter, withholding will be treated as simple nonpayment no matter how bad the conditions are. Hold the money rather than spending it, because you may need to deposit it into the court registry.
Does Florida have rent control?
No. Florida law makes local rent control effectively unavailable, and the 2023 preemption law further removed local authority over matters Chapter 83 covers. There is no cap on how much your landlord can raise the rent at the end of a term or in a month-to-month tenancy. What is regulated is timing: rent cannot be raised mid-lease unless the lease allows it, and a month-to-month change requires at least 30 days’ notice before the end of a monthly rental period.