Breaking a lease in Florida

If a tenant breaks the lease and you have a writ of possession, or the tenant has surrendered or abandoned the unit, you may end the lease and release the tenant, retake the unit for the tenant's account and make a good faith effort to relet, stand by and collect rent as it comes due, or charge an agreed early termination fee or liquidated damages (Fla. Stat. § 83.595).

• An early termination fee or liquidated damages is allowed only if the tenant accepted it by signing a separate addendum in the statutory form, the amount is no more than 2 months' rent, and for a fee the tenant must give no more than 60 days' notice. You may also collect rent through the end of the month you retake the unit and charges for damage (Fla. Stat. § 83.595(4)).
• A lease with a fixed term may require the tenant to give 30 to 60 days' notice before leaving at the end of the term only if it also requires you to give the same notice if you will not renew. To charge liquidated damages when the tenant skips that notice, you must deliver written notice, by a method in s. 83.56(4) and within 15 days before the notice period starts, stating the tenant's notice obligation, the date the lease ends and every fee, penalty and charge that applies (Fla. Stat. § 83.575(1); Fla. Stat. § 83.575(2)).
• A servicemember may end the lease by written notice effective at least 30 days after you receive it, with a copy of the official orders or a written verification signed by the commanding officer, in six listed situations, including a permanent change of station 35 miles or more away. An adult immediate family member may do the same if the servicemember dies on active duty. The tenant owes prorated rent only to the termination date, and owes no damages or penalties at all if the lease is ended 14 or more days before occupancy. This right cannot be waived. For a family member's notice after an active-duty death, the orders or commanding officer's verification must also be accompanied by the servicemember's death certificate (Fla. Stat. section 83.682(1)-(5)).
• A tenant may also end the lease after casualty damage not caused by the tenant that substantially impairs the home, or after a flood loss when you did not give the flood disclosure. After casualty damage you must let the tenant collect belongings when it is safe to do so, or give notice of a date, within a reasonable time, by which the tenant can collect them (Fla. Stat. § 83.63(1) and (2); Fla. Stat. § 83.512(2)).
• Both parties must accept the fee or liquidated-damages option when the rental agreement is made, with the tenant signing the separate statutory addendum. Under that option the landlord waives additional rent beyond the month in which possession is retaken. The separate rules in 83.575 govern a tenant's failure to give required end-of-term notice (Fla. Stat. section 83.595(4)).
• When retaking the home for the tenant's account under 83.595(2), credit rent received from reletting against the tenant's rent balance. Good-faith reletting requires at least the efforts used for the original rental or for similar units, without requiring preference over the landlord's other vacancies. The statute separately offers termination for the landlord's own account and the option to collect rent as it comes due; apply the conditions of the remedy chosen (Fla. Stat. section 83.595(1)-(3)).

If you materially fail to meet the code or structural duties in 83.51(1), or material lease terms, within 7 days after the tenant's written notice saying the tenant intends to terminate, the tenant may end the rental agreement. No section of Part II lets a tenant make repairs and deduct the cost from rent (Fla. Stat. § 83.56(1)).

• When the failure is beyond your control and you keep trying to fix it, a tenant who moves out of an untenantable unit owes no rent while it stays that way, and a tenant who stays pays rent reduced in proportion to the lost rental value (Fla. Stat. § 83.56(1)(a), (b)).
• A tenant who gave 7 days' written notice of the problem and of the intent to withhold rent may raise it as a defense when you sue for rent or possession. A material failure under 83.51(1) is a complete defense to an eviction for nonpayment, and the court sets the rent reduction (Fla. Stat. § 83.60(1)(b)).
• The duties in 83.51(2), such as extermination or common areas, cannot be raised as a defense to an action for possession (Fla. Stat. § 83.51(2)(c)).
• A lease term that waives these rights is void (Fla. Stat. § 83.47(1)(a)).

Florida has no statute that sets a general rule on subletting a home. The lease controls, so state in it whether the tenant needs your written consent (Fla. Stat. ch. 83, part II).

Either side ends a month-to-month tenancy with written notice given at least 30 days before the end of a monthly rental period. A week-to-week tenancy takes 7 days, quarter-to-quarter 30 days and year-to-year 60 days before the end of the period (Fla. Stat. § 83.57).

• A lease with no stated duration runs by the rent period: monthly rent makes it month to month (Fla. Stat. § 83.46(2)).
• Deliver the notice the same ways as the 3-day and 7-day notices (Fla. Stat. § 83.57; Fla. Stat. § 83.56(4)).
• A tenant who stays after the lease ends with your permission and does not give the month-to-month notice owes an extra month's rent. A tenant who stays without permission can be evicted and owes double rent for the holdover period (Fla. Stat. § 83.575(3); Fla. Stat. § 83.58).

If you make no claim on the deposit, return it, with any interest owed, within 15 days after the rental agreement ends. If you intend to keep any part, send written notice of the claim and the reason within 30 days after the rental agreement ends, by certified mail to the tenant's last known mailing address (or by e-mail under a signed e-mail addendum) (Fla. Stat. § 83.49(3)).

• The claim notice must be in substantially the form the statute gives, stating the amount, the reason and the address for objections. A landlord who misses the 30-day window forfeits the right to claim against the deposit, but may sue for damages after returning it (Fla. Stat. § 83.49(3)(a)).
• The tenant has 15 days after receiving the notice to object in writing. If no objection arrives, deduct the claim and send the balance within 30 days after the date of the notice. Not objecting does not stop the tenant from suing later (Fla. Stat. § 83.49(3)(b)).
• Unless the written lease says otherwise, a tenant who leaves before the lease term ends, or who leaves a week-to-week, month-to-month, quarter-to-quarter or year-to-year tenancy, must give at least 7 days' written notice by certified mail or personal delivery, with an address where the tenant can be reached. If that tenant does not, you are relieved of the claim notice duty in (3)(a), though the tenant keeps any right to the deposit. A fixed-term tenant who moves out when the term ends owes no such notice, so still send the claim notice on time (Fla. Stat. § 83.49(5)).
• In a court fight over the deposit, the winner gets court costs and a reasonable attorney fee (Fla. Stat. § 83.49(3)(c)).
• When the property is sold or the rental agent changes, deposits and advance rent, with earned interest and an accounting, pass to the new owner or agent (Fla. Stat. § 83.49(7)).
• Email delivery needs the voluntary signed rental-agreement addendum required by section 83.505, valid designated email addresses, and the required advice about revocation and address updates. Check the current election and address before sending. A qualifying email is deemed delivered when sent unless returned as undeliverable; preserve the notice and transmission evidence. An ordinary portal message or a signed lease alone does not establish these conditions (Fla. Stat. § 83.49; Fla. Stat. § 83.505).
• Compare dated move-in and move-out records, resident comments and the actual work or unpaid amount before asserting a claim. Itemize the reason and amount and retain photos, invoices, ledger entries and any contrary evidence. A contractor's total, routine repainting, an improvement or a general damage label does not establish what the tenant owes. Check the lease and applicable remedy before claiming future rent after departure; a notice or software entry does not determine liability (Fla. Stat. § 83.49; Fla. Stat. § 83.44).
• Check subsection (4) before applying this section to transient hotel or motel rentals, regulated rent or deposit arrangements and public housing. Its public-housing carveout retains subsections (3), (5) and (6). A general residential summary does not resolve every program's deposit rules (Fla. Stat. § 83.49).