Florida’s automatic renewal law, found at Section 501.165 of the Florida Statutes, requires any business using an auto-renewing service contract to disclose the renewal clearly in the contract itself and, for contracts with an initial term of 12 months or more, to send the consumer a reminder notice between 30 and 60 days before the cancellation deadline.1Florida Senate. Florida Statutes 501.165 – Automatic Renewal of Service Contracts Skip either step and the renewal clause becomes void and unenforceable, and a consumer who was charged anyway can recover damages and attorney’s fees.
Which Contracts and Consumers Are Covered
Section 501.165 applies to service contracts: written agreements for the performance of services over a fixed period or specified duration. Gym memberships, lawn care, pest control, and software subscriptions are the typical examples. The automatic renewal provision triggers the statute when the renewal period is longer than one month and causes the contract to remain in effect more than six months from the original start date.1Florida Senate. Florida Statutes 501.165 – Automatic Renewal of Service Contracts
The protection runs to individuals receiving services for personal use. Anyone signing a contract as part of their business activities, or on behalf of a government entity, is excluded from the statute’s definition of consumer. A homeowner buying pool maintenance is covered. A property management company signing the same contract for a commercial building is not.
What the Contract Itself Must Say
Every service contract with an auto-renewal provision must disclose that provision “clearly and conspicuously.” The statute does not prescribe exact fonts or formatting, but burying the renewal clause in dense boilerplate is the practice the requirement targets. A reasonable consumer should be able to notice, before signing, that the contract will keep renewing and keep charging them.
The disclosure should identify the renewal period, how cancellation works, and any deadline the consumer must meet to stop the renewal. If a court or regulator later reviews the contract, the test is whether the terms were visible enough that a reasonable consumer would have seen them.
The 30-to-60-Day Reminder Notice
For contracts with an initial term of 12 months or more that automatically renew for more than one month, the seller must send a written or electronic notification to the consumer between 30 and 60 days before the cancellation deadline.2Florida Statutes. Florida Statutes 501.165 – Automatic Renewal of Service Contracts This is the step most compliance failures involve.
The notice has to say two things clearly. First, that the contract will automatically renew unless the consumer cancels. Second, how the consumer can find out the renewal terms and cancellation procedure, whether by calling a listed number, writing to an address, consulting the contract, or some other identified method.
The window is strict on both ends. A notice sent 90 days out is too early. A notice sent 15 days out is too late. Either miss costs the business the renewal.
What Happens If a Business Doesn’t Comply
The consequence is direct: a violation renders the automatic renewal provision void and unenforceable.3Florida Senate. Florida Statutes 501.165 – Automatic Renewal of Service Contracts The consumer is not bound by the renewal, and the business cannot collect on charges that accrued after the original term ended.
The statute carves out a narrow safe harbor. A seller avoids the “void and unenforceable” result only by showing all three of the following:
- The business has established and actually enforces written procedures designed to comply with the statute.
- The noncompliance resulted from an error rather than a deliberate choice.
- Once the business learned of the error, it refunded the unearned portion of the renewed contract.
All three have to be true at once. A company with no written compliance procedures cannot claim the error defense, even if the slip was genuinely accidental.
How a Consumer Can Recover Money
A consumer who was improperly charged under a defective auto-renewal clause has two main paths.
A Private Lawsuit Under FDUTPA
Florida’s Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act defines unlawful conduct broadly as unfair or deceptive acts in the conduct of any trade or commerce,4Florida Statutes. Florida Statutes 501.204 – Unlawful Acts and Practices and it lets a consumer who suffered a loss recover actual damages plus attorney’s fees and court costs.5Florida Statutes. Florida Statutes 501.211 – Other Remedies Available Charging a consumer under a renewal clause that failed Section 501.165 fits comfortably within that definition. The attorney’s fees provision is what gives the law practical force on small balances; without it, few consumers would sue over a $200 gym charge. With it, these disputes have at times grown into class actions when a company’s noncompliance affected large numbers of subscribers.
A Complaint to the Attorney General
The Florida Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division can investigate businesses that fail to meet the disclosure or notification requirements, particularly when a pattern of consumer harm emerges. If violations are confirmed, the state can pursue legal proceedings, seek fines, or obtain restitution.
Contracts the Law Does Not Reach
Several categories of auto-renewing contracts sit outside Section 501.165 because other regulatory frameworks govern them instead.
Insurance policies are the clearest example. Auto, homeowner’s, and health insurance renewals are regulated by Florida’s insurance code; Section 627.4133 sets its own notice rules for cancellation, nonrenewal, and renewal premium changes.6Florida Senate. Florida Code 627.4133 – Notice of Cancellation, Nonrenewal, or Renewal Premium An insurance renewal dispute runs under that code, not Section 501.165.
Financial products such as deposit accounts, credit cards, and loan agreements are primarily regulated by federal law, including the Truth in Lending Act and the Electronic Fund Transfer Act, which impose their own disclosure and notification rules.
Contracts entered on behalf of a government entity are also outside the statute, because the law’s definition of consumer excludes anyone acting for a government body.
How Federal Rules Fit In
The Federal Trade Commission has long regulated “negative option” marketing, where a consumer is charged unless they take affirmative steps to cancel. The existing Negative Option Rule at 16 C.F.R. Part 425 requires sellers using prenotification negative option plans to disclose material terms, cancellation rights, and billing details.7eCFR. 16 CFR Part 425 – Use of Prenotification Negative Option Plans In October 2024, the FTC finalized an expanded “Click-to-Cancel” rule,8Federal Trade Commission. Federal Trade Commission Announces Final Click-to-Cancel Rule but in July 2025 the Eighth Circuit vacated it, and the agency has since opened a new rulemaking process on negative option practices.9Federal Trade Commission. FTC Seeks Public Comment in Response to Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking Regarding Negative Option Marketing Practices
None of that changes Florida’s law. Section 501.165 remains fully in force, and FDUTPA gives Florida consumers a private right of action that federal rules alone would not provide.
What to Do Now
If you were charged under an auto-renewal you did not knowingly agree to, start by checking whether the business sent you a reminder notice within the 30-to-60-day window before the cancellation deadline. If it did not, the renewal provision is likely void. Send a written cancellation request and keep a copy. If the business keeps billing, dispute the charge with your bank or card issuer. When the dollar amounts are significant or the business is unresponsive, a FDUTPA claim with attorney’s fees available often prompts a quick resolution.
If you run a business that uses auto-renewing service contracts in Florida, build the compliance infrastructure before you need to rely on it. Put the renewal disclosure in a visible place in the contract. Draft written procedures for tracking renewal dates. Use a calendar or automated system that flags each contract roughly 60 days before its cancellation deadline, and keep records showing each notice went out inside the statutory window. That paper trail is what the safe harbor requires if something goes wrong.