New Rental Laws in Florida: Notice, Deposit Fees & Chapter 83 Eviction

Florida’s new rental laws took effect in 2023, when the legislature passed HB 1417 and HB 133. HB 1417 preempted every local tenant ordinance in the state, extended the notice period for ending a month-to-month lease from 15 days to 30, and set a uniform framework under Chapter 83 of the Florida Statutes. HB 133 gave landlords the option to offer a recurring monthly fee in place of a traditional security deposit. Everything else in Chapter 83 — deposit return deadlines, eviction procedure, landlord access rules, retaliation protections — still applies alongside these changes.

Local Tenant Ordinances No Longer Apply

Before 2023, cities and counties across Florida had built up their own tenant protections. Miami-Dade, Broward, Orange, and others adopted “Tenant Bills of Rights,” source-of-income protections, and rent-related measures. HB 1417 erased all of it. The bill added Section 83.425, which reserves the entire residential landlord-tenant relationship to state law.¹

The preempted areas are broad: tenant screening, security deposits, application fees, lease terms and conditions, landlord disclosures, fees, and notice requirements.¹ A county can no longer cap application fees below the state rule, add its own disclosure requirements, or extend eviction protections past what Chapter 83 provides. If you’re a tenant, the protections you have are the ones in state law, regardless of which city you rent in. If you own rental property in more than one Florida county, one rulebook now applies everywhere.

Month-to-Month Leases Need 30 Days’ Notice

The old rule let either side end a month-to-month tenancy with 15 days’ notice before the end of a monthly period.² The revised Section 83.57 now requires 30 days.³

The rule cuts both ways. If you plan to move, put your written notice in your landlord’s hands at least 30 days before the end of the monthly rental period. If your landlord wants you out, the same 30 days applies. Other tenancy types were not affected: 7 days for week-to-week, 30 days for quarter-to-quarter, and 60 days for year-to-year.³

HB 1417 also set boundaries on fixed-term leases. A lease cannot require fewer than 30 days’ or more than 60 days’ notice of non-renewal.⁴ If your written lease demands 14 days’ notice, state law overrides it.

Monthly Fee Instead of a Security Deposit

HB 133 created Section 83.491, which lets a landlord offer you a recurring fee in place of a lump-sum security deposit.⁵ It’s meant to lower the upfront cost of moving in. Before you agree, read the required written disclosures carefully.

The fee is nonrefundable. Unlike a deposit, none of it comes back when you move out.
If the landlord uses the fee to buy insurance, you are not the beneficiary and the coverage doesn’t reduce what you owe for damage or unpaid rent.
You are still responsible for unpaid rent and damage beyond normal wear and tear, exactly as you would be under a traditional deposit.
You can stop paying the fee at any point in the lease and switch to a traditional security deposit.
The landlord may let you pay a security deposit in monthly installments while you are enrolled in the fee program.

All of these points must be given to you in writing.⁵ The landlord cannot approve or deny your application based on which option you pick. That call is yours.

When your tenancy ends, the landlord has 30 days to notify you of any amount owed for unpaid rent or damage. The landlord cannot file an insurance claim to recover those losses until at least 15 days after that notice, which gives you time to dispute or pay directly.⁵

Whether this option saves you money depends on how long you stay. Two years at $50 a month is $1,200 you’ll never see again. A $1,200 refundable deposit would have come back minus legitimate deductions. The fee generally makes sense for a short stay when the upfront lump sum is genuinely out of reach.

Security Deposit Return: The Deadlines That Still Matter

Section 83.49 wasn’t rewritten in 2023, but it still governs any traditional deposit you pay. The deadlines here are worth real money for both sides.

Once your lease ends and you move out, the clock starts. If the landlord has no claim against the deposit, you get the full amount back — plus any accrued interest — within 15 days. If the landlord intends to keep part or all of it, the landlord must send you written notice by certified mail or email within 30 days of the lease ending, and the notice must state the reason for the claim.⁶

You then have 15 days from receiving that notice to object in writing. If you don’t object, the landlord can deduct the claimed amount and must return any balance within 30 days of the original notice. The critical rule: if the landlord fails to send the required notice within 30 days of the lease ending, the landlord forfeits any claim against the deposit and must return the whole thing.⁶

Eviction Procedure Under Chapter 83

The eviction rules were not changed by HB 1417, but preemption means these are now the only rules that apply, in every county.

If you fall behind on rent, the landlord must first deliver a three-day written notice under Section 83.56 demanding payment or possession. Saturdays, Sundays, and court-observed holidays don’t count toward the three days.⁷ Pay everything owed within the three-day window and the eviction stops. Otherwise, the landlord can file suit.

Once you’re served with the summons, you have five business days to file a written response with the court. Miss that deadline and the court can enter a default judgment against you without a hearing.⁸

A second deadline runs at the same time. Unless your defense is that you already paid, you generally have to deposit the claimed rent into the court registry within those same five business days, or file a motion asking the court to determine the correct amount if you think the landlord’s figure is wrong. Skip both and you can lose every defense other than payment. Tenants in subsidized housing only need to deposit their personal share.

Landlord Access to Your Unit

Section 83.53 still controls when your landlord can come in. For repairs, you’re entitled to at least 24 hours’ notice, and entry is limited to the hours between 7:30 a.m. and 8:00 p.m.⁹ Beyond repairs, entry to inspect, make agreed improvements, provide agreed services, or show the unit requires your consent, an emergency, or your unreasonable refusal.

One provision surprises tenants. If you’re absent from the unit for a period equal to half your rental interval — roughly two weeks for a monthly tenant — and you never told your landlord you’d be away, the landlord may enter without your specific consent. A short written notice before an extended trip closes that door.⁹ The statute also prohibits landlords from using access to harass a tenant.

Retaliation Is Still Illegal

Section 83.64 makes it unlawful for a landlord to raise your rent, cut services, or move to evict you as payback for exercising certain rights:

Reporting building, housing, or health code violations to a government agency.
Organizing, encouraging, or participating in a tenant organization.
Complaining to the landlord about maintenance failures or other lease breaches by the landlord.
Filing complaints or taking action under fair housing laws.
Terminating a lease as a servicemember under Section 83.682.

You can raise retaliation as a defense in an eviction case. It doesn’t apply if the landlord has genuine good cause, such as real nonpayment or an actual lease violation.¹⁰

Servicemember Lease Termination

Active-duty servicemembers keep separate early-termination rights under Section 83.682. You can break a lease without penalty if you receive permanent change of station orders for a move of 35 miles or more, are involuntarily discharged or released from active duty, receive temporary duty orders of more than 60 days to a location 35 miles or more away, or are ordered into government or military housing.¹¹

Deliver written notice at least 30 days before the termination date and include a copy of the orders or written verification from a commanding officer. You’ll owe prorated rent through the termination date and nothing beyond it. If a servicemember dies during active duty, an adult family member can terminate under the same 30-day procedure with the orders and a death certificate.¹¹

Late Fees Are Set by the Lease

One thing the new laws did not do is cap late fees. Chapter 83 sets no statewide dollar limit for standard residential leases. The lease you sign sets the amount and the trigger. Courts can strike down a fee so high it functions as a penalty, but there is no bright-line statutory cap. Read the late-fee clause before you sign, because state law leaves the number to the parties.

1
Florida Senate. Florida Statutes 83-425 – Preemption
2
Florida Senate. Florida Code 83.57 – Termination of Tenancy Without Specific Term (2022)
3
The Florida Legislature. Florida Code 83.57 – Termination of Tenancy Without Specific Term
4
Florida Senate. CS/HB 1417 Residential Tenancies – Staff Analysis
5
Florida Senate. Florida Code 83.491 – Fee in Lieu of Security Deposit
6
The Florida Legislature. Florida Code 83.49 – Deposit Money or Advance Rent; Duty of Landlord and Tenant
7
The Florida Legislature. Florida Code 83.56 – Termination of Rental Agreement
8
The Florida Bar. Form 7 – Summons – Eviction Claim
9
The Florida Legislature. Florida Code 83.53 – Landlord’s Access to Dwelling Unit
10
The Florida Legislature. Florida Code 83.64 – Retaliatory Conduct
11
The Florida Legislature. Florida Code 83.682 – Termination of Rental Agreement by a Servicemember