Commercial tenant rights in Florida come mostly from the lease, not from statute. Florida Statutes Chapter 83, Part I governs nonresidential tenancies, but it is thin compared with the residential half of the chapter, and it contains no rule preventing a landlord from contracting around most of its defaults. If a protection is not in your written lease, you probably do not have it. A short list of rights does apply no matter what the lease says, and those are the ones worth knowing cold.
The Lease Controls Almost Everything
Residential tenants in Florida are protected by Section 83.47, which voids lease clauses that waive a tenant’s statutory rights. Part I has no equivalent. Commercial landlords and tenants are treated by the courts as sophisticated parties negotiating a contract, and the written document carries nearly all the weight.
That means rent escalation, renewal options, permitted use, repair responsibilities, cure periods, insurance, deposit return, and audit rights all live or die in the lease language. Verbal assurances from a leasing agent will not help you later. Read every clause before signing, and assume that anything you want but do not write down is not going to be there when you need it.
Personal Guarantees
Many landlords require the business owner to personally guarantee the lease. A personal guarantee pierces the liability shield that an LLC or corporation would otherwise give you, and if the business cannot pay, the landlord can go after your personal assets for the shortfall. This is negotiable. You can push for a guarantee that expires partway through the term, a dollar cap on your exposure, or a burn-off clause that reduces the guarantee as you build a payment history.
Protection Against Lockouts and Self-Help Eviction
This is the clearest statutory right a commercial tenant has in Florida. Section 83.05 provides that a landlord may recover possession of rented premises only through a court action for possession, the tenant’s voluntary surrender, or the tenant’s abandonment of the property.1Florida Senate. Florida Code 83.05 – Right of Possession Upon Default in Rent; Determination of Right of Possession in Action or Surrender or Abandonment of Premises Changing the locks, removing your belongings, or cutting off utilities to force you out are not on that list.
A landlord who skips the court process and uses self-help is exposed. You can seek an emergency injunction to be restored to possession and can sue for damages caused by the wrongful eviction.
Abandonment under the statute has specific requirements. The landlord must reasonably believe you have been absent for at least 30 consecutive days, rent must not be current, and the landlord must have served a 3-day notice with 10 additional days elapsed since service.1Florida Senate. Florida Code 83.05 – Right of Possession Upon Default in Rent; Determination of Right of Possession in Action or Surrender or Abandonment of Premises Keeping rent current, or telling the landlord in writing that you will be away, defeats the presumption.
Written Notice Before Eviction
Section 83.20 requires the landlord to serve written notice before filing an eviction suit. The required notice depends on the type of default.
- Nonpayment of rent: a 3-day written notice demanding payment or surrender of the premises, delivered to you directly or, if you are absent, left at the premises.2Justia Law. Florida Code 83.20 – Causes for Removal of Tenants
- Non-monetary breach when the lease is silent on cure: a 15-day written notice identifying the breach and requiring you to cure or vacate. The 15-day default applies only when the lease has no cure procedure of its own or the tenancy is oral.2Justia Law. Florida Code 83.20 – Causes for Removal of Tenants
- Holdover after lease expiration: no cure period required. A tenant who stays past the term without the landlord’s permission can be removed.2Justia Law. Florida Code 83.20 – Causes for Removal of Tenants
If your lease sets its own notice and cure procedures for non-monetary breaches, those lease terms control instead of the 15-day statutory default. Many commercial leases shorten the cure period or redefine what counts as a material breach. The 15 days is a backstop, not a promise.
One useful protection sits in Section 83.202. If the landlord accepts full payment of past-due rent while knowing about your breach, that acceptance waives the landlord’s right to proceed with an eviction claim based on that nonpayment.
What Happens in Eviction Court
If you do not cure within the notice period, the landlord files an eviction complaint in county court. Florida uses a summary procedure that moves quickly. You have five days from service of the summons and complaint to respond.
There is a trap here that catches commercial tenants constantly. Under Section 83.232, if the court orders you to deposit the disputed rent into the court registry and you fail to do so, all of your defenses are automatically waived. The landlord then gets an immediate default judgment for possession with no further hearing.3The Florida Legislature. Florida Code 83.232 – Rent Paid Into Registry of Court Missing that deposit deadline is one of the most consequential procedural errors a commercial tenant can make. If you cannot pay in full, you still need to move the court for a determination of the amount owed before the deadline passes.
The prevailing party in a removal action can recover court costs.4Florida Senate. Florida Code 83.251 – Removal of Tenant; Costs Whether attorney fees are recoverable depends on your lease; most commercial leases include a prevailing-party fee clause.
Repairs and the Right to Withhold Rent
Commercial landlords in Florida have no statutory duty to maintain the premises. The residential rule in Section 83.51 requiring code compliance and structural upkeep has no counterpart in Part I. Commercial space is routinely leased as-is, with the tenant responsible for the interior.
If the lease does assign a repair obligation to the landlord and the landlord fails to perform, Section 83.201 gives you a remedy. You must give the landlord at least 20 days’ written notice describing the needed repairs and stating that you will withhold rent until the work is done. The landlord’s failure must render the premises wholly untenantable, meaning completely unusable for the intended purpose, not just inconvenient or partially impaired. If the landlord does not repair within the notice period, you can vacate, keep the withheld rent, and terminate the lease without liability for future payments.
The “wholly untenantable” bar is deliberately high. A roof leak damaging inventory in one corner of a warehouse likely does not clear it. A complete HVAC failure in a medical office during a Florida summer likely does. The remedy applies only when the landlord was contractually on the hook for the repair and the failure made the space genuinely unusable for business.
The Landlord’s Lien on Your Property
Florida gives commercial landlords a statutory lien on your business property for unpaid rent. Under Section 83.08, the lien attaches to all property of the tenant usually kept on the premises, and it takes priority over any lien acquired after the property was brought onto the leased space.5Florida Senate. Florida Code 83.08 – Landlord’s Lien for Rent The lien also reaches your property found off the premises, with priority dating from the levy of a distress warrant in that case.
The landlord enforces the lien through a distress action under Section 83.11, filed by verified complaint alleging the amount owed and how the rent obligation arose.6The Florida Legislature. Florida Code 83.11 – Distress for Rent; Complaint If the court issues a distress writ, your equipment, inventory, and other business property can be seized and sold to satisfy the unpaid rent. For a tenant with significant assets on site, the exposure runs well beyond the loss of the space itself.
Double Rent for Holding Over
If you remain in the space after the lease expires without the landlord’s permission, Section 83.06 lets the landlord demand double the monthly rent for every month you hold over, recoverable at the end of each month or in proportion for shorter periods.7The Florida Legislature. Florida Code 83.06 – Right to Demand Double Rent Upon Refusal to Deliver Possession The landlord can also file for eviction at the same time.
If you need more time to relocate at the end of a lease, negotiate a written extension or a defined holdover period well before expiration. Every extra day without the landlord’s agreement costs twice the normal rate.
Security Deposits Depend Entirely on the Lease
The familiar residential security deposit rules in Section 83.49, including the 15-day return deadline and the 30-day written claim requirement, do not apply to commercial tenancies. Return timelines, permissible deductions, and dispute procedures for a commercial deposit are whatever the lease says they are.
If the lease says nothing, you are left arguing for a “reasonable time” under common law, which is vague and expensive to litigate. Before signing, negotiate a defined return period (30 to 60 days is standard), an itemized statement requirement, and clear language about what qualifies as a deductible expense.
Assignment and Subletting
Under Florida common law, a commercial tenant may assign or sublet without landlord consent. In practice, almost every commercial lease overrides this default with a clause requiring prior written landlord approval, and courts enforce those clauses as written.
The difference between assignment and sublease matters for your ongoing exposure. In an assignment, the new party steps into your shoes and deals directly with the landlord. In a sublease, you stay liable under the original lease while the subtenant pays you. Unless the lease specifically releases you upon assignment, you may remain on the hook for rent after transferring the space. When negotiating, push for a provision that the landlord will not unreasonably withhold consent and that you are released from liability upon any landlord-approved assignment.
Protecting the Lease Against the Landlord’s Foreclosure
If your landlord defaults on the building’s mortgage, foreclosure can put your lease at risk. When the mortgage predates the lease, a foreclosing lender can choose to honor the lease or terminate it. A Subordination, Non-Disturbance, and Attornment agreement removes that uncertainty.
An SNDA is a three-party agreement among you, the landlord, and the lender. You agree the lease is subordinate to the mortgage. In exchange, the lender agrees not to disturb your possession if foreclosure happens, and you agree to recognize the lender or any buyer as the new landlord. Without an SNDA, you have no guaranteed right to stay after a foreclosure sale. Request one at lease signing, especially if you are investing meaningful money in buildout.
ADA Compliance Applies to You Regardless of the Lease
The Americans with Disabilities Act applies to commercial space independent of lease allocation. Under Title III, both the landlord who owns the building and the tenant who operates a place of public accommodation are responsible parties. A lease clause pushing all ADA costs onto you does not shield the landlord from liability to the public, and the reverse is also true.8ADA.gov. ADA Update: A Primer for Small Business
Businesses serving the public, such as retailers, restaurants, medical offices, hotels, and gyms, must remove architectural barriers in existing buildings when doing so is readily achievable, and any new construction or alteration must meet current accessibility standards.8ADA.gov. ADA Update: A Primer for Small Business Commercial facilities that do not serve the public directly, like warehouses or non-public office buildings, are subject only to the new construction and alteration requirements.9ADA.gov. ADA Title III Technical Assistance Manual The lease can allocate costs between you and the landlord, and that allocation is enforceable between the two of you, but it does not change your independent liability to the public.
Bankruptcy Protections
Filing for Chapter 11 triggers an automatic stay that immediately halts eviction proceedings, rent collection, and lease termination against you. If the landlord has not yet obtained a judgment for possession, the eviction freezes. Even if the landlord already holds one, enforcing it requires permission from the bankruptcy court.
You have 120 days from the filing to decide whether to assume or reject the lease. The court can extend this by 90 days for cause, and anything beyond that requires the landlord’s written consent. If you do not assume within the deadline, the lease is deemed rejected and you must surrender the premises immediately.10Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 U.S. Code 365 – Executory Contracts and Unexpired Leases
When a lease is rejected, the landlord can file a claim for damages, but federal law caps it. Under 11 U.S.C. Section 502(b)(6), the landlord’s damages cannot exceed the rent reserved for the greater of one year or 15 percent of the remaining lease term (capped at three years), plus any unpaid rent that accrued before the filing date.11Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 U.S. Code 502 – Allowance of Claims or Interests For tenants locked into long-term leases they can no longer carry, the cap can represent significant savings over paying out the full remaining obligation.
The protection is not unconditional. Landlords can ask the bankruptcy court to lift the stay by showing you failed to pay rent coming due after the filing, are damaging the property, or are engaging in illegal activity. Post-petition rent is treated as a priority administrative expense, so stopping payment after filing will quickly cost you the stay’s protection.