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)

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