Ending a tenancy

The notice periods, where there is no fixed end date

Month-to-month is 30 days^†, and year-to-year is 60 days^†. Note that the month-to-month notice period was raised from 15 days to 30 days in 2023^† — so guidance written before then, and a great deal of it is still online, gives the wrong number.

Leaving before a fixed-term lease ends

This depends entirely on one piece of paper. If you and the landlord signed the separate early termination addendum, the liquidated damages are capped at no more than two months’ rent^†, and paying it ends the matter. an early termination fee only applies if both parties signed a separate addendum choosing it — otherwise the landlord’s remedies are the ordinary ones^†.

Without that addendum you remain liable under the lease — but where no early termination addendum was signed, a landlord who chooses to relet must make a good faith effort to do so, and rent recovered reduces what the tenant owes^†. In practice that means the landlord cannot simply leave the unit empty for eight months and bill you for all of it. Keep evidence of what was advertised, at what rent, and when.

The situations that end a lease on their own terms

• Military orders. a servicemember may terminate on 30 days’ written notice with a copy of the orders, on permanent change of station, deployment of 90 days or more, or certain other qualifying orders^†.
• A landlord in material breach. After seven days’ written notice specifying the failure, a tenant may terminate rather than merely complain.
• Property destroyed or made uninhabitable through no fault of the tenant.
• Certain protections for survivors of domestic or sexual violence, which have specific evidentiary requirements and are worth taking legal advice on rather than acting alone.

What happens if you stay past the end

Holding over without the landlord’s consent exposes you to double rent for the holdover period^†. That is not a penalty a landlord has to negotiate for — it is in the statute. Conversely, a landlord who accepts rent after the term has expired has generally created a new month-to-month tenancy rather than a holdover, which is a materially different position.

Rent increases at renewal

There is no ceiling. Florida law preempts local rent control except in a narrowly defined housing emergency, so there is no statutory cap on a rent increase at renewal^†. What a landlord must give is the notice appropriate to the tenancy before ending it — the increase itself is an offer of new terms, which you are free to decline by leaving. Tenants frequently look for a rule limiting the amount. In Florida there is not one, and knowing that early is more useful than finding it out in the last fortnight.

The checklist for actually moving out

1. Give the notice in writing, dated, and keep proof of delivery.
2. Photograph every room after it is empty and cleaned, with a timestamp.
3. Compare against your move-in photographs. If you have none, that is the lesson for next time and it changes the deposit conversation entirely.
4. Give a forwarding address in writing. The deposit clocks — 15 days^† where nothing is claimed and 30 days^† to notify a claim — depend on the landlord being able to reach you.
5. Return every key and remote, and record what you returned and when.
6. Take final meter readings and close the utility accounts on the date you actually leave.

Notice periods sit in §83.57, early termination in §83.595, servicemember rights in §83.682, holdover in §83.58 and rent control preemption in §125.0103. Your lease may give longer notice periods than the statute, and where it does, the lease governs.