Security deposit return deadline in Florida

In Florida, if your landlord is not claiming any of your deposit, it must be back within 15 days. If they are claiming part of it, they instead have 30 days to send you a written notice of that claim, and the money follows later.

Work out your Florida deadline

When the lease or agreement ended. Often the same day you moved out, but not always: if you left before the term ran out, Florida counts from the end of the agreement, not from the day you left.

Florida sets a further deadline that runs from the date printed on a statement or claim notice your landlord sends you. Leave blank if you have not had one.

The day it actually arrived, which is often days after the date on it. Your own deadline to object runs from this date, so it is asked separately rather than assumed.

Is your landlord keeping part of the deposit?

Florida sets a different deadline depending on the answer.

Not legal advice. This is general information, not legal advice, and it is calculated only from the dates you entered. Whether a penalty applies is for a court to decide, not this site — and your landlord may dispute the dates or the reason for any deduction. Deadlines and penalties change and vary by jurisdiction. Verify with the cited statute or consult a licensed attorney in your state before you rely on any of this.

What Florida law requires

  • 15 days to return the deposit, counted from the day the tenancy ended.

    Applies when: Landlord does NOT intend to claim against the deposit.

    83.49(3)(a) says “the landlord must return the security deposit, together with interest if otherwise required, within 15 days after the termination of the rental agreement.” The 15 days run from termination, not from the day you handed back the keys. Vacating appears in the statute as the precondition, “Upon the vacating of the premises for termination of the rental agreement”, and not as the date anything is counted from. If you left before the term ended those are two different dates, and it is the termination date that starts this clock.

    83.49(3)(a)

  • 30 days to notify you of a claim, counted from the day the tenancy ended.

    Applies when: Landlord DOES intend to claim against the deposit.

    83.49(3)(a) requires that “the landlord must, within 30 days after the termination of the rental agreement, provide the tenant written notice by certified mail” of any claim. These 30 days run from termination, not from the day you handed back the property. It is the deadline to send that notice, by certified mail or by email under s.83.505, and not the deadline to pay the money back. Once the notice has been sent two further clocks run: you have 15 days from receiving it to object in writing, and if you do not object, the landlord must remit the balance of the deposit within 30 days of the date on the notice. Both of those are set out on this page.

    83.49(3)(a)-(b)

  • 30 days to return the deposit, counted from the date written on your landlord's notice.

    Only applies if: The landlord sent a claim notice and you did not object within 15 days.

    The statute requires the landlord to “remit the balance of the deposit to the tenant within 30 days after the date of the notice of intention to impose a claim for damages.” This clock runs from the date of that notice, not from your move-out date.

    83.49(3)(b)

A deadline of your own

Florida also puts a clock on you. Missing it has consequences the statute sets out, so it is not the same kind of fact as the deadlines above.

  • 15 days to object to the claim in writing, counted from the day your landlord's notice reached you.

    This is your deadline, not the landlord's. The statute gives you 15 days after you receive the landlord's notice to object in writing. Note which date that is: your 15 days run from the day the notice reached you, while the landlord's 30 days to hand over the balance run from the date written on the notice itself, so the two clocks do not start together. Missing your 15 days does not waive your right to seek damages in a separate action, which the statute says expressly, but it does let the landlord proceed with the claim.

    83.49(3)(b)

Do you have to give a forwarding address?

Florida does not make a forwarding address a condition of getting your deposit back, but section 83.49(5) puts a separate notice duty on you. It says a tenant “must give at least 7 days’ written notice by certified mail or personal delivery to the landlord before vacating or abandoning the premises, which notice must include the address where the tenant may be reached. Failure to give such notice relieves the landlord of the notice requirement of paragraph (3)(a) but does not waive any right the tenant may have to the security deposit or any part of it.” Read that last sentence closely, because it cuts both ways. Your right to the deposit is expressly preserved, whatever you did. What you can lose is the protection of the 30-day clock: if you left without giving that written notice, the landlord is relieved of the duty to send you a claim notice within 30 days, so a landlord who let that deadline pass may not have forfeited anything. Two limits on this, both in your favour. The duty reaches you only if you are leaving before the end of the term or renting on a periodic tenancy, so it does not catch every tenant. And a written lease can set something different, so read yours before assuming this applies to you. If you have not moved out yet, send the notice by certified mail and keep the receipt.

What to do next

  1. Write it down. Put the date your tenancy ended, the date written on your landlord's notice and the date your landlord's notice reached you in one place. Every deadline on this page is counted from one of those.
  2. Ask in writing. Email is fine and it timestamps itself. Say what you are asking for, cite the subsection above, and give a date by which you expect a reply.
  3. Keep the receipt. If you post a letter, pay for tracking. It costs a few dollars and it is the difference between "I sent it" and proof that you did. You do not need to buy a service to do this — the post office will.

There is a longer walkthrough, including what an itemised statement should contain and when small claims is worth it, in what to do if your landlord won't return your deposit.