A few weeks ago, I spoke about new revisions to the Florida Residential Landlord tenant Act at a seminar for the Orlando Realtors Realty Association.  We received a great turn out and I was asked to return to speak for a second seminar in August. I want to share a few important points which became effective as of July 1^st, 2013.

     To clarify, the Florida Residential Landlord and Tenant Act governs the relationship between Landlords and Tenants under a residential rental agreement.  Several changes were made to the bill including changes to lease-purchase agreements, maintenance issues, deposits, evictions, and more. In fact, one of the many changes include the deposit money and advance rental payments. The revised bill provides that a Landlord must notify the Tenant, in writing, of the name of Bank/Account where Landlord will hold any security deposit and advance rent.  This assures tenants that their security deposit will be returned expeditiously.  Furthermore, previous law required that a Landlord give a copy of subsection of Section 83.49 which sets a time limit for claims to the security deposit after the end of the tenancy.  The revised bill deletes the requirement to give a copy of the subsection and replaces  with a specifically worded disclosure.  In addition, the Landlord must also deposit advance rent in a separate account and that advance rent may be withdrawn from the deposit account when due without further notice.