Florida Lease Termination Letter for Rental Properties

When you need to end a lease early, make repairs to the property, or take action when a tenant doesn't pay on time, you will likely require a lease termination letter. Learning what to include and how to treat them under Florida law makes the difference between things running smoothly or facing roadblocks after the notice period. Let's find out what to write!

Lease Termination Letter

The Florida lease termination letter is an official and legal document given to the tenant to inform them that the tenancy will end. Generally, the month-to-month tenancy will require a 15 days notice.

Proper Notice

The amount of notice you must give before lease termination of the rental agreement depends on the type of tenancy the tenant has. These include:

• Seven-day Notice - This terminates week-to-week tenancies and can be used for tenants who have no written rental agreement. Either party could deliver the notice seven calendar days before the specific date listed in the notice.
• 15-day Notice - This terminates the month-to-month tenancy and can be used for tenants without a written lease that pay monthly or for those with an expired lease.
• 30-day Notice - This terminates that quarter-to-quarter tenancy. That Florida lease termination notice must be sent 30 days before the end of that quarterly period.
• 60-day Notice - This terminates a year-to-year tenancy, and there's no option to renew the arrangement. The landlord can serve this notice 60 days before the end of that annual period.

State Laws

Most states have notice requirements in place, where you must give the tenant(s) a specific amount of time to end their rental agreement. It is important to use the document to tell them how long they have before they must move.

Florida generally requires 15 days' notice without a specific term and 30 days for a specific term, but there are exceptions.

Landlord Notice

Yes, a landlord or any other party must give notice before terminating a tenant. Most rental agreements require this before ending the landlord-tenant relationship.

To terminate a contract early, the lease termination officially communicates your intentions, whether it was the month-to-month tenancy or a yearly one. Sometimes, annual agreements are set to automatically renew, so you must send a notice to terminate.

Penalties

If you do not craft and deliver your lease termination to the tenant, you could end up in court or pay hefty penalties. As a landlord, you could:

• Incur financial penalties and legal fees
• Be required to attend court proceedings
• Have the lease extended automatically
• Be required to give back the tenant's security deposit
• Not get back-rent owed to you

Termination of Tenancy

If the lease doesn't state a specific term, Florida Statute 83.57 says this:

• A year-to-year tenancy will require a 60-day notice before the end of that period.
• The quarter-to-quarter tenancy will require a 30-day notice before the end of that period.
• The month-to-month tenancy will require a 15-day notice before the end of that period.
• A week-to-week tenancy will require a 7-day notice before the end of that weekly period.

Specific Term

Whether it's the month-to-month tenancy or annual tenancy, rental agreements with specific durations often contain provisions requiring a landlord to tell the tenant within a specific time frame before they must vacate the premises at the end of the term.

Florida Statute 83.575 says that the landlord must give a 60-day notice, though it might be less depending on the circumstances. Regardless, the landlord has legal rights to remove a tenant for non-payment of the rent and other concerns. Therefore, they may receive the full security deposit, back rent, and additional money because of the hassle involved.

What to Include

For the lease termination letter to be legally compliant, you must follow these steps:

1. Include the full name of the receiving party.
2. Add the termination date of the tenancy or lease.
3. Include the full address of the premises.
4. Provide appropriate contact information, including a new address and updated phone number when needed.
5. Sign and print your name on the lease termination letter.
6. Complete a certificate of service by including the method of delivery and date, along with the signatures and printed names.

Build Your Own

With DoorLoop on your side, you don't have to worry about creating a lease termination letter form. There are two options to write your written notice:

eSignature

If you are terminating your lease and need the tenant to sign, or you want to sign a new lease with a new tenant, you want to make the process as easy and efficient as possible.

With DoorLoop, you can get your agreemenets eSigned in a few seconds. You can also get to the eSignature step much faster by creating reusable templates that are autofilled with tenants' information.

DoorLoop also makes it so simple to find the best tenants in the first place by syndicating your lisitngs on popular websites Zillow, Trulia, Hotpads, Apartments.com, and more. You can also make sure you're bringing in the best tenants by screening your prospects in seconds through DoorLoop.