What it costs to break a lease early in Florida

Start with what you signed

Pull out the lease and look for an addendum about liquidated damages or an early termination fee. Section 83.595 lets a landlord use the fee only if you agreed to it when you signed, by checking a box on a separate addendum. The fee can't be more than two months' rent, and the addendum can't require more than 60 days' notice.

If you checked the box, the landlord gives up the right to chase rent for the months after it gets the home back. You still owe the rent and charges that built up through the end of the month the landlord retakes possession, plus damage beyond normal wear and tear.

The landlord's options when there is no fee

When you leave early without that addendum, section 83.595 lets the landlord pick one of three paths:

• Take the home back for its own account. The lease is over and you owe nothing more after that. A landlord who can re-rent at a higher price may choose this.
• Take it back for your account. The landlord has to make a good-faith effort to re-rent it, and you owe the difference between your rent and what the new renter pays, plus the costs of re-renting.
• Stand by. The landlord leaves the home as it is and charges you rent as each month comes due.

When you can leave without the fee

Section 83.682 lets a servicemember end a lease with written notice that takes effect at least 30 days after the landlord gets it. The qualifying events include permanent change of station orders 35 miles or more away, a discharge or release from active duty, being ordered into government quarters, or temporary duty orders of more than 60 days to an area 35 miles or more away. Attach the orders or a letter from your commanding officer. You owe rent prorated to the termination date and nothing else for leaving early, and if you terminate 14 or more days before you move in, no damages or penalties apply at all.

You can also end the lease without the fee if the landlord doesn't fix a material problem within 7 days of your written notice (section 83.56(1)), or if a storm or fire you didn't cause leaves the home unusable as a home (section 83.63). The same goes if you weren't given a truthful flood disclosure and then lose half or more of your belongings' value to flooding (section 83.512).

Ways to pay less

Give the landlord as much warning as you can. The more time the home is on the market while you're still living there, the better the odds it re-rents before you go, which shrinks what you owe if the landlord re-rents for your account.

You can also find a qualified renter and ask the landlord to approve a new lease with them (in a condo with an approval rule, the association has to approve them too). Or ask whether the landlord would take a set amount, say one month of rent, for a clean break, and get it signed by both of you. Leave the place spotless either way, because a home that shows well re-rents faster.

Give notice when you go

Section 83.49(5) asks a tenant who leaves before the lease ends to give at least 7 days' written notice, by certified mail or hand delivery, with an address where you can be reached. That notice doesn't end your obligation to pay rent. It keeps the landlord bound by the 30-day deposit claim rule. And if you're gone for half a rent period with rent unpaid and no notice, the law presumes you abandoned the home.