Free Florida Commercial Lease Agreement Template

A Florida commercial lease agreement rents non-residential property — a shop, an office, a warehouse, a restaurant space — to a tenant who will trade from it. Part I of Chapter 83 of the Florida Statutes governs it, and § 83.001 states that the part applies to nonresidential tenancies and all tenancies not governed by part II.

That is an unusually clean split. Florida wrote a separate body of law for business space rather than carving exceptions into a residential code.

Two rules decide what kind of tenancy you actually have, and a third decides what the landlord can reach.

Get It in Writing, and Get It Signed

Under Fla. Stat. § 83.01, any lease of lands and tenements is deemed a tenancy at will unless it is in writing signed by the lessor. Such a tenancy then runs from year to year, quarter to quarter, month to month, or week to week, determined by the period at which rent is payable. Weekly rent makes it week to week, monthly rent month to month, and so on.

The consequence is worth sitting with. An unsigned commercial lease does not fail; it converts into a periodic tenancy that either side can end on the notice in § 83.03.

Ending a Tenancy at Will

Section 83.03 scales that notice to the period. A year-to-year tenancy takes not less than three months’ notice before the end of an annual period. Quarter to quarter takes 45 days, month to month takes 15 days, and week to week takes seven.

The Landlord’s Lien

Fla. Stat. § 83.08 gives every person to whom rent is due a lien for that rent on the property of the tenant. Section 83.09 narrows the exemptions sharply: no property of a tenant is exempt from distress and sale for rent except beds, bedclothes, and wearing apparel.

Three days for unpaid rent under a Florida commercial lease agreement. Fla. Stat. § 83.20(2) lets a landlord remove a tenant who holds over without permission after a default in rent, once three days’ written notice requiring payment of the rent or possession of the premises has been served by the person entitled to the rent. Service is by delivering a true copy, or by leaving one at the premises if the tenant is absent.

Other material breaches run on 15 days. Under § 83.20(3), a tenant who holds over after failing to cure a material breach other than nonpayment may be removed once 15 days’ written notice has been served. That subsection applies only where the lease is silent on the matter or the tenancy is an oral one at will, and the notice may allow a longer period. Where the lease prescribes no service method, notice goes by mail, by hand delivery, or by posting if the tenant is absent.

Holding over after the term simply expires is its own ground under § 83.20(1). Section 83.06 lets a landlord demand double rent from a tenant who refuses to give up possession at the end of the lease.

1. Fix the commercial terms first: the rent, how it escalates, the length of the term, and where repair and insurance duties land.
2. Put the lease in writing and have the lessor sign it, or § 83.01 turns the arrangement into a tenancy at will.
3. Prescribe how notices are served, since § 83.20(3) falls back to statutory methods only when the lease is silent.
4. Set your own cure period for material breaches, which the statute expressly permits you to lengthen.
5. Have the lessor sign, then keep a signed original with your lease file.

Florida supplies the framework; a Florida commercial lease agreement supplies the terms:

• Legal names of landlord and tenant, and the entity behind each signature.
• A description of the premises identifying the unit and any shared areas.
• Rent, the due date, and the basis for increases.
• A definite term with start and end dates, plus renewal and holdover terms.
• Allocation of taxes, insurance, utilities, and repairs.
• The trade the tenant may carry on there, and who must approve a sublet.
• The notice method and cure period you want, rather than the statutory defaults.