Free Florida Condominium Lease Agreement Template

A Florida condominium lease agreement is a rental contract between a unit owner and a tenant that answers to two chapters of the Florida Statutes at once. Chapter 83, Part II governs the tenancy. Chapter 718, the Condominium Act, governs the building around it.

That second layer is what separates a condo lease from a house lease here, because the association holds powers that reach as far as your rent.

Your Florida condominium lease agreement has to satisfy the deposit rules that apply to any residential tenancy, plus the duties that come with sitting inside an association. Statutes are amended from time to time, so confirm any figure below before you rely on it.

How Deposit Money Must Be Held

Section 83.49(1) gives you three choices. Hold the full amount in a separate non-interest-bearing account at a Florida financial institution, hold it in a separate interest-bearing Florida account, or post a surety bond with the clerk of the circuit court in the county where the unit sits. Deposit money may not be commingled with your own funds until it is actually due to you. Choose the interest-bearing option and your tenant is owed either 75 percent of the annualized average rate or 5 percent simple interest, at your election.

The Written Deposit Notice

Section 83.49(2) calls for written notice stating where the money is held and whether interest is owed, given either in the lease itself or within 30 days of receiving the deposit. The statute prescribes a disclosure, set out in capital letters, that the notice has to carry. However, the subsection does not apply to a landlord renting fewer than five individual dwelling units, so most single-unit owners sit outside it.

Returning the Deposit

Make no claim and § 83.49(3)(a) gives you 15 days after the agreement ends to return the money. Intend to claim and you have 30 days to send written notice of the amount and the reason, by certified mail to the tenant’s last known mailing address or by e-mail under § 83.505. Miss that window and you forfeit the right to claim against the deposit entirely, though you may still sue for damages after returning it. Your tenant then has 15 days to object in writing.

Association Approval and Amenity Rights

Where the declaration or bylaws let the association approve or disapprove a proposed lease, § 718.116(4) confirms the grounds may include the owner being delinquent on an assessment when approval is sought. Leasing also moves the amenities. Under § 718.106(4) your tenant takes the use rights in association property and common elements generally available to unit owners, and you keep them only as a guest unless the tenant waives them in writing.

Yes. Section 718.116(11) lets the association make a written demand that your tenant pay rent to the association instead of to you, whenever the unit is occupied by a tenant and you are delinquent on any monetary obligation to the association. Those payments continue until everything owed on the unit is paid in full.

The statute sets out the wording of that demand and how it operates:

• The demand reaches the tenant by hand delivery or United States mail, and the association must also send you written notice.
• The obligation begins immediately, unless rent for the current period was already paid before the notice arrived. The tenant then has 14 days to give written proof, and the switch starts with the next rental period.
• A tenant who pays the association is immune from any claim by you for that rent, and you must credit those payments against rent due to you. Their liability never exceeds what they already owed.
• If the tenant does not pay after the demand, the association may issue notice under § 83.56 and sue for eviction as if it were the landlord.

Tip: Falling behind on assessments can cost you the rent, not just your standing with the board. Tell your tenant at signing what to do if a demand letter ever arrives.

Nothing here gets recorded with a county office. A Florida condominium lease agreement takes effect when the parties sign, so the work is in the order you do things.

1. Ask the association what it requires first, whether that is approval of the tenant, an application fee, or a copy of the signed lease.
2. Complete the lease with the unit number, any assigned parking or storage, the rent, the term, and who pays assessments.
3. Give the deposit notice, either inside the lease or within 30 days of taking the money.
4. Have every adult tenant sign and date, then sign as the owner or let your property manager sign for you.
5. Deliver a copy to your tenant, file one with the association if the governing documents ask, and keep your own.

Store the signed copy somewhere you can reach quickly, because the deposit deadlines run from the day the agreement ends.

The core terms match any residential lease. Three items carry more weight in a condo than in a rented house.

• Assessments and special assessments — say plainly that you keep paying them, so nobody assumes the tenant picked one up.
• Amenity access — list which common elements the tenant may use and whether the association issues fobs or passes.
• Deposit terms — record the amount and where it is held, since § 83.49 lets the lease itself carry the notice.

Attach the association’s rules rather than retyping them, then hand your tenant a copy at signing. A rental cap or minimum lease term belongs in the document too.