Free Florida Sublease Agreement Template

A sublease agreement puts a new occupant into a property while the original tenant stays on the hook under the head lease.

Two documents govern the result in Florida: the head lease, which decides whether subletting is permitted at all, and the Residential Landlord and Tenant Act, which sets a floor the sublease cannot drop below.

A Florida sublease agreement runs alongside part II of chapter 83 of the Florida Statutes. Confirm the current text before relying on anything here.

What the Act Reaches

Section 83.40 names the part the Florida Residential Landlord and Tenant Act, and section 83.41 states its scope simply. The part applies to the rental of a dwelling unit.

Nothing in that turns on whether the person letting the unit is the owner or a tenant subletting it, so a residential sublease of a dwelling unit is ordinarily within the part.

Where the Act Does Not Reach

Section 83.42 lists the exclusions, and several matter when subletting.

The part does not apply to residency or detention in a facility where residence is incidental to medical, geriatric, educational, counseling, religious or similar services; to occupancy under a contract of sale of a dwelling unit or the property of which it forms part; to transient occupancy in a hotel, condominium, motel, roominghouse or similar public lodging, or transient occupancy in a mobile home park; to occupancy by a holder of a proprietary lease in a cooperative apartment; or to occupancy by an owner of a condominium unit.

Short-stay arrangements are the ones to watch. A sublease that is really transient occupancy may sit outside the part altogether.

Whether Subletting Is Allowed at All

The sections read here do not grant a tenant a right to sublet, nor take one away. That question is left to the head lease, which is where a prospective sublandlord should start.

Get the landlord’s written consent where the lease requires it, and attach that consent to the sublease. A sublease signed in breach of the head lease puts the original tenant’s own tenancy at risk.

No, and section 83.47 says so in unusually blunt terms.

A provision in a rental agreement is void and unenforceable to the extent that it purports to waive or preclude the rights, remedies or requirements set out in the part, or purports to limit or preclude any liability of the landlord to the tenant, or of the tenant to the landlord, arising under law.

Both limbs matter in a sublease. The first stops a sublease stripping the statutory protections; the second stops it excluding liabilities that the law imposes either way.

There is a cost to trying. Under subsection (2), where such a void provision is included in an agreement entered into, extended or renewed after the effective date of the part, and either party suffers actual damages as a result of its inclusion, the aggrieved party may recover those damages.

Section 83.48 then puts fees on the outcome. In any civil action brought to enforce the rental agreement or the part, the party in whose favor judgment is rendered may recover reasonable court costs, including attorney’s fees, from the nonprevailing party.

Tip: Copying an exculpatory clause across from a commercial precedent is the common way to fall foul of section 83.47. A clause that limits liability arising under law is void to that extent, and including it can itself found a damages claim.

The head lease governs whether you can sublet, so deal with that before drafting the Florida sublease agreement.

1. Read the head lease for any consent requirement or outright prohibition on subletting.
2. Obtain written consent where required, and attach it to the sublease.
3. Identify what is being sublet, whether the whole unit or part of it, and for what period.
4. Set out the rent, the deposit, and who holds and returns each.
5. Sign and date, and give a copy to the subtenant and to the landlord if the lease requires it.

Attach the head lease itself. The subtenant cannot comply with obligations they have never seen.

Alongside the basics, these points carry a Florida sublease agreement.

• The head lease, attached, with the landlord’s written consent if required.
• What is sublet, and the sublease term against the remaining head lease term.
• Rent and deposit, and who is responsible for returning the deposit.
• Confirmation that the original tenant remains liable under the head lease.
• Utilities, condition at handover, and how the property is returned.

Attach the documents the agreement refers to, and keep the executed copies together.