Security Deposit Return in Florida: The 15/30 Day Rule
Florida landlords have 15 days to return your deposit, or 30 days to claim against it. Miss the 30-day notice and the claim is forfeited. Fla. Stat. § 83.49.
A Florida landlord has 15 days to send your deposit back
if they are not keeping any of it, or 30 days to tell you in writing that
they intend to. The second deadline is the one that decides the money: miss it, and under
Fla. Stat. § 83.49(3) the landlord forfeits the right to keep any part of
your deposit at all.
Not reduce the claim. Forfeit it. They can still sue you separately for damage, but they have to return the deposit first.
- No claim: 15 days to return the full deposit
- Claim: 30 days to send written notice by certified mail
- You then have 15 days to object
- Balance due 30 days after the notice date
- Miss the 30-day notice: the claim is forfeited
- Statute:
Fla. Stat. § 83.49
The 15/30/15 sequence
Florida runs on three clocks, and knowing which one you are in tells you what to do next.
Day 15 — nothing arrived and no letter either
If the landlord is keeping nothing, the full deposit was due. Silence at this point is not yet a forfeiture, because they still have until day 30 to send a claim notice. Wait, but start a written record.
Day 30 — still no letter
This is the deadline that matters. No written notice of a claim by day 30 and the right to withhold is gone. The notice has to go by certified mail to your last known address, and it has to say what the claim is for — a vague letter is not a notice.
A notice did arrive — you have 15 days
Object in writing within 15 days of receiving it. If you do not, the landlord may simply deduct what the notice claimed and send you the balance within 30 days of the notice date. Objecting does not mean you win, but it stops the deduction from going through unchallenged.
You are entitled to know where your money is
Florida does not let a landlord simply hold your deposit in their own account.
Fla. Stat. § 83.49(1) gives them three options: a separate
non-interest-bearing account at a Florida institution, a separate interest-bearing account at
a Florida institution, or a surety bond posted with the clerk of the circuit court. They may
not mix it with other money or spend it before it is due to them.
And within 30 days of taking the deposit, they must tell you in writing where it is: the name and address of the depository, whether it sits in a separate account for you or is commingled, and what interest you get and when. If you never received that letter, that is worth saying in your first email — it tells the landlord you have read the statute.
The deadline has passed
- Work out which deadline was missed and on what date. Count from the day you handed back the keys.
- Send one written demand. Name
§ 83.49(3), state the date the 30 days expired, and say that the right to impose a claim is forfeited. Send it so you can prove delivery. - If they claim damage anyway, point out that the statute lets them sue for it separately but not set it off against a deposit they failed to claim in time.
- Small claims is the normal route. Florida allows the amount due plus court costs and attorney fees, which is often what moves a landlord who was not going to pay.
What can legitimately be deducted
Unpaid rent, damage beyond ordinary wear and tear, and whatever else your lease properly makes you responsible for. Ordinary wear is not deductible: faded paint, worn carpet, small scuffs and the general condition of a place somebody lived in. The practical test is whether a reasonable next tenant would notice it as damage rather than as age.
What your lease controls
Florida sets no cap on the deposit itself, so the amount is whatever you agreed. What the lease cannot do is shorten your 15 days to object, remove the notice requirement, or make the deposit non-refundable. A clause calling it a fee rather than a deposit does not change how the statute treats it.
When this needs a lawyer
Rarely, for a deposit dispute this size. The deadline and the statute are the case, and small claims exists for it. Get advice if the landlord is claiming damage far beyond the deposit, if there is a disputed counterclaim for unpaid rent, or if you are being sued rather than suing. Florida’s county court self-help resources and local legal aid are free and know the local practice.
Sources
Fla. Stat. § 83.49 — flsenate.gov. Checked October 2026. Statutes change; open the section before relying on a date.
Moving out of Florida to somewhere else? The deposit return deadline for all 50 states and DC is in one table, each row citing its own statute.
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