Florida Abandoned Property Notice: What the Lease Says Before What Chapter 715 Says
Florida runs two tracks, and a lease clause can switch one of them off. After a writ of possession there is no storage duty at all. After a surrender or abandonment there is a chapter 715 notice with a 10-day or 15-day claim date — unless the rental agreement carries the § 83.67(5) legend, in which case there is no storage duty either.
A Florida tenant has gone, and their furniture has not. The question is how long it has to be kept, and Florida answers it three different ways depending on facts a landlord already knows. The first place to look is not the statute book but the lease, because § 83.67(5) allows a rental agreement to remove the storage duty on the surrender and abandonment track altogether. If the lease is silent, chapter 715 supplies a written notice and a claim date measured in days from how the notice was delivered. And if possession came back through a writ of possession, a different section entirely — § 83.62(2) — governs, and it imposes no storage duty at all. This page separates the three, quotes the operative words of each, and names the two Florida traps that put landlords on the wrong side of § 83.67(6).
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The lease legend in § 83.67(5), and exactly what it does
§ 83.67(5) first forbids the landlord from removing a tenant’s personal property “unless such action is taken after surrender, abandonment, recovery of possession of the dwelling unit due to the death of the last remaining tenant in accordance with s. 83.59(3)(d), or a lawful eviction.” Then it opens the escape: “If provided in the rental agreement or a written agreement separate from the rental agreement, upon surrender or abandonment by the tenant, the landlord is not required to comply with s. 715.104 and is not liable or responsible for storage or disposition of the tenant’s personal property.” Where the provision sits in the rental agreement itself, the section requires a legend “printed or clearly stamped” on the agreement in substantially the form the statute sets out. Two consequences follow. A landlord whose lease carries the legend owes no chapter 715 notice and no storage after a surrender or abandonment. A landlord whose lease does not carry it owes both, because the escape is conditioned on the lease provision and nothing else.
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Florida abandoned property procedure at a glance
How long must a Florida landlord store abandoned property
Read the lease first — § 83.67(5) can switch the duty off entirely
Surrender or abandonment, no lease legend
A claim date not fewer than 10 days hand-delivered, 15 days mailed — § 715.104(2)
After a writ of possession
No storage duty. Goods may go “to or near the property line” — § 83.62(2)
Where the duty comes from
§ 83.67(5), not chapter 715 — chapter 715 calls itself “an optional procedure”
One thing this page reports and does not resolve
§ 83.67(5)’s operative sentence authorises the waiver “upon surrender or abandonment by the tenant” — two events. The legend the same subsection prescribes recites three: “UPON SURRENDER, ABANDONMENT, OR RECOVERY OF POSSESSION OF THE DWELLING UNIT DUE TO THE DEATH OF THE LAST REMAINING TENANT.” Both the Florida Legislature’s own site and the Florida Senate mirror serve it that way, so this is the statute rather than a transcription error. Operative words govern a form, so this page does not tell you the waiver reaches a recovery of possession on the death of the last remaining tenant — and it does not tell you it fails to. That is a question for a Florida attorney on your facts, and a landlord relying on the legend in that situation is relying on an unresolved point.
How to handle abandoned property in Florida, in order
Establish which track you are on before you do anything else
A writ of possession puts you on § 83.62(2). A surrender or abandonment puts you on § 83.67(5) and, absent the lease legend, chapter 715. § 83.67(5) borrows the definition of abandonment from § 83.59(3)(c), which presumes it from an absence equal to one-half the time for periodic rental payments — but expressly not if the rent is current or the tenant gave written notice of an intended absence.
Read the rental agreement for the § 83.67(5) provision
If the lease or a separate written agreement carries it, the landlord “is not required to comply with s. 715.104 and is not liable or responsible for storage or disposition.” If it does not, the chapter 715 route is the safe one and § 83.67(6) is the reason to take it.
Write the notice so it describes the property and names a date
§ 715.104(2) requires the notice to “describe the property in a manner reasonably adequate to permit the owner of the property to identify it,” to advise that “reasonable costs of storage may be charged before the property is returned,” and to state “where the property may be claimed and the date before which the claim must be made.” A locked or fastened trunk, valise, box or container may be described as such without describing its contents.
Deliver it the way § 715.104(3) prescribes — including the second address
The notice “shall be personally delivered or sent by first-class mail, postage prepaid,” to the last known address, “and, if there is reason to believe that the notice sent to that address will not be received by that person, also delivered or sent to such other address, if any, known to the landlord where such person may reasonably be expected to receive the notice.” Certified mail is not what the statute names. Notice also goes to any other person the landlord reasonably believes owns the property (§ 715.104(1)).
Store with reasonable care until the date passes, then release or dispose
§ 715.107 says the property “either shall be left on the vacated premises or be stored by the landlord in a place of safekeeping,” and that the landlord “shall exercise reasonable care in storing the property.” § 715.108(1) requires release to a former tenant who pays the reasonable costs of storage and advertising and claims by the date in the notice; § 715.108(2) preserves that right up to the moment of sale.
About the Florida notice of abandoned property
The document this page builds is the written notice chapter 715 names — the § 715.105 form where it goes to the former tenant, and the § 715.106 form where it goes to someone else the landlord reasonably believes owns the property. It is the instrument that starts the clock, and the clock is set by the notice itself: § 715.104(2) requires the date in it to be not fewer than 10 days after personal delivery or not fewer than 15 days after the notice is deposited in the mail. There is no maximum, so a landlord may name a later date. The notice also carries one of two alternative closing statements, and choosing between them is an election: one says the property will be sold at public sale after published notice, that the reader may bid, and that any money left after the costs of storage, advertising and sale goes to the county and may be claimed for one year; the other says the property is believed to fall below the low-value figure the statute sets and may be kept, sold or destroyed without further notice. Keep the copy you send and proof of how it went, and describe the property properly — the point below on § 715.11 explains why a thin description is the practical failure mode of this statute.
What a Florida notice of abandoned property should record
- The full name of the former tenant, and the name of any other person the landlord reasonably believes to be an owner of the property — § 715.104(1) requires notice to both.
- The address of the dwelling unit the property was left in, with any unit number.
- A description of the property “reasonably adequate to permit the owner of the property to identify it,” item by item where it can be.
- A locked, fastened or tied container may be described as a container without listing its contents — § 715.104(2) says so expressly.
- The date before which the claim must be made: not fewer than 10 days after personal delivery, or not fewer than 15 days after mailing.
- Where the property may be claimed — an address, and where it helps, hours.
- A statement that reasonable costs of storage may be charged before the property is returned.
- Which of the two alternative statements applies: public sale with money to the county, or the low-value route under § 715.109(1).
- The method of delivery actually used — personal delivery or first