Buying a rental with a tenant already in it.

An occupied rental is an attractive thing to buy. Income starts on day one, there is no turnover cost, and the rent roll is a matter of record rather than a projection. What the closing statement does not show is that on the day title transfers you inherit a set of statutory duties towards a tenant you did not choose, on terms you did not negotiate.

Those duties sit in Chapter 83, Part II of the Florida Statutes. Four of them regularly surprise buyers, and the first one costs real money.

1. The deposit transfers — and so does the liability

Section 83.49(7) is unambiguous about what happens to tenant money when a property changes hands.

Three things are being required there, not one: the money, any earned interest, and an accurate accounting broken down per tenant. A lump sum wired at closing with no schedule behind it does not satisfy the subsection. The seller is released from the holding obligation only once the funds and the records have been transferred and a written receipt has been transmitted.

Then comes the sentence that matters most to a buyer:

Read that from the tenant's side. When the tenancy ends, the tenant asks you for the deposit. You are presumed to be holding it. If the seller never actually transferred it, that is your problem to prove, not the tenant's problem to prove, and until you rebut the presumption you are exposed up to one month's rent per tenant. On a portfolio purchase that is a number worth writing down before you sign.

The practical answer is not complicated. Make the deposit schedule a closing deliverable: a per-unit list of what is held, whether interest was ever paid, and the account it sits in, reconciled against the leases, with the funds moved and a written receipt issued. Reconcile it before closing rather than after.

2. The money has to be held in Florida

Section 83.49(1) gives a landlord three ways to hold deposit money, and out-of-state buyers routinely comply with none of them by default.

"Florida financial institution" is a defined term. Under § 83.43(7) it means a bank, credit union, trust company, savings bank or thrift association operating under a charter issued by the United States, this state or another state, authorised to transact business in this state, and federally insured. Your existing bank in New York or Toronto does not become one because you opened the account for a Florida property.

There is one accommodation for larger portfolios: an owner or agent renting dwelling units in five or more counties may post a single bond with the Secretary of State instead of one per county, for the deposits held or $250,000, whichever is less, and pays the tenant 5% simple interest.

Where interest is owed, § 83.49(9) requires it to be paid to the tenant directly or credited against the current month's rent at least once a year. It is not something that accrues quietly until move-out.

3. You have 30 days to tell the tenant where the money went

Section 83.49(2) requires written notice to the tenant, either in the lease agreement itself or within 30 days after receiving the advance rent or security deposit. It must state the name and address of the depository holding the money — or that a surety bond has been posted — say whether the tenant is entitled to interest, and carry the statutory disclosure in the form the section sets out.

The trigger a buyer needs to notice is the next sentence: if the landlord changes the manner or location in which the deposit is held, a further notice is due within 30 days of the change. Moving a deposit out of the seller's account and into yours is exactly that change. No new notice is required merely because the bank merged, changed its name, or was sold.

That carve-out is genuinely useful to know, and just as genuinely misread. It excuses the notice for a small landlord. It does not excuse the holding rules in § 83.49(1), the annual interest in § 83.49(9), or the 30-day deadline in § 83.49(3)(a) for claiming against a deposit at the end of a tenancy. Buy a fifth unit and the notice obligation switches on.

How that timeline runs at the end of a tenancy — the 15-day return, the 30-day claim, and what a missed deadline forfeits — is set out in our guide to Florida security deposit law and the 30-day rule.

4. The tenant has to be told who receives notices now

Section 83.50 requires the landlord, or a person authorised to enter into the rental agreement on the landlord's behalf, to disclose in writing to the tenant, at or before the tenancy begins, the name and address of the landlord or of a person authorised to receive notices and demands on the landlord's behalf. The section then adds that the person so authorised "retains authority until the tenant is notified otherwise."

That last clause is the one that bites an absentee buyer. A tenant who serves a statutory notice on the contact named in their lease has served it properly, and will go on doing so, until somebody tells them in writing that the contact has changed. If the named person is the seller or the seller's former manager, a repair demand or a notice of termination can be validly delivered to someone with no reason to forward it to you — while the clock on your side of the statute keeps running.

Issuing the § 83.50 disclosure in your own name, or in your manager's, should be on the same checklist as the deposit transfer.

The maintenance obligations start the moment you own it

Section 83.51 sets the landlord's duty to maintain the premises, and it does not have a grace period for new owners. At all times during the tenancy the landlord must comply with applicable building, housing and health codes; where no such code applies, the landlord must keep roofs, windows, doors, floors, steps, porches, exterior walls, foundations and other structural components in good repair, and the plumbing in reasonable working condition. Screens must be in reasonable condition at the start of the tenancy and repaired once a year thereafter when necessary.

What applies beyond that depends on the type of property:

If a tenant has to move out temporarily for extermination, the landlord owes 7 days' written notice, the rent must be abated, and the tenant cannot be required to vacate for more than 4 days.

Check the file for an e-mail addendum

Florida added § 83.505 to the landlord and tenant part by chapter 2025-16, Laws of Florida. It permits statutory notices under Part II to be delivered by e-mail, but only on conditions: the parties must have signed an addendum specifically agreeing to electronic delivery, each must have supplied a valid e-mail address for the purpose, and the addendum must conspicuously state that the election is voluntary and can be revoked or updated at any time. The section prescribes the form of that addendum.

Two consequences for a buyer. If the lease file contains no signed addendum, e-mail is not a valid channel for statutory notices no matter how the seller has been running the tenancy — and § 83.505(5) requires whoever sends one to keep a copy and evidence of transmission. If the file does contain one, the designated address is the seller's, and § 83.505(3) lets a party update the address at any time by written notice to the other party. Send that notice.

Worth knowing either way: a notice sent under § 83.505 is deemed delivered at the time it is sent, unless the e-mail bounces back as undeliverable. And the section does not displace any other lawful method of service.

A short closing checklist

• Per-unit deposit schedule reconciled to the leases, with earned interest identified — before closing, not after.
• Funds and records transferred, and a written receipt transmitted, so § 83.49(7) actually releases the seller and documents your position.
• Deposits moved into a separate account at a Florida financial institution, not commingled.
• § 83.49(2) notice issued within 30 days of moving the money, if you rent five or more units.
• § 83.50 disclosure reissued naming you or your manager as the person who receives notices.
• Smoke detection devices, screens and code compliance inspected on the assumption that nobody has looked recently.
• Lease file checked for a signed § 83.505 e-mail addendum, and the designated address updated if there is one.

One timing point that catches people: under § 83.49(6) a renewal of an existing rental agreement counts as a new rental agreement, and a deposit carried forward counts as a new security deposit. The first renewal after your purchase is therefore the moment your own paperwork has to be right, rather than a continuation of the seller's.

How we handle a purchase

When an investor buys an occupied property in Broward County or Fort Lauderdale and brings it to us, the deposit reconciliation happens before closing, the § 83.49(2) and § 83.50 notices go out in the same week, and the tenant gets a single letter telling them who to contact from now on. The rate is the same 8% we charge every owner — details on the services page.

If you are still choosing who will run the property, the questions that actually separate managers are in our guide on how to choose a property management company in South Florida.

This is general information, not legal advice. Florida landlord–tenant law is detailed and fact-specific, and statutes change. Verify anything you intend to act on against the current Florida Statutes Chapter 83, Part II, and consult a Florida attorney before serving notices or filing an eviction.