Turning your Florida home into a rental: an owner's checklist.

Moving out and renting the house you lived in is one of the most common ways people become landlords in Florida. It is also the route with the most tripwires, because the home was set up for an owner-occupant: the tax bill, the mortgage and the insurance policy all assume you live there.

This checklist goes in the order the problems arise. Everything legal below is taken from the statute or regulation itself, linked in the sources at the end.

1. Your homestead exemption ends when you rent the home

Renting all or substantially all of a Florida homestead counts as abandoning it for property tax purposes, and the abandonment lasts until you physically live there again. That ends the homestead exemption and the Save Our Homes assessment cap on the property, and you are required to tell the property appraiser.

The same subsection contains a narrow timing rule. If the abandonment happens after January 1, it does not affect the exemption for that year's tax roll unless the property is rented for more than 30 days per calendar year for 2 consecutive years. That is a rule about which tax year is affected, not permission to keep the exemption on a long-term rental.

Section 196.061(2) excludes two groups: members of the U.S. Armed Forces, and — added by chapter 2026-239, Laws of Florida, retroactive to the 2026 tax roll — full-time U.S. government diplomatic, intelligence, consular or foreign service officers stationed outside Florida.

What it costs to stay quiet

Fla. Stat. § 196.011(10)(a) requires an owner to notify the property appraiser promptly when a change in use ends the exemption. If you do not, and the appraiser finds you were not entitled to it in any year within the prior 10 years, you owe:

We do not publish an estimate of how much your tax bill will rise, because it depends entirely on the gap between your home's assessed value and its just value. Your county property appraiser can show you both figures for your parcel.

What changes on the assessment

• While homestead: annual assessment increases are capped at the lower of 3 percent or the change in CPI (§ 193.155(1)).
• Once rented: the home is non-homestead residential property. For property with nine or fewer units, annual assessment increases are capped at 10 percent of the prior year's assessed value (§ 193.1554).
• If you buy a new Florida homestead: § 193.155(8) lets you carry part of the old home's Save Our Homes benefit to the new one, capped at $500,000, subject to the timing and filing rules in that subsection. Ask the property appraiser before you file.

2. Read your mortgage's occupancy clause

If your loan was made as a primary-residence mortgage, it probably contains an occupancy promise. The standard Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac Florida security instrument (Form 3010) requires the borrower to occupy the property as a principal residence within 60 days of signing and to keep living there for at least one year, unless the lender agrees otherwise in writing or extenuating circumstances beyond the borrower's control apply.

Not every loan uses that form, so read your own documents. If you are inside the first year, ask the lender for written consent before you move out. That consent "will not be unreasonably withheld" under the standard form, which is a far better position than being found out.

3. Tell your insurer before the tenant moves in

A homeowner's policy is written for a home you live in. Once a tenant moves in, the risk is different, so call your insurer or agent, tell them the home will be tenant-occupied, and get their answer in writing about what the current policy covers and what you need to change. We do not quote premium figures because they vary too much by property, carrier and location to be useful.

4. Check whether your city requires a permit or tax receipt

Florida has no statewide license for renting out your own single-family home or condo long-term. The state lodging license in Chapter 509 is aimed at transient rentals. A one- to four-family house or condo unit rented for at least 30 days or one calendar month, and not advertised as regularly rented for shorter periods, is excluded from the public lodging definitions in § 509.013(4)(b)4.

Local rules are a different matter, and they vary city by city even inside Broward County. Here is what each city's own code or official website says about long-term rentals as of September 2026:

We have left fees out on purpose. Cities change them each fiscal year, and an out-of-date figure is worse than none. Vacation-rental programs, which most of these cities also run, are separate and are not covered here.

5. Put the required disclosures in the lease

A lease for a former family home needs several things a handshake arrangement with a friend would not have. These are the ones set by statute or federal regulation:

1. Radon notice. Fla. Stat. § 404.056(5) requires specific radon wording on at least one document signed at or before the rental agreement. The statute prescribes the text, so copy it exactly rather than summarizing it.
2. Lead-based paint, if the home was built before 1978. Under 40 CFR 745.107 and 745.113, give the tenant the EPA-approved pamphlet, disclose any known lead-based paint or hazards and any reports you have, and attach the Lead Warning Statement to the lease with signatures. Keep a copy. Short-term leases of 100 days or less with no renewal are exempt.
3. Who receives notices. Fla. Stat. § 83.50 requires you to disclose in writing, at or before the start of the tenancy, the name and address of the landlord or the person authorized to receive notices on the landlord's behalf.
4. The security deposit. Under § 83.49(1) the deposit must be held in a Florida financial institution (in a separate account, with interest paid to the tenant if the account earns interest) or covered by a surety bond. The written deposit notice in § 83.49(2) does not apply to a landlord who rents fewer than five individual dwelling units, but the holding and 30-day claim rules still do. Our security deposit guide covers the claim deadline.

6. Get the house to a landlord's standard

Once a tenant moves in, Fla. Stat. § 83.51(1) requires you to comply with applicable building, housing and health codes. Where none apply, you must keep the roof, windows, doors, floors, steps, porches, exterior walls, foundations and other structural parts in good repair and the plumbing in reasonable working order. Screens must be in reasonable condition at the start of the tenancy. For a single-family home or duplex, those obligations can be changed in writing.

Walk the house as a stranger would. Things you had learned to live with, like a door that sticks or a breaker that trips, become a tenant's maintenance request in the first week.

7. Screen tenants and set the rent

You do not need a real estate license to lease your own home. Fla. Stat. § 475.011(2) exempts an owner leasing their own property. You do need to screen the way federal and Florida law require: permissible purpose before pulling a consumer report, an adverse action notice when you reject someone because of one, and identical criteria for every applicant. Our tenant screening guide covers each step.

If the home is a condo, check the declaration before listing. The association may have approval rights, fees and deposit rules of its own, covered in our guide to renting out a Florida condo.

The checklist, in order

1. Ask the property appraiser what your parcel's assessment will look like without homestead, and notify them of the change in use.
2. Read your mortgage for an occupancy clause, and get lender consent in writing if you are inside the occupancy period.
3. Tell your insurer the home will be tenant-occupied and get the coverage answer in writing.
4. Check your city's long-term rental registration, business tax receipt or certificate of use.
5. If it is a condo, read the declaration for leasing restrictions and approval requirements.
6. Fix what a tenant would report in week one, and confirm the home meets local codes.
7. Open a separate deposit account at a Florida financial institution.
8. Prepare a lease with the radon notice, lead disclosure if built before 1978, and the § 83.50 notice address.
9. Screen applicants against written criteria applied the same way to everyone.
10. Talk to your accountant about how rental income and the home's change in use affect your taxes. This guide does not cover income tax.

If you are moving out of the area, or would rather not run this list yourself, CIMCO handles the setup and the ongoing management as part of full-service property management at a flat 8% fee. Our self-managing vs hiring a manager guide gives the honest case for both.

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.