Florida's security deposit rules have one deadline that matters.

Security deposits are the most common source of disputes between Florida landlords and former tenants, and the law that governs them — Fla. Stat. § 83.49 — is unusually unforgiving about deadlines. The money is the tenant's until you follow a specific procedure to claim it.

Where the deposit has to be held

Section 83.49 gives a Florida landlord three lawful options:

1. Hold it in a separate non-interest-bearing account in a Florida banking institution, kept apart from your own money.
2. Hold it in a separate interest-bearing account, paying the tenant either at least 75% of the interest actually earned, or 5% simple interest per year.
3. Post a surety bond with the clerk of the circuit court.

Commingling deposit money with operating funds is not one of the options.

Deadline one: tell the tenant where the money is

You must give the tenant written notice — either in the lease itself or within 30 days of receiving the deposit — disclosing where the deposit is held, the name and address of the depository, and whether the tenant earns interest on it.

Putting this clause in the lease is the simplest way to never miss it.

Deadline two: the 30 days after move-out

This is the one that costs owners money.

Read that carefully. If you intend to keep any part of the deposit, you must send the tenant written notice of your intent to impose a claim within 30 days after the tenancy ends. Miss the window and you must return the deposit in full. You keep the right to sue for damages separately, but you have lost the ability to simply deduct — and you are now the one who has to file.

What the timeline looks like

What you can and cannot deduct

You can deduct for unpaid rent and for damage beyond ordinary wear and tear. You cannot deduct for wear and tear itself — the gradual deterioration that comes from someone simply living in the property.

The line is judgment-based, but the pattern is consistent: wear is what time and normal use do; damage is what a person did.

The documentation that actually settles disputes

A deposit claim is a factual argument, and the owner with the better record wins it. What holds up:

• A dated move-in inspection with photographs of every room, signed by the tenant.
• A matching move-out inspection shot from the same angles. Same-angle before-and-after pairs are far more persuasive than a pile of loose photos.
• Actual invoices for the repairs claimed, not estimates you wrote yourself.
• Proof of mailing for the 30-day notice. The deadline is about when you sent it; you need to be able to show that date.

Where owners lose deposit disputes

1. Sending the notice late. Thirty days runs from the end of the tenancy, not from when you got a contractor's quote back.
2. No move-in condition record. Without a baseline you cannot prove the tenant caused anything.
3. Claiming replacement cost for a worn item. A carpet at the end of its life is not a new carpet's worth of damage.
4. Deducting for cleaning that was never required. Unless the lease requires professional cleaning, "not as clean as I'd like" is usually wear and tear.
5. Keeping the deposit in the operating account. It undermines everything else even if the deduction itself was fair.

How we handle it

Deposits on CIMCO-managed properties are held as the statute requires, disclosures go out with the lease, and the 30-day clock is tracked from the day the tenancy ends rather than from whenever the paperwork lands. Move-in and move-out inspections are photographed from matching angles so a claim can be evidenced rather than argued.

That is part of full-service management at a flat 8% fee, across Broward and Miami-Dade.

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.