For owners who do not live here

You own a rental in Florida. You live somewhere else.

That is a workable arrangement right up until it is not. Here is exactly what goes wrong and what it costs. The statutes below apply everywhere in the state. The management is mine, and I take it on in Central Florida only.

Start with the math

One bad tenant costs about $7,000. Management costs $2,280.

Most owners compare a management fee against the hours they think they will spend. That is the wrong comparison. Compare it against what a single bad outcome costs.

$185

Court filing fee

Orange County

$1,000 to $1,400

Uncontested eviction

3 to 6 weeks start to finish

2 to 3 months

Contested eviction

$3,800 to $5,700 in lost rent alone

11,500+

Eviction filings

Orange County, 2025

At Orlando's median rent of roughly $1,900, a contested eviction costs $3,800 to $5,700 in lost rent on top of $2,000 to $3,500 in fees. Call it $7,000 or more from the last payment received to a new lease signed. Management at 10% of that rent runs $2,280 a year, so one prevented eviction pays for roughly three years of management. And screening is the entire ballgame, which is harder than it was: forged pay stubs and synthetic identities now routinely pass visual inspection, so verification has to go to the source.

Source: Orange County Clerk of Courts filing schedules and Florida Statutes Chapter 83

Where remote owners actually lose

Four traps, and each one is individually fatal

These are not edge cases. They are the recurring failures I see from owners managing Florida property from another state, and Florida treats most of them as strict liability.

Your deposit is probably in the wrong bank

Fla. Stat. § 83.49

Florida law requires a tenant's security deposit to be held in a Florida financial institution, in a separate account, never commingled with your own funds. An owner in New Jersey holding it in a New Jersey bank is out of compliance on its face. If you intend to claim against the deposit you must give written notice within 30 days of the tenancy ending. Miss that window and you forfeit the right to claim against it at all, and the prevailing party in the dispute gets attorney's fees.

A late fee on the three-day notice voids the whole thing

Fla. Stat. § 83.56

A three-day notice for nonpayment must demand base rent only. Add a $50 late fee to an $1,800 demand and the entire notice is defective: dismissal, restart, another filing fee, another three weeks. And three days means three business days, excluding weekends, legal holidays and the day of service. Serve on a Wednesday and day three is Monday.

The notice period changed and the internet has not caught up

Fla. Stat. § 83.57, HB 615

For a month-to-month tenancy with no cause, the required notice went from 15 days to 30 days in July 2023, in both directions. A great deal of advice still online is wrong about this. Separately, since July 2025 you may serve notices by email, but only where the tenant has signed a separate addendum stating the choice is voluntary and revocable. No addendum, no email service.

Never change the locks. This is the one that ruins people.

Fla. Stat. § 83.67

Self-help eviction, meaning changing locks, shutting off utilities or removing belongings, exposes you to damages of up to three months' rent plus the tenant's attorney fees, even when the tenant owed you months of back rent. You can end up writing a check to the person who stopped paying you. This is precisely what a frustrated owner a thousand miles away does after the fourth ignored voicemail, and distance is the risk factor.

Costs your home state did not have

Florida is not like where you bought your first rental

Insurance

Your hurricane deductible is a percentage

Not a flat amount. Typically 2% to 10% of dwelling value. On a $400,000 home a 5% deductible is $20,000 out of pocket before the policy pays anything. Flood is excluded entirely and bought separately.

Insurance

A small claim can cost you the policy

Premiums are up 60% to 150% since 2020 and many carriers will not renew after a single claim, even a minor one. Deciding whether a $4,000 roof claim is worth risking non-renewal is a judgment call, and it is not one to make from another state on the phone.

Property tax

The tax cap resets when you buy

The non-homestead assessment cap resets on transfer, and the owner has an affirmative duty to notify the property appraiser of a change in ownership or control. Absentee buyers miss this constantly and are surprised by the bill.

County rules

Short-term rental rules change at the county line

Orange County contracts with the booking platforms so the 6% tourist tax is collected automatically. Osceola does not: the owner or manager collects and remits directly by the 20th of the following month, and also needs a state license, a county license, a business tax receipt and the right overlay district. Polk differs again. Owners who assume the platform handles it accrue liability quietly.

A question worth asking everyone

Ask for the license number

Under Florida law, leasing a property, collecting rent, negotiating a lease or advertising a vacancy for another owner, for compensation is regulated real estate activity. It requires an active license held under a broker. If someone offers to manage your property and cannot give you a license number, you have your answer.

Mine is SL3494680, held under Realty Hub. That is not a slogan, it is a verifiable fact you can check with the state in about a minute, and you should check it for anyone you are considering.

Want a straight read on your own rental?

Answer a few questions and I will write you a report on the market around your property, plus what I would actually do about the problem you name. I will tell you if what you have is working. Every number is live and sourced. It is free, and I will call you to walk through it.

What this costs

Published, because you should not have to call to find out

These are the prevailing ranges for Central Florida management, which is where I take work on. Anyone quoting far below them is making it up somewhere else, usually in maintenance markups.

8% to 12%

Monthly management

of collected rent

50% to 75%

Tenant placement

of one month's rent

18% to 20%

All-in, first year

of gross annual rent, less thereafter

Compare total cost, not the headline percentage. A low management rate paired with high leasing, renewal, inspection and maintenance coordination fees frequently costs more than a higher rate with fewer add-ons. Ask any manager for a full fee schedule in writing.

Next step

Tell me about your property

Where it is, what it rents for, and what is going wrong. I will tell you honestly whether you need management or just need a few things fixed, and I will say so if self-managing is genuinely working for you.

The investor market read Read the full breakdown

Nothing on this page is legal advice. Florida landlord and tenant law is technical and the consequences of getting it wrong fall on the owner. Statutes cited are current as of publication. For a specific situation, talk to a Florida attorney.