When a tenant moves out and leaves belongings behind, Florida’s “Disposition of Personal Property Landlord and Tenant Act,” sections 715.10 through 715.111 of the Florida Statutes, sets out a procedure for notice, storage, release, and sale or disposal. This article quotes the current text of the Act, along with the related provision in the residential landlord-tenant statute, and the numbered notes at the end link to each original.
This article is part of a series on Florida residential tenancies. Related topics are covered in Florida Landlord Lockouts and Utility Shutoffs: What the Official Sources Say, Florida Residential Lease Agreements: The Supreme Court-Approved Lease Forms, and DIY Landlord Evictions in Florida.
The information that follows is taken directly from the Florida Statutes. It is provided for educational purposes only and does not represent legal advice or the legal opinions of the author.
What the Act covers
Section 715.101(1) provides that the Act applies “to all tenancies to which part I or part II of chapter 83 are applicable, and to tenancies after a writ of possession has been issued pursuant to s. 723.062.” Section 715.101(2) describes the Act as “an optional procedure for the disposition of personal property which remains on the premises after a tenancy has terminated or expired and the premises have been vacated by the tenant through eviction, surrender, abandonment, or otherwise.” Section 715.101(4) adds that “If the requirements of ss. 715.10-715.111 are not satisfied, nothing in ss. 715.10-715.111 affects the rights and liabilities of the landlord, the former tenant, or any other person.”¹
Section 715.102 defines “Owner” as “any person other than the landlord who has any right, title, or interest in personal property,” and defines “Tenant” to include “any paying guest, lessee, or sublessee of any premises for rent, whether a dwelling unit or not.” It defines “Reasonable belief” as “the actual knowledge or belief a prudent person should have without making an investigation, including any investigation of public records,” with an exception “when the landlord has specific information indicating that such an investigation would more probably than not reveal pertinent information and the cost of such an investigation would be reasonable in relation to the probable value of the personal property involved.”¹
For property the landlord believes was lost rather than left behind, section 715.103 provides that it “shall be disposed of as otherwise provided by law,” but that “if the appropriate law enforcement agency or other government agency refuses to accept custody of property pursuant to chapter 705, the landlord may dispose of the property pursuant to ss. 715.10-715.111.”¹
The notice requirements and the two statutory forms
Section 715.104(1) provides that “When personal property remains on the premises after a tenancy has terminated or expired and the premises have been vacated by the tenant, through eviction or otherwise, the landlord shall give written notice to such tenant and to any other person the landlord reasonably believes to be the owner of the property.”¹ Section 715.104(2) sets out what the notice must contain:¹
- It “shall describe the property in a manner reasonably adequate to permit the owner of the property to identify it,” except that “a trunk, valise, box, or other container which is locked, fastened, or tied in a manner which deters immediate access to its contents may be described as such without describing its contents.”
- It “shall advise the person to be notified that reasonable costs of storage may be charged before the property is returned.”
- It “shall state where the property may be claimed and the date before which the claim must be made,” and that date “shall be a date not fewer than 10 days after the notice is personally delivered or, if mailed, not fewer than 15 days after the notice is deposited in the mail.”¹
The same subsection cautions that the notice “may describe all or a portion of the property, but the limitation of liability provided by s. 715.11 does not protect the landlord from any liability arising from the disposition of property not described in the notice.” Under section 715.104(3), the notice “shall be personally delivered or sent by first-class mail, postage prepaid, to the person to be notified at her or his last known address.”¹
Notice to the former tenant. Section 715.105 provides that “A notice to the former tenant which is in substantially the following form satisfies the requirements of s. 715.104.” The form is titled “Notice of Right to Reclaim Abandoned Property” and reads in part:¹
When you vacated the premises at (address of premises, including room or apartment number, if any), the following personal property remained: (insert description of personal property).
You may claim this property at (address where property may be claimed).
Unless you pay the reasonable costs of storage and advertising, if any, for all the above-described property and take possession of the property which you claim, not later than (insert date not fewer than 10 days after notice is personally delivered or, if mailed, not fewer than 15 days after notice is deposited in the mail), this property may be disposed of pursuant to s. 715.109, Florida Statutes.¹
The notice must also contain one of two statements. The first applies when the property will be sold at public sale and explains that “You have the right to bid on the property at this sale” and that remaining money “will be paid over to the county.” The second reads, “Because this property is believed to be worth less than $500, it may be kept, sold, or destroyed without further notice if you fail to reclaim it within the time indicated above.”¹
Notice to an owner other than the former tenant. Section 715.106 provides a parallel form for “a person who is not the former tenant and whom the landlord reasonably believes to be the owner of any of the abandoned personal property.” It carries the same title and the same two alternative statements, and it opens, “When (name of former tenant) vacated the premises at (address of premises, including room or apartment number, if any), the following personal property remained,” followed by “If you own any of this property, you may claim it at (address where property may be claimed).”¹
Storage, release, and sale or disposal
Storage. Section 715.107 provides that the property described in the notice “either shall be left on the vacated premises or be stored by the landlord in a place of safekeeping until the landlord either releases the property pursuant to s. 715.108 or disposes of the property pursuant to s. 715.109.” The landlord “shall exercise reasonable care in storing the property, but she or he is not liable to the tenant or any other owner for any loss unless caused by the landlord’s deliberate or negligent act.”¹ Section 715.111 governs storage charges. A former tenant who claims property “may be required to pay the reasonable costs of storage for all the personal property remaining on the premises,” another owner “may be required to pay the reasonable costs of storage for only the property in which she or he claims an interest,” and “If the landlord stores the personal property on the premises, the costs of storage shall be the fair rental value of the space reasonably required for such storage for the term of the storage.”¹
Release. Under section 715.108(1), the property “shall be released by the landlord to the former tenant or, at the landlord’s option, to any person reasonably believed by the landlord to be its owner, if such tenant or other person pays the reasonable costs of storage and advertising and takes possession of the property not later than the date specified in the notice.” If the notice stated that the property will be sold, section 715.108(2) provides that the landlord “shall release the personal property to the former tenant if she or he claims it prior to the time it is sold and pays the reasonable costs of storage, advertising, and sale.”¹
Sale or disposal. Section 715.109(1) provides that unreleased property “shall be sold at public sale by competitive bidding. However, if the landlord reasonably believes that the total resale value of the property not released is less than $500, she or he may retain such property for her or his own use or dispose of it in any manner she or he chooses.”¹ For a public sale, section 715.109(2) requires “an advertisement of the sale published once a week for 2 consecutive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation where the sale is to be held,” which “must include a description of the goods, the name of the former tenant, and the time and place of the sale,” and provides that “The sale must take place at least 10 days after the first publication.”¹ Under section 715.109(4), after deducting “the costs of storage, advertising, and sale,” any unclaimed balance “shall be paid into the treasury of the county in which the sale took place not later than 30 days after the date of sale,” and the former tenant or other owner “may claim the balance within 1 year from the date of payment to the county.”¹
Limits on liability. Section 715.11 provides that after the landlord releases property to the former tenant, “the landlord is not liable with respect to that property to any person,” and that after property is released to another owner or disposed of under section 715.109, the landlord is not liable to “Any person to whom notice was given pursuant to s. 715.104,” or to others unless they prove the landlord “believed or reasonably should have believed that such person had an interest in the property and also that the landlord knew or should have known upon reasonable investigation the address of such person.”¹
The lease clause in section 83.67(5)
The residential landlord-tenant statute addresses the same situation from another angle. Section 83.67(5) provides that a landlord “shall not remove the tenant’s personal property from the dwelling unit 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.”² The same subsection continues:
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; if provided in the rental agreement, there must be printed or clearly stamped on such rental agreement a legend in substantially the following form:
BY SIGNING THIS RENTAL AGREEMENT, THE TENANT AGREES THAT UPON SURRENDER, ABANDONMENT, OR RECOVERY OF POSSESSION OF THE DWELLING UNIT DUE TO THE DEATH OF THE LAST REMAINING TENANT, AS PROVIDED BY CHAPTER 83, FLORIDA STATUTES, THE LANDLORD SHALL NOT BE LIABLE OR RESPONSIBLE FOR STORAGE OR DISPOSITION OF THE TENANT’S PERSONAL PROPERTY.²
Section 83.67(5) states that “For the purposes of this section, abandonment shall be as set forth in s. 83.59(3)(c).”² A landlord who removes property in violation of section 83.67 is liable “for actual and consequential damages or 3 months’ rent, whichever is greater, and costs, including attorney’s fees,” as described in Florida Landlord Lockouts and Utility Shutoffs: What the Official Sources Say.²
Need help typing the notices?
Form America LLC, the publisher of this site, offers flat-rate form typing for landlord-tenant matters in all 67 Florida counties. To request help with the notices in sections 715.105 and 715.106, use the contact form at LandlordTenantForms.com. These notices are statutory forms rather than forms approved by the Supreme Court of Florida, so under Rule 10-2.2 of the Rules Regulating The Florida Bar, Form America can only type the information you provide in writing, exactly as you write it.³ Form America cannot describe the property for you, choose which of the two closing statements applies, estimate the property’s value, or tell you whether the Act applies to your situation. Those decisions are yours, and you and the preparer sign the disclosure that rule requires before any work begins. For questions about your rights or obligations, The Florida Bar Lawyer Referral Service can be reached at 800-342-8011.
Notes
The Florida Bar, Rules Regulating The Florida Bar, Chapter 10 (June 30, 2026)
The Florida Senate, 2025 Florida Statutes, Chapter 715, Property: General Provisions (sections 715.10–715.111)
The Florida Senate, Florida Statutes, Section 83.67, Prohibited practices
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