A Florida landlord can start with a residential lease approved by the state’s highest court. The Supreme Court of Florida has approved two residential lease forms, one for a single-family home or duplex and one for an apartment or unit in multifamily housing, and The Florida Bar publishes both. This article describes the two forms from the Court’s own approval opinion, along with the statutory disclosures that bear on a residential lease, 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 Security Deposits: A Landlord’s Guide to the Official Sources, The Florida 3-Day Notice, The Florida 7-Day Notice, and DIY Landlord Evictions in Florida.
The information that follows is taken directly from Florida Supreme Court, Florida statute, and Florida Bar publications. It is provided for educational purposes only and does not represent legal advice or the legal opinions of the author.
The two approved lease forms
The Florida Bar’s landlord-tenant forms page, which lists forms “approved by the Florida Supreme Court,” includes two residential leases:¹
- “Residential Lease for Apartment or Unit in Multi-Family Rental Housing (Other than a Duplex) Including a Mobile Home, Condominium, or Cooperative (For A Term Not To Exceed One Year)”
- “Residential Lease for Single Family Home or Duplex (For A Term Not To Exceed One Year)”¹
The Supreme Court of Florida explained the background of these forms in a 2010 opinion. “Under Rule Regulating the Florida Bar 10-2.1(a), Unlicensed Practice of Law, nonlawyers may assist persons in filling out legal forms approved by the Florida Supreme Court. Since the implementation of this rule in 1987, The Florida Bar has developed, and the Court has approved, simplified forms for use by nonlawyers assisting third parties.”² The Court stated that the Bar’s Real Property, Probate, and Trust Law Section “proposed the amendments to the Board after seeking input from the Florida Association of Realtors and the Housing Group of Florida Legal Services, Inc.,” and that “Some of the amendments reflect statutory changes.”²
In that opinion the Court approved amendments to the single-family and multifamily leases and to the Residential Landlord-Tenant Forms, and deleted two older forms, the “Residential Lease for Unit in Condominium or Cooperative (for a term not to exceed one year)” and the 1992 version of the single-family lease.² The current multifamily lease title on the Bar’s site names condominiums and cooperatives as covered units.¹
What the approved leases contain
The Court’s 2010 opinion reprints both leases in its appendix.² The single-family lease opens with this instruction: “A BOX ( ) OR A BLANK SPACE ( ____ ) INDICATES A PROVISION WHERE A CHOICE OR DECISION MUST BE MADE BY THE PARTIES.” It follows with the statement that “THE LEASE IMPOSES IMPORTANT LEGAL OBLIGATIONS. MANY RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE PARTIES ARE GOVERNED BY CHAPTER 83, PART II, RESIDENTIAL LANDLORD AND TENANT ACT, FLORIDA STATUTES.”² The multifamily lease opens with a warning: “IT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO READ ALL OF THE LEASE CAREFULLY. THE LEASE IMPOSES IMPORTANT LEGAL OBLIGATIONS,” and adds, “NO CHANGES OR ADDITIONS TO THIS FORM MAY BE MADE UNLESS A LAWYER IS CONSULTED.”²
The single-family lease, as approved in 2010, is organized into numbered paragraphs that include parties, the property rented, the term, rent payments and taxes, money due before occupancy, late fees, pets and smoking, notices, utilities, maintenance, assignment, keys and locks, lead-based paint, servicemember rights, the landlord’s access, homeowner’s association approval, use of the premises, risk of loss, casualty damage, defaults and remedies, liens, renewal, the tenant’s personal property, attorneys’ fees, and brokers’ commissions.² A few of its provisions supply defaults when a blank is left empty. For late fees, the form provides “(If left blank, 4% of the rent payment)” and, for timing, “(if left blank, 5 days if rent is paid monthly, 1 day if rent is paid weekly).” Its maintenance paragraph lists items such as roofs, windows, plumbing, heating, hot water, locks and keys, smoke detection devices, and extermination, and instructs the parties to “Fill in each blank space with ‘Landlord’ for Landlord or ‘Tenant’ for Tenant, if left blank, Landlord will be responsible for the item.”²
Both forms include a lead-based paint section to be completed “if the dwelling was built before January 1, 1978,” with the federal lead warning statement and spaces for the lessor’s disclosure and the lessee’s acknowledgment.² Both include the radon gas disclosure, which begins, “Radon is a naturally occurring radioactive gas that, when it has accumulated in a building in sufficient quantities, may present health risks to persons who are exposed to it over time.”² Both limit the term to one year, and the renewal provision states, “A new lease is required for each year.”²
Each lease is followed by a page reading “Copy of Current Version of Florida Residential Landlord and Tenant Act, Part II, Chapter 83, Florida Statutes to Be Attached,” and by an “EARLY TERMINATION FEE/LIQUIDATED DAMAGES ADDENDUM” offering the tenant a choice to agree to a fee of “an amount that does not exceed 2 months’ rent” or to decline it.² The multifamily lease’s signature section, as approved, calls for “2 witnesses needed for Landlord” and “2 witnesses needed for each Tenant.”² Each form ends with the line “This form was completed with the assistance of,” followed by spaces for the preparer’s name, business, address, and telephone number.²
Statutory disclosures that bear on a residential lease
The flood disclosure. Section 83.512 of the Florida Statutes, created by chapter 2025-166, Laws of Florida, provides that “A landlord must complete and provide a flood disclosure to a prospective tenant of residential real property at or before the execution of a rental agreement for a term of 1 year or longer.” It specifies that “The flood disclosure must be in a separate document” and that it “must be made in substantially the following form,” beginning with the heading “FLOOD DISCLOSURE” and the statement, “Flood Insurance: Renters’ insurance policies do not include coverage for damage resulting from floods. Tenant is encouraged to discuss the need to purchase separate flood insurance coverage with Tenant’s insurance agent.”³ The prescribed form includes checkboxes for whether the landlord “has” or “has not” “filed a claim with an insurance provider relating to flood damage in the dwelling unit” and whether the landlord “has” or “has not” “received assistance for flood damage to the dwelling unit, including, but not limited to, assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.”³ The approved lease forms posted on the Bar’s site predate this section and do not contain the flood disclosure.² ³
The security deposit notice. Section 83.49(2) provides that “The landlord shall, in the lease agreement or within 30 days after receipt of advance rent or a security deposit, give written notice to the tenant which includes disclosure of the advance rent or security deposit,” including a statutory disclosure printed in capital letters. That requirement “does not apply to any landlord who rents fewer than five individual dwelling units.”⁴ The full notice and disclosure are covered in Florida Security Deposits: A Landlord’s Guide to the Official Sources.
Lead-based paint and radon. As described above, both approved leases include a lead-based paint section for dwellings “built before January 1, 1978” and a radon gas disclosure introduced with the words “As required by law, Landlord makes the following disclosure.”²
What the Court and the Bar say about the forms
In approving the forms, the Supreme Court of Florida stated, “We express no opinion as to whether the approved lease forms comport with current law.” Regarding the instructions the Bar prepared to accompany some of the forms, the Court wrote, “While we authorize the publication of the instructions, we do not express an opinion on their legal correctness,” and it authorized “the chief judge of each circuit” to “prepare supplemental directions for using forms” because “local procedures may vary from circuit to circuit.”²
The Florida Bar’s forms page carries a similar caution: “because the law is continually changing, there is no guarantee that these forms comport with current law. These forms are not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. It is always best to consult an attorney about your legal rights and responsibilities in your particular case.”¹ The lease text quoted in this article comes from the version the Court approved in 2010. The Bar’s currently posted files may reflect later revisions, and they are the versions available for use today.¹ ²
Have Form America prepare your Florida lease
The Supreme Court-approved leases are long, detailed documents with dozens of blanks, checkboxes, and choices, and every one of them matters once the lease is signed. Form America LLC, the publisher of this site, prepares both approved leases at a flat rate for rental properties in all 67 Florida counties. To get started, use the contact form at LandlordTenantForms.com.
Because these leases are approved by the Supreme Court of Florida, Rule 10-2.2 of the Rules Regulating The Florida Bar allows a nonlawyer to ask you the factual questions needed to complete them.⁵ Here is how the service works:
- You tell us which approved lease you need, the single-family home or duplex lease or the multifamily lease.
- We walk through every blank with you, including the parties, property, term, rent, taxes, money due before move-in, late fees, pets and smoking, utilities, the maintenance assignments, keys, association approval, and the lead-based paint section if the home was built before 1978.
- We type your answers into the approved form and assemble the lease with its early termination addendum and the page calling for a copy of Part II of Chapter 83, Florida Statutes, so the finished document is formatted and ready to sign.
- We explain how the form is executed, including the signature and witness lines the form itself provides.
- The flood disclosure required by section 83.512 is a separate statutory form rather than a Supreme Court-approved one, so for that document Form America can type the information you provide in writing, exactly as you write it.³ ⁵
Every decision in the lease stays with you. Form America cannot tell you how much rent or deposit to charge, which options to check, whether to agree to a particular term, or whether to change the form. The multifamily lease itself states that “NO CHANGES OR ADDITIONS TO THIS FORM MAY BE MADE UNLESS A LAWYER IS CONSULTED.”² Before any work begins, you and the preparer sign the disclosure Rule 10-2.2 requires. For questions about your rights or obligations as a landlord, The Florida Bar Lawyer Referral Service can be reached at 800-342-8011.
When the tenancy moves forward, the same service covers the other approved landlord forms, including the security deposit claim notice (Form 12), the 3-day notice (Form 1), and the 7-day notice (Form 2).
Notes
- The Florida Bar, Landlord Tenant Forms
- Supreme Court of Florida, In re: Revisions to Simplified Forms Pursuant to Rule 10-2.1(a) of the Rules Regulating the Florida Bar, No. SC09-250 (April 15, 2010)
- The Florida Senate, 2025 Florida Statutes, Section 83.512, Disclosure of flood risks to prospective tenant of residential real property
- The Florida Senate, 2025 Florida Statutes, Section 83.49, Deposit money or advance rent; duty of landlord and tenant
- The Florida Bar, Rules Regulating The Florida Bar, Chapter 10 (June 30, 2026)
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