Section 83.56(2) of the Florida Statutes provides for a written notice from landlord to tenant, commonly called a “7-day notice,” when a tenant materially fails to comply with the rental agreement or the statute in a way other than a failure to pay rent. This article quotes that section, along with The Florida Bar’s Supreme Court-approved notice form and county clerk materials, and the numbered notes at the end link to each original.
This article is one of a series on Florida residential evictions. Notices for unpaid rent are covered in The Florida 3-Day Notice: A Landlord’s Guide to the Official Sources. The full filing process appears in DIY Landlord Evictions in Florida, the tenant’s side of the case in Responding to an Eviction in Florida: What the County Packets Say, and situations with no agreement to pay rent in Eviction vs. Unlawful Detainer in Florida.
The information that follows is taken directly from Florida statutes, county clerk materials, 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 kinds of 7-day notice in section 83.56(2)
Section 83.56(2) applies “If the tenant materially fails to comply with s. 83.52 or material provisions of the rental agreement, other than a failure to pay rent, or reasonable rules or regulations.” It describes two kinds of notice.¹
Noncompliance the statute treats as not curable. Paragraph (2)(a) applies “If such noncompliance is of a nature that the tenant should not be given an opportunity to cure it or if the noncompliance constitutes a subsequent or continuing noncompliance within 12 months of a written warning by the landlord of a similar violation.” The statute’s examples “include, but are not limited to, destruction, damage, or misuse of the landlord’s or other tenants’ property by intentional act or a subsequent or continued unreasonable disturbance.” In that case, “the landlord may terminate the rental agreement, and the tenant shall have 7 days from the date that the notice is delivered to vacate the premises.” The notice “shall be in substantially the following form”:¹
You are advised that your lease is terminated effective immediately. You shall have 7 days from the delivery of this letter to vacate the premises. This action is taken because (cite the noncompliance).¹
Noncompliance the statute treats as curable. Paragraph (2)(b) applies “If such noncompliance is of a nature that the tenant should be given an opportunity to cure it.” The notice must specify the noncompliance and include “a notice that, if the noncompliance is not corrected within 7 days from the date that the written notice is delivered, the landlord shall terminate the rental agreement by reason thereof.” The statute’s examples “include, but are not limited to, activities in contravention of the lease or this part such as having or permitting unauthorized pets, guests, or vehicles; parking in an unauthorized manner or permitting such parking; or failing to keep the premises clean and sanitary.” The notice “shall be in substantially the following form”:¹
You are hereby notified that (cite the noncompliance). Demand is hereby made that you remedy the noncompliance within 7 days of receipt of this notice or your lease shall be deemed terminated and you shall vacate the premises upon such termination. If this same conduct or conduct of a similar nature is repeated within 12 months, your tenancy is subject to termination without further warning and without your being given an opportunity to cure the noncompliance.¹
Delivery, repeat violations, and waiver
Section 83.56(4) covers notices under subsections (1) through (3). It provides that “The delivery of the written notices required by subsections (1)-(3) shall be by mailing, delivering a true copy thereof, e-mailing in accordance with s. 83.505, or, if the tenant is absent from the premises, by leaving a copy thereof at the residence,” and that “The notice requirements of subsections (1)-(3) may not be waived in the rental agreement.”¹
Paragraph (2)(b) also addresses repeat conduct, stating, “If such noncompliance recurs within 12 months after notice, an eviction action may commence without delivering a subsequent notice pursuant to paragraph (a) or this paragraph.”¹
Section 83.56(5)(a) addresses acceptance of rent. It provides that “If the landlord accepts rent with actual knowledge of a noncompliance by the tenant or accepts performance by the tenant of any other provision of the rental agreement that is at variance with its provisions,” the landlord “waives his or her right to terminate the rental agreement or to bring a civil action for that noncompliance, but not for any subsequent or continuing noncompliance.” Paragraph (5)(c) states that this subsection “does not apply to that portion of rent subsidies received from a local, state, or national government or an agency of local, state, or national government; however, waiver will occur if an action has not been instituted within 45 days after the landlord obtains actual knowledge of the noncompliance.”¹
The approved form: Form 2
The Florida Bar’s list of landlord-tenant forms “approved by the Florida Supreme Court” includes “Form 2: Notice From Landlord To Tenant Notice Of Noncompliance For Matters Other Than Failure To Pay Rent.”² The Washington County Clerk of Court reprints it in its landlord-tenant packet with the notation “Approved for use under rule 10-2.1(a) of the Rules Regulating The Florida Bar” and these instructions:³
Violations of a rental agreement which may entitle the Landlord to send this Notice include, the material failure of Tenant to comply with its statutory obligations to maintain the dwelling unit under Florida Statute 83.52 or material provisions of the rental agreement (other than the failure to pay rent), or reasonable rules and regulations. For the notice necessary to terminate the rental agreement under circumstances where the Tenant must be given the opportunity to remedy the violation, see Florida Statutes 83.56(2)(b).
Under some situations, such as the Tenant’s intentional destruction of property of the Landlord or other Tenants, the Landlord may be able to terminate the rental agreement without giving the Tenant an opportunity to remedy the violation. For the notice necessary to terminate the rental agreement under these circumstances, see Florida Statute 83.56(2)(a).³
The instructions add that “This written notice must be delivered, and the seven day time period must run, prior to any termination of the rental agreement or any lawsuit for eviction.”³
The form’s text follows the curable-noncompliance notice in paragraph (2)(b). It reads, “You are hereby notified that you are not complying with your rental agreement in that” followed by a blank to “[insert noncompliance, default or violation],” and continues, “Demand is hereby made that you remedy the noncompliance, default or violation within seven days of receipt of this notice or your rental agreement shall be deemed terminated and you shall vacate the premises upon such termination.” It closes with the statement that “If this same conduct or conduct of a similar nature is repeated within twelve months, your tenancy is subject to termination without your being given an opportunity to cure the noncompliance, default or violation,” followed by the landlord’s name, address, and phone number.³
The form’s instructions cite “Sections 83.52 and 83.56 Florida Statutes (2007),” and the Bar notes that “because the law is continually changing, there is no guarantee that these forms comport with current law.”² ³ The Bar’s approved list does not include a separate form for the noncurable notice in paragraph (2)(a). That notice’s prescribed wording appears in the statute, quoted above.¹
What county clerks say, and the tenant’s 7-day notices
The Pasco County Clerk & Comptroller’s landlord-tenant instructions state that “Before you can start a lawsuit to end a residential lease or withhold rental payments, you must first give proper written notice,” and that “The form of the notice will depend on the landlord or tenant’s reason for terminating the lease or withholding rent.” Among a landlord’s reasons, the instructions list “The tenant has not complied with the requirements of the lease or has violated Florida Statutes,” and the Pasco packet includes a “Notice from Landlord to Tenant – Termination for Non-Compliance Other than Failure to Pay Rent.”⁴ The Washington County packet notes that “Information or forms provided by the Clerk of Court should be considered as basic information only and may not be applicable to every situation.”³
Section 83.56(1) also provides a 7-day notice from tenant to landlord. It states that “If the landlord materially fails to comply with s. 83.51(1) or material provisions of the rental agreement within 7 days after delivery of written notice by the tenant specifying the noncompliance and indicating the intention of the tenant to terminate the rental agreement by reason thereof, the tenant may terminate the rental agreement.”¹ The Bar’s approved set includes two tenant notices, Form 3 for termination and Form 4 for withholding rent, each for a landlord’s failure to maintain the premises as required by section 83.51(1) or the rental agreement.²
After the notice period
The approved eviction complaint for matters other than unpaid rent, Form 6, includes allegations that the landlord “served Defendant with a notice on” a stated date “giving written notice to the Defendant that the Defendant was in violation of its rental agreement,” that “A copy of the notice, setting forth the violation of the rental agreement, is attached as Exhibit ‘B’,” and that “Defendant has failed to correct or discontinue the conduct set forth in the above-mentioned notice.”³ Section 83.56(6) adds that “If the rental agreement is terminated, the landlord shall comply with s. 83.49(3),” the security deposit provision.¹
The filing steps that follow, from the complaint through the writ of possession, are covered in DIY Landlord Evictions in Florida. The tenant’s deadline to respond and the forms a tenant may file are covered in Responding to an Eviction in Florida: What the County Packets Say.
Need help completing the forms?
Form America LLC, the publisher of this site, offers flat-rate form completion and filing instructions for landlord-tenant forms in all 67 Florida counties. To request help with Form 2 or the other approved landlord-tenant forms, use the contact form at LandlordTenantForms.com. Because Form 2 is 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 fill in the blanks and to tell you how to deliver or file the form.⁵ Form America cannot tell you whether a violation is curable or noncurable, which notice fits your situation, or how to describe the noncompliance. 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 as a landlord, The Florida Bar Lawyer Referral Service can be reached at 800-342-8011.
Notes
- The Florida Senate, 2025 Florida Statutes, Section 83.56, Termination of rental agreement
- The Florida Bar, Landlord Tenant Forms
- Washington County Clerk of Court, Landlord/Tenant Packet (2021)
- Pasco County Clerk & Comptroller, Landlord and Tenant Information and Instructions
- The Florida Bar, Rules Regulating The Florida Bar, Chapter 10 (June 30, 2026)
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