Florida Law Change 2023

The Florida Residential Landlord-Tenant Act has a couple of amendments that took effect on January 1, 2023. See http://laws.flrules.org/2022/222.

First, FS 83.53(2) was amended to require at least 24 hours' notice to access the premises, instead of just 12 hours' notice. With this change, be sure that you change your form notices to reflect this change.

Second, FS 83.515 was added (known as Miya’s Law). This applies to “public lodgings”, pursuant to FS 509.242(1)(d) or (e), which are applicably defined as:

(d) Nontransient apartment.—A nontransient apartment is a building or complex of buildings in which 75 percent or more of the units are available for rent to nontransient tenants.

(e) Transient apartment.—A transient apartment is a building or complex of buildings in which more than 25 percent of the units are advertised or held out to the public as available for transient occupancy.

Generally, subsection (d) can apply to apartment buildings, and subsection (e) to vacation rentals. When applicable, the landlord must comply with the following:

83.515 Background screening of apartment employees; employment disqualification.—

(1) The landlord of a public lodging establishment classified under s. 509.242(1)(d) or (e) as a nontransient apartment or transient apartment, respectively, must require that each employee of the establishment undergo a background screening as a condition of employment.

(2) The background screening required under subsection (1) must be performed by a consumer reporting agency in accordance with the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act, and must include a screening of criminal history records and sexual predator and sexual offender registries of all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

(3) A landlord may disqualify a person from employment if the person has been convicted or found guilty of, or entered a plea of guilty or nolo contendere to, regardless of adjudication, any of the following offenses:

(a) A criminal offense involving disregard for the safety of others which, if committed in this state, is a felony or a misdemeanor of the first degree or, if committed in another state, would be a felony or a misdemeanor of the first degree if committed in this state.

(b) A criminal offense committed in any jurisdiction which involves violence, including, but not limited to, murder, sexual battery, robbery, carjacking, home-invasion robbery, and stalking.

Similarly, FS 509.211(5) was signed into law:

Safety regulations.—

(5) Each public lodging establishment licensed as a nontransient apartment or transient apartment shall do all of the following:

(a) Require that each employee of the licensee undergo a background screening as a condition of employment pursuant to s. 83.515.

(b) Maintain a log accounting for the issuance and return of all keys for each dwelling unit.

(c) Establish policies and procedures for the issuance and return of dwelling unit keys and regulating the storage of, and access to, unissued keys.

Upon request during the division’s annual inspection of the premises, a licensee must provide the division with proof of compliance with this subsection for the inspection