Florida Rental Application Form

Introduction

Key Things to Know

1. 1

   The two capped Florida figures are association approval fees, and the scope conditions on them are as important as the amounts. Section 718.112(2)(k) opens by providing that an association may not charge a fee in connection with the sale, mortgage, lease, sublease or other transfer of a unit unless the association is required to approve such transfer and a fee for such approval is provided for in the declaration, articles or bylaws. Only then does the $150 per applicant ceiling apply. The cooperative equivalent at Section 719.106(1)(i) works the same way and reads $100 per applicant in the enacted text. Chapter 720, which governs homeowners associations, carries no per-applicant transfer-fee ceiling at all. None of these provisions reaches the separate fee a landlord charges for its own screening.

2. 2

   Two people can count as one applicant, and a renewal costs nothing. Section 718.112(2)(k) provides that for the purpose of calculating the fee, spouses or a parent or parents and any dependent children are considered one applicant, and that if the lease or sublease is a renewal of a lease or sublease with the same lessee or sublessee, a charge may not be made. Section 719.106(1)(i) states the same household rule in its own words, capping the cooperative fee per applicant other than husband and wife or parent and dependent child, which are considered one applicant. So a condominium or cooperative association billing each adult in a family separately, or billing anything at all on a straight renewal with the same tenant, is charging outside the statute.

3. 3

   The condominium figure is on an indexing cycle, and the figure actually published is still the base. Section 718.112(2)(k) requires that such fees must be adjusted every 5 years in an amount equal to the total of the annual increases occurring in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers, U.S. City Average, All Items during that 5 year period, and directs the Department of Business and Professional Regulation to periodically calculate the fees, rounded to the nearest dollar, and publish the amounts, as adjusted, on its website. As checked for this page, the Department publishes $150 per applicant, which is the statutory base, so there is no higher adjusted figure currently in force. Two further points of caution: the cooperative figure carries no indexing mechanism at all, and the Department's own guidance page states $150 for cooperatives while the enacted text of Section 719.106(1)(i) reads $100. This page carries the enacted figure.

4. 4

   Florida took local rules off the table, which is the mirror image of states that set a floor for cities. Section 83.425 provides that the regulation of residential tenancies, the landlord-tenant relationship, and all other matters covered under part II of chapter 83 are preempted to the state, and that the section supersedes any local government regulations on matters covered under that part, including, but not limited to, the screening process used by a landlord in approving tenancies, security deposits, rental agreement applications and fees associated with such applications, terms and conditions of rental agreements, the rights and responsibilities of the landlord and tenant, disclosures concerning the premises, fees charged by the landlord, and notice requirements. It was created by chapter 2023-314 and took effect July 1, 2023. The list is express about applications and about the fees associated with them, which is why the absence of a Florida cap is not something a city can cure.

5. 5

   Servicemember applicants have a deadline and a right to reasons that no agreement can remove. Section 83.683(1) provides that where a landlord requires a prospective tenant to complete a rental application, the landlord must complete processing of an application submitted by a prospective tenant who is a servicemember, as defined in Section 250.01, within 7 days after submission, and must within that 7 day period notify the servicemember in writing of an application approval or denial and, if denied, the reason for denial. Absent a timely denial, the landlord must lease the rental unit to the servicemember if all other terms of the application and lease are complied with. The same duty binds a condominium, cooperative or homeowners association approving a tenant. Section 83.683(3) states that the provisions of the section may not be waived or modified by the agreement of the parties under any circumstances. The section has stood unamended since its enactment in 2016.

6. 6

   Three duties common elsewhere do not exist in Florida, and the search for them was the wide kind. Across all three parts of chapter 83 the phrase application fee returns nothing, so there is no refund of an unused portion, no itemization of screening costs and no receipt requirement for a landlord's application fee. There is no reusable or portable screening report provision anywhere in chapter 83, chapter 760, Section 718.112, chapter 719 or chapter 720, so a Florida landlord is under no obligation to accept a report an applicant already paid for. And there is no state duty to publish screening criteria before taking a fee. Federal consumer-reporting and fair-housing law continues to apply on its own terms, and it is doing more of the work in Florida than in most states.

7. 7

   One Florida provision does restrict what may count in an approval decision, and it is easy to miss because it sits inside a deposit section. Section 83.491 permits a recurring fee in lieu of a security deposit, and subsection (6) provides that where a landlord offers a tenant that option, the landlord may not use a prospective tenant's choice to pay, or offer to pay, a fee in lieu of a security deposit as criteria in the determination to approve or deny an application for occupancy. Subsection (7) adds that a fee collected in lieu of a security deposit, or an insurance product or surety bond accepted instead, is not a security deposit as defined in Section 83.43(13). The approval-criteria sentence is the part that bears on the application, and it is a restriction on the landlord rather than an option for one.

Florida Requirements for Rental Application Form

• No Statutory Ceiling on a Landlord Application Fee

  All three parts of chapter 83 of the Florida Statutes were read for this page and the phrase application fee does not appear in the chapter. Florida fixes no ceiling on what a landlord may charge to process an application or to run a screening report, and imposes no receipt, itemization or refund duty on that charge. The figures associated with Florida in secondary commentary are community association approval fees under Section 718.112(2)(k) and Section 719.106(1)(i), and they do not reach a landlord's own fee. Keep a record of the amount paid and the date, because the state code supplies no paper trail here.

• Local Caps Are Preempted to the State

  Fla. Stat. Section 83.425 provides that the regulation of residential tenancies, the landlord-tenant relationship, and all other matters covered under part II of chapter 83 are preempted to the state, and that the section supersedes any local government regulations on matters covered under that part, including, but not limited to, the screening process used by a landlord in approving tenancies, security deposits, rental agreement applications and fees associated with such applications, terms and conditions of rental agreements, the rights and responsibilities of the landlord and tenant, disclosures concerning the premises, fees charged by the landlord, and notice requirements. Created by chapter 2023-314 and effective July 1, 2023. Applications and their fees are named expressly, so the absence of a state cap cannot be cured locally.

• The Condominium Association Approval Fee

  Section 718.112(2)(k) provides that an association may not charge a fee in connection with the sale, mortgage, lease, sublease or other transfer of a unit unless the association is required to approve such transfer and a fee for such approval is provided for in the declaration, articles or bylaws, and that any such fee may be preset but may not exceed $150 per applicant. Both conditions have to be met before any fee is lawful, so the question comes before the amount. This ceiling binds the association, not the landlord, and a tenant applying for a unit in a condominium may face both charges. Section 718.112 has been amended in each of the last three sessions, and the figure above is the one in the 2026 text.

• The Cooperative Association Approval Fee, and a Source Conflict

  Section 719.106(1)(i) provides that no charge may be made by a cooperative association or any body thereof in connection with the sale, mortgage, lease, sublease or other transfer of a unit unless the association is required to approve such transfer and a fee for such approval is provided for in the cooperative documents, and that any such fee may be preset but in no event shall it exceed $100 per applicant other than husband and wife or parent and dependent child, which are considered one applicant. The enacted text reads $100. The state agency guidance page for condominiums and cooperatives states $150 for cooperatives while citing this same subsection, so the two sources disagree and this page follows the enacted statute. Unlike the condominium figure, the cooperative figure carries no indexing mechanism. Attorney review of this particular figure is available as an option.

• One Applicant per Household, and Nothing on a Renewal

  Section 718.112(2)(k) provides that for the purpose of calculating the fee, spouses or a parent or parents and any dependent children are considered one applicant, and that if the lease or sublease is a renewal of a lease or sublease with the same lessee or sublessee, a charge may not be made. Section 719.106(1)(i) states the household rule in its own words for cooperatives. So the per-applicant ceiling is per household rather than per adult, and a straight renewal with the tenant already in place carries no approval fee at all.

• The Indexing Cycle on the Condominium Figure

  Section 718.112(2)(k) requires that such fees must be adjusted every 5 years in an amount equal to the total of the annual increases occurring in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers, U.S. City Average, All Items during that 5 year period, and directs the Department of Business and Professional Regulation to periodically calculate the fees, rounded to the nearest dollar, and publish the amounts, as adjusted, on its website. As checked for this page the Department publishes $150 per applicant, which is the statutory base, so no higher adjusted figure is currently in force. Where a charge above the base is demanded, the Department's published amount is the thing to check first.

• Seven Days and Written Reasons for a Servicemember Applicant

  Fla. Stat. Section 83.683(1) provides that if a landlord requires a prospective tenant to complete a rental application before residing in a rental unit, the landlord must complete processing of a rental application submitted by a prospective tenant who is a servicemember, as defined in Section 250.01, within 7 days after submission, and must within that 7 day period notify the servicemember in writing of an application approval or denial and, if denied, the reason for denial. Absent a timely denial, the landlord must lease the rental unit to the servicemember if all other terms of the application and lease are complied with. The duty also binds a condominium, cooperative or homeowners association approving a tenant. Section 83.683(3) provides that the section may not be waived or modified by the agreement of the parties under any circumstances. The section has stood unamended since its 2016 enactment.

• A Deposit Alternative May Not Be Used as Approval Criteria

  Fla. Stat. Section 83.491(6) provides that where a landlord offers a tenant an option to pay a fee in lieu of a security deposit, the landlord may not use a prospective tenant's choice to pay, or offer to pay, a fee in lieu of a security deposit as criteria in the determination to approve or deny an application for occupancy. Subsection (7) provides that such a fee, or an insurance product or surety bond accepted in its place, is not a security deposit as defined in Section 83.43(13). Florida has no statewide restriction on the use of criminal history in a rental decision, prescribes no conditional-offer sequence and no individualized assessment, and has no reusable or portable screening report provision requiring a landlord to accept a report an applicant already paid for.