The COVID Rent Freeze Is Over, But Florida Renters Still Face Old Balances

The COVID Rent Freeze Is Over, But Florida Renters Still Face Old Balances

If you are a Florida renter who fell behind during the pandemic, you may still be dealing with the aftermath. Maybe a landlord is demanding back rent from 2020 or 2021. Maybe a collection agency bought the debt and started calling. Maybe an eviction filing showed up on your record and now every apartment application gets denied. The emergency ended years ago, but the paperwork it generated is still moving through Florida courts and Florida credit reports.

This article explains what Florida law actually gives you in that situation.

Why this matters to you

Florida has roughly 2.7 million renter households, and the state's eviction courts move fast. Under Florida Statutes Chapter 83, a residential tenant served with a three-day notice for nonpayment has three business days, not counting weekends or legal holidays, to pay or move out. If a lawsuit follows, the tenant generally has five days to respond. Those deadlines are short by design, and missing one is how most tenants lose a case they might otherwise have had defenses to raise.

The pandemic-era protections that paused some of this are gone. The CDC's national eviction moratorium was struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court in Alabama Association of Realtors v. HHS (2021), and Florida's own executive-order moratorium expired well before that. What did not disappear is the money. Rent that went unpaid during those months became a debt, and debts get pursued: through county court, through collection agencies, and through tenant screening databases that landlords check before approving a lease.

So the practical question for a Florida renter today is not whether the freeze is over. It is over. The question is what rules apply to the people now trying to collect.

What Florida law requires of the landlord

Chapter 83 is not a one-way street. It imposes obligations on landlords too, and those obligations are where a tenant's defenses usually live.

The notice has to be right. Section 83.56(3) requires a written three-day notice that states the amount of rent due and the address of the premises. Florida courts have dismissed eviction cases over defective notices, including ones that demand the wrong amount or improperly lump late fees, attorney fees, or other charges in with rent. If your notice demanded a number that included charges other than rent, that is worth raising.

Rent means rent. A landlord generally cannot use the three-day nonpayment process to collect damages, utility charges, or fees that the lease does not define as rent. Whether a particular charge counts depends on the lease language.

Self-help is illegal. Under Section 83.67, a Florida landlord may not shut off your utilities, change the locks, remove your doors or windows, or take your belongings to force you out. Only a sheriff acting on a court-issued writ of possession can remove a tenant. The statute allows a tenant to recover actual and consequential damages or three months' rent, whichever is greater, plus costs and attorney fees. That provision applies whether or not the underlying rent dispute is legitimate.

Retaliation is prohibited. Section 83.64 bars a landlord from evicting a tenant primarily because the tenant complained to a code enforcement agency about health or building code violations, complained to the landlord about maintenance, organized or joined a tenants' organization, or exercised other rights under the chapter. Retaliatory conduct is a defense in an eviction action.

Security deposits have a clock. Section 83.49 requires a landlord who intends to keep any part of your deposit to send written notice by certified mail within 30 days of when you vacate. If the landlord misses that deadline, the statute says the landlord forfeits the right to make the claim against the deposit.

What the debt collectors can and cannot do

If your old balance was sold or referred to a collection agency, a second body of law kicks in. The federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act prohibits third-party collectors from calling at unreasonable hours, contacting you at work after you tell them to stop, threatening lawsuits they cannot legally file, misrepresenting the amount owed, or discussing your debt with third parties. Under the CFPB's Regulation F, collectors must send a validation notice, and you have the right to dispute the debt in writing and require verification before collection continues.

Florida adds its own layer. The Florida Consumer Collection Practices Act, Chapter 559 Part VI, is broader than the federal law in one important respect: it applies to original creditors, including landlords collecting their own debts, not just third-party agencies. Section 559.72 prohibits, among other things, using threats or coercion, communicating with a debtor's employer before a judgment, claiming a legal right the collector knows does not exist, and communicating with a debtor known to be represented by an attorney.

Two more things worth knowing. Florida's statute of limitations on a written contract, including most written leases, is five years under Section 95.11(2)(b). Rent that went unpaid in early 2020 may already be time-barred, and filing suit on a debt the collector knows is time-barred can itself be a violation. Separately, if inaccurate rent or eviction information is appearing on your credit report or in a tenant screening report, the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act gives you the right to dispute it and requires the furnisher and the reporting agency to investigate.

What to do if this is your situation

Do not ignore court paperwork. A three-day notice is not a lawsuit, but it is the step before one, and once an eviction complaint is served the clock is measured in days. In most Florida counties a residential tenant who wants to contest a nonpayment eviction must deposit the disputed rent into the court registry or move to determine the amount, or risk a default judgment regardless of the merits.

Keep everything: the lease, payment records, texts and emails with the landlord, the notice itself and how it was delivered, photos of any conditions you complained about, and a log of collection calls with dates and what was said. In FDCPA and FCCPA matters, documentation is usually what decides whether a claim goes anywhere.

Check the numbers. Compare what the notice or collection letter demands against your actual payment history and against what the lease defines as rent. Discrepancies matter.

Ask about fees. Both the FDCPA and the FCCPA provide for attorney fees to a prevailing consumer, and Section 83.48 of the landlord-tenant statute makes fee provisions in leases reciprocal, meaning a lease that lets the landlord recover fees also lets a prevailing tenant recover them.

Talk to a Florida attorney

This article is general information about Florida law, not legal advice, and no attorney-client relationship is created by reading it. Statutes and case law change, and how any rule applies depends on your lease, your county, and your specific facts.

If you are a Florida renter facing an eviction filing over pandemic-era rent, being pursued by a collector for an old balance, dealing with a landlord who shut off your utilities or changed your locks, or seeing inaccurate eviction or debt information on your reports, Louis Law Group handles Florida consumer and landlord-tenant matters and offers consultations to review your situation. Bring your lease, any notices you received, and your payment records. The sooner someone looks at the deadlines in your case, the more options tend to be available.