What landlords must do with personal property left behind after eviction or abandonment, under Fla. Stat. § 715.10
When a Florida tenant moves out and leaves belongings behind, you cannot simply throw them away and you cannot keep them indefinitely. There is no federal law on point—left-behind personal property is governed entirely by state law and, absent a statute, by common-law rules against conversion. Florida fills that gap with a specific opt-in procedure in Florida Statutes ss. 715.10–715.111 that, when followed, shields you from liability for whatever you ultimately do with the property.
The procedure applies to property remaining after the tenancy ends and the unit is vacated—whether through eviction, surrender, or abandonment. Follow the notice-and-wait steps below, or use the lease-waiver route in s. 83.67(3) to skip them entirely.
Follow these steps precisely to protect yourself from liability under Fla. Stat. § 715.10:
Before disposing of anything of value, s. 715.104 requires written notice to the former tenant and to any other person you reasonably believe owns the property. Florida provides fill-in statutory forms in s. 715.105 (notice to the former tenant) and s. 715.106 (notice to an owner other than the tenant). The notice must describe the property, tell the recipient they may owe reasonable storage costs, state where the property can be claimed, and give a claim deadline.
The deadline you set depends on how you deliver the notice: not fewer than 10 days if you personally deliver it, or not fewer than 15 days if you mail it. Mailing to the tenant's last known address is expressly allowed. Skipping this step—or setting too short a deadline—is what turns a routine cleanout into a conversion claim.
You must store the property with reasonable care during the claim period. If the former tenant responds by the deadline, s. 715.108 lets you require payment of the reasonable costs of storage before you hand it over. A former tenant can be charged for storing everything left on the premises; a different owner who claims only certain items can be charged only for the storage of the property they actually claim.
Release the property once a proper claimant pays what is owed. Keep dated photos, an itemized list, and copies of the notice and any mailing receipts—your documentation is what proves reasonable compliance if the disposition is later challenged.
If no one claims the property by the deadline, what you may do next turns on value. Under s. 715.109, if you reasonably believe the total resale value is less than $500, you may keep it for your own use or dispose of it however you choose.
If you believe the property is worth $500 or more, you must sell it at a public sale by competitive bidding. Before the sale, publish notice once a week for two consecutive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation where the sale will be held; the advertisement must name the former tenant and describe the property, the time, and the place of sale. Judge value in good faith—deliberately lowballing to keep sellable goods invites liability.
From the proceeds of a public sale you may first deduct the reasonable costs of storage, advertising, and sale. You do not get to keep any surplus. Under s. 715.109, any balance not claimed by the former tenant or another owner must be paid into the treasury of the county where the sale took place within 30 days of the sale.
The former tenant or owner then has 1 year from the date the money is paid to the county to apply to the county for the balance. Pocketing the surplus instead of remitting it defeats the liability protection the statute otherwise gives you.
Florida gives residential landlords a way to bypass the Chapter 715 notice-and-storage steps entirely. Under s. 83.67(3), if the lease contains a conspicuous clause—underlined or in bold—stating that the landlord is not liable or responsible for storage or disposition of the tenant's personal property upon surrender, abandonment, or recovery of possession, then you owe no notice and no storage duty for what is left behind. Because the statute requires exact, conspicuous wording, use the language the statute prescribes.
Separately, after the sheriff executes a writ of possession in an eviction, s. 83.62(2) lets you (or your agent) remove any personal property found on the premises to or near the property line. That removal right is about clearing the unit after a court-ordered eviction—it is not a license to sell or keep valuables, so if you want to dispose of anything of value, still run the Chapter 715 process or rely on a valid s. 83.67(3) clause.
This overview reflects the abandoned-property procedure in Florida Statutes ss. 715.10–715.111 and the related residential provisions in ss. 83.62(2) and 83.67(3), current as of 2026. Statutory dollar thresholds, day counts, and required notice forms are quoted from the current Florida Statutes; verify the exact statutory form language before serving notice. This is general information for landlords, not legal advice—abandonment disputes turn on specific facts, and you should confirm current statutory text and consult a Florida landlord-tenant attorney before disposing of or selling a tenant's property.
You must give written notice under s. 715.104 and hold the property until the claim deadline you set passes. That deadline can be no shorter than 10 days if the notice is personally delivered, or 15 days if it is mailed. After the deadline with no claim, you may keep, dispose of, or sell the property under s. 715.109 depending on its value.
Only in limited cases. After proper notice and the claim period, if you reasonably believe the total resale value is less than $500, s. 715.109 lets you keep it for your own use or dispose of it however you choose. If it is worth $500 or more, you must sell it at a noticed public sale rather than keep it.
Only when you reasonably believe the unclaimed property is worth $500 or more. In that case s. 715.109 requires a public sale by competitive bidding, preceded by newspaper notice published once a week for two consecutive weeks naming the former tenant and describing the property, time, and place.
After deducting reasonable storage, advertising, and sale costs, you may not keep any surplus. Any balance not claimed by the former tenant or other owner must be paid to the treasury of the county where the sale was held within 30 days of the sale. The former tenant then has one year to claim it from the county.
Yes. Under s. 715.108 you may require a claimant to pay the reasonable costs of storage before releasing the property. A former tenant can be charged for storing all of the left-behind property; an owner other than the tenant can be charged only for storing the specific items they claim.
Yes, for residential leases. Section 83.67(3) allows a conspicuous, underlined or bold lease clause stating the landlord is not liable or responsible for storage or disposition of the tenant's personal property upon surrender, abandonment, or recovery of possession. If your lease includes that specific language, you are not required to follow the Chapter 715 notice-and-storage procedure.
It is state law. No federal statute governs how a landlord handles a departed tenant's ordinary belongings; the common-law default simply forbids conversion. Florida supplies a specific procedure in Chapter 715 (ss. 715.10-715.111) that, when followed, protects the landlord from liability for the disposition.
Statutory citation: Fla. Stat. § 715.10. Laws current as of 2025, verify against your state's current statutes before acting. Last updated August 15, 2026. This page is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Consult a licensed attorney for your specific situation.
