McMillan Law's office is in Tampa. I represent people in Sarasota and everywhere else in Florida, and the free case review happens by phone or online, so you don't have to drive anywhere to get started.
Last reviewed October 8, 2026 by Jackson McMillan, Florida attorney
When you've left Sarasota and the deposit hasn't
The Suncoast has many seasonal residents and retirees, and some of them rent rather than own. Maybe you had a winter lease on Siesta Key or Lido Key and headed home in the spring. Maybe you rented in downtown Sarasota or Venice for a few years and then moved closer to your kids or into a smaller place.
The trouble looks the same either way. The lease ended, the keys went back, and the landlord's mail kept going to the Sarasota address. If a notice of claim sat in a mailbox nobody was checking, you might learn about it weeks late, or never see it at all.
The deadlines, and where the notice had to go
A Florida landlord that wants to hold back any of a deposit has a 30-day window after the rental agreement ends for a written notice saying how much it's claiming and why. If it isn't claiming anything, the full deposit is due back within 15 days. That notice travels by certified mail to your last known mailing address. E-mail is an option only when both of you signed a written agreement to use it.
"Last known" is the phrase to focus on. If you gave the landlord a new address in writing before the notice went out, a notice mailed to the old Sarasota unit raises a real question about whether the landlord did what the statute requires. If you never gave a new address, the rental itself may still have been your last known address.
Your 15 days to object run from when you receive the notice, so the date it actually reached you matters, not just the date it was mailed. And if no proper notice went out within the 30 days at all, the landlord forfeits its right to impose any claim on the deposit. These are calendar days, so don't count on a weekend buying you extra time.
Left before the lease was up? The 7-day letter
Seasonal plans change. If you left before your lease term ended, or you rented month to month, Florida's deposit statute asks you to give the landlord at least 7 days' written notice before you go, by certified mail or hand delivery, including an address where you can be reached (Fla. Stat. § 83.49(5)). A written lease can set a different rule.
If you didn't send that letter, the landlord is relieved of the 30-day notice requirement. That sounds bad, but the statute also says you don't waive your right to the deposit itself. Usually it means the dispute shifts to the charges and the proof instead of the landlord's paperwork.
Whatever arrived and wherever it landed, upload it with the postmark or e-mail header, plus any note you sent the landlord with your new address, to my free case review, because the dates on those papers are where I start.
Renting on the Suncoast: Sarasota County details
A Sarasota deposit dispute is filed in county court in the county where the rental is, which for a Sarasota rental means Sarasota County. Sarasota County is part of the Twelfth Judicial Circuit, along with Manatee and DeSoto counties. If the amount in dispute is $8,000 or under, leaving out costs, interest, and attorney's fees, small claims can hear it.
Hurricane Milton made landfall near Siesta Key in October 2024. If your rental was repaired after that storm and your notice lists repair work, I want to see how each item is explained, because storm repairs and move-out damage aren't the same thing.
My office is in Tampa, and I take cases from Sarasota, Venice, Bradenton, and the rest of the Suncoast. Because the review is by phone or online, it works as well from Ohio or New York as it does from Lido Key. If money has also gone missing from a bank or payment app account, see my guide to bank and app fraud refunds in Sarasota.
Small claims, fees, and what's at stake
Florida doesn't add a penalty when a deposit is wrongly kept, so the money in play is usually the deposit and any interest due on it. In a deposit lawsuit, the losing party pays the winner's court costs and a reasonable attorney's fee, and no lease can waive that. That fee rule is what keeps a deposit case from costing more than it recovers.
The rule runs in both directions, though. A tenant who files and loses can end up paying the landlord's fees. I talk through that risk with you before anything is filed. You don't pay me unless you win. I take these cases on contingency: no attorney's fees and no case costs owed to me unless you recover money. If a case is lost, a court can sometimes order the losing side to pay the other side's court costs, and some Florida laws, including the security deposit and deceptive practices statutes, also let the winner recover attorney's fees from the loser. I explain that risk before anything is filed, and every term is in a written agreement before you sign.
Read more about how I handle deposit cases for Florida tenants.
A checklist for Sarasota renters, wherever you are now
- Get your current address to the landlord in writing if it doesn't have one, and keep proof of how and when you sent it.
- Ask whoever checks your old mailbox whether a certified mail slip or letter showed up after you left.
- Find what you sent when you left: a move-out e-mail, a 7-day letter, a certified mail receipt.
- Collect the lease, any check-in sheet, and photos from the start and end of your stay.
- See where your dates fall with my Florida security deposit calculator.
- Send it to me. Start the free case review from wherever you're living now, and I'll tell you what the address rules mean for your deposit.