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Last reviewed October 8, 2026 by Jackson McMillan, Florida attorney
When a Tampa landlord goes quiet after move-out
Picture a one-bedroom in the Channel District, or a shared unit a few minutes from the University of South Florida's main campus. The lease ran out. You cleaned, took photos, and handed the keys to the leasing office. Then nothing came. No check, no letter, maybe one text from the property manager mentioning "a few charges."
It's easy to read that silence as the landlord being in charge. In Florida, it usually means the opposite. Once the rental agreement ends, the landlord has a short list of things it must do, and waiting you out isn't on it.
The 15-day and 30-day rules
Florida's security deposit law gives every landlord, from a Channel District high-rise to a single rental house in Seminole Heights, two choices once your rental agreement ends:
- Return the whole deposit within 15 days if it isn't claiming any of it.
- Send a written notice within 30 days if it wants to keep some or all of it. The notice must say how much and why, and it must be sent by certified mail to your last known mailing address, or by e-mail only if you and the landlord both signed an agreement to use it for notices.
If day 30 passes with no proper notice, the landlord forfeits the right to impose a claim on your deposit and can't hold any of it back as a setoff (Fla. Stat. § 83.49(3)(a)). It can still file its own lawsuit for damage it thinks you caused, but only after it gives the deposit back.
A text, a phone call, a portal message, or a regular letter isn't one of the delivery methods the statute names. How much that matters depends on the facts, so if what you got doesn't look like certified mail or a signed e-mail arrangement, I want to see it.
One exception is worth ruling out if you left when the semester ended instead of when the lease did, or if you rented month to month. In those cases the statute says you should send the landlord written notice at least 7 days before you leave, delivered by hand or by certified mail, that includes an address where you can be reached. Unless your written lease says otherwise, skipping that step excuses the landlord from the 30-day notice. It doesn't cost you your right to the deposit.
Upload your lease, your move-out photos, and any texts from the property manager to my free case review first, so you know whether the 30 days already ran before you say anything that sounds like agreeing to charges.
Renting near USF, Ybor City, or the Channel District
Tampa rentals run from student housing near USF to apartments in the Channel District, Westshore, and Ybor City, older homes in Seminole Heights and South Tampa, and newer communities in New Tampa, Brandon, and Riverview. The deposit rules are identical in all of them, because Florida's deposit law applies the same way in every Florida city.
If a Tampa deposit dispute ends up in court, it's filed in county court in Hillsborough County, where the rental is. Hillsborough County is in the Thirteenth Judicial Circuit. Small claims covers disputes of $8,000 or less, not counting costs, interest, and attorney's fees, and county court hears larger ones up to $50,000.
My office is in Tampa, and I take deposit cases from across Hillsborough County and the wider Tampa Bay area. The review happens by phone or online, which helps if you graduated, took a job somewhere else, and already left town. If a disputed move-out charge later turns up as a collection on your credit report, my guide to fixing credit report errors in Tampa picks up from there.
How long does a Florida landlord have to return a deposit?
Fifteen days if there's no claim. Thirty days to send a written claim. Then, if you don't object to that claim, the landlord has 30 days from the date of its notice to send you whatever is left. All of those are calendar days, weekends and holidays included.
The landlord's clocks start when the rental agreement ends. For most Tampa renters that's the last day of the lease and also move-out day. If you left early, or your lease ended on a different day than you moved, confirm the start date before you count.
If a notice does arrive, your own clock starts. From the day it reaches you, you have 15 days to send a written objection to the address listed in it. That short window is the main reason to send me the notice the same day it shows up.
Want a quick answer first? Put your lease end date into my Florida security deposit deadline calculator to see whether your landlord's 30 days have already run out.
What a Tampa deposit case can be worth
Florida doesn't tack a penalty onto a wrongly kept deposit. The money at stake is usually the deposit itself, plus any interest owed to you. What makes chasing it practical is the fee rule: the winning side of a deposit lawsuit is entitled to court costs and a reasonable attorney's fee from the losing side, and a lease can't take that right away. The statute also tells courts to give these cases priority on the calendar.
That rule cuts both ways, and you should know it going in. A tenant who sues and loses can be ordered to pay the landlord's attorney's fees. That's why I check the lease, the dates, and the photos before recommending that anyone file. 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.
For more on how I build these cases for renters around Tampa Bay and the rest of the state, see my page on Florida security deposit disputes.
What to do today
- Write down two dates: the day your lease ended and the day you turned in the keys.
- Look at how anything from the landlord arrived. Certified mail, regular mail, text, e-mail, or a portal message all count differently, so keep the envelope and screenshot the rest.
- Confirm the landlord has a mailing address for you in writing. If you only told the leasing office in person, that may not be enough.
- Gather the lease, your move-in and move-out photos, and the rent ledger.
- Don't sign or agree to anything that accepts deductions from your deposit.
- Send it to me. Upload what you have through the free case review, and I'll tell you whether the 30-day rule works in your favor.