Lease Acceleration Clause
in Your Lease
What it actually means, what Florida law says, what's specific to Miami - and exactly what to do. In plain English.
Quick Summary - What You Need to Know
- Florida Statute 83.595 gives your landlord a menu of remedies, and one of them is doing nothing while your rent keeps running.
- There is no forced mitigation duty in Florida, unlike Texas and New York, where waiving that duty is void.
- A separately signed addendum can set an early termination fee capped at two months' rent, requiring no more than 60 days' notice from you.
- If your landlord does relet the unit, they owe good faith efforts and you owe only the shortfall.
- Miami adds nothing on acceleration, so Section 83.595 is the entire local story from Brickell to Kendall.
Understanding the Lease Acceleration Clause
A lease acceleration clause says that if you break the lease, every remaining month comes due at once. Leave your Brickell one-bedroom in month five of twelve and the demand covers all seven months you won't be living there. Nearly every Miami lease carries some version of it.
Florida is one of the hardest states in the country to walk away from a lease. Section 83.595 lets a property manager leave your unit sitting empty on purpose and keep billing you as rent becomes due, with no obligation to look for a replacement tenant.
What renters assume
Renters assume a landlord has to at least try to re-rent the place, because that's how most states work and it sounds like basic fairness.
What is actually true
Florida is the exception. Section 83.595 lets your landlord do nothing and hold you liable for rent as it becomes due, with no mitigation duty to fall back on.
Same paragraph in the lease, wildly different outcomes by state. Texas and New York make any waiver of the landlord's duty to re-rent void, and Washington puts a statutory cap on what a departing tenant can owe - Florida gives you neither.
Plain English Version
Think of a season ticket you stop using. In most states the team has to try to resell your seat; in Florida they can leave it empty and still send you the bill.
Rent Acceleration Clause Example - What the Wording Looks Like in Miami, FL
The sample clause below is real lease language - a court quoted it word for word, and then ruled on it. What the judge decided is at the bottom of this block.
Find the equivalent paragraph in your own lease and read the two side by side. The wording will differ; the moving parts rarely do.
Quoted as the opinion prints it. A fourth sentence, about when late fees and interest may be charged on accelerated amounts, comes after the passage below and is not included:
If any monthly installment under this agreement is not paid when due and remains unpaid after a date specified by a notice to Tenant, the entire principal rent amount owed for the full lease term shall at once become due and payable at the option of the Landlord and judgment may be had for all said amounts due. The foregoing provision shall not relieve the Landlord of its obligation to mitigate damages. In the event the rental premises is re-rented to another for full value prior to expiration of the lease term, Landlord shall file Notice of Partial Satisfaction of any judgment entered to the extent of the third party rental agreement.
[…]
Quoted from the published opinion in Summers v. Crestview Apartments, 2010 MT 164, 357 Mont. 123, 236 P.3d 586 (No. DA 09-0489). Judicial opinions are not subject to copyright; the lease language is reproduced in limited part for commentary under 17 U.S.C. § 107.
“at the option of the Landlord”
Florida law echoes this back almost word for word. Fla. Stat. § 83.595 is written as a set of choices a landlord makes after a breach, surrender or abandonment, and one of the listed choices is to stand by and do nothing, holding the tenant liable for rent as it becomes due. That is the difference between Miami and most of the cities compared here: elsewhere the argument is whether the landlord tried hard enough to re-let, and in Florida the statute says the landlord may lawfully not try at all.
“and judgment may be had”
The lease's route to money is a judgment for the whole term. Florida offers a cheaper route, and that one is capped: a separately signed addendum may set liquidated damages or an early termination fee of no more than two months' rent, and it may require no more than 60 days' notice from the tenant. Two months is a very different number from the balance of a year, so the first thing to look for in a Florida lease packet is whether that addendum exists at all.
“In the event the rental premises”
This sentence describes the branch of the Florida menu a landlord may or may not take. If the landlord does retake possession and relet, the statute requires good faith efforts and you are liable for the shortfall - the gap between your rent and what the new tenant pays, not the whole of your rent. If the landlord takes the other branch, no reletting is required and no shortfall arises, because there is nothing to subtract.
“prior to expiration of the lease term”
Everything in this sentence happens inside the remaining term, and that window is where the states genuinely differ. Florida leaves a landlord free to let it run out. Illinois, by contrast, has required a landlord to take reasonable measures to mitigate the damages recoverable against a defaulting lessee since January 1, 1984, which cuts a whole-term demand down to what re-renting could have recovered. Same clause, same window, opposite defaults. Because § 83.595 permits the inaction, the part of the Florida record that puts a number on a lease break is the separately signed addendum and its two months' rent ceiling, not a mitigation argument.
The Montana Supreme Court struck this paragraph down, and its conclusion is one sentence: “Thus, we conclude that the accelerated rent provision is unconscionable and therefore unenforceable.” The tenants had moved out of their apartment on October 13, 2006, and Crestview answered with a Statement of Deductions from the Security Deposit charging rent through the end of the lease in June - $6,505.75 billed against a $2,170 deposit. Two reasons carried the court. Acceleration undermines the landlord's duty to mitigate and reduces the incentive to re-rent promptly, because a landlord already holding a judgment for the whole term has little reason to fill the unit. And Crestview drafted the lease while these tenants had no meaningful choice and no opportunity to negotiate any of it. The case was reversed and remanded, and two justices wrote separately - their objection being that the majority had gone as far as treating acceleration clauses as unenforceable in themselves. So read the holding narrowly, as the majority wrote it: this provision, in this residential lease, unconscionable and unenforceable. It is a Montana decision and it binds no other state's courts. What travels is the reasoning, and the reasoning is about mitigation - which is exactly the question the statute in your own city's decode answers.
One court, one lease, one state. That answer is not automatically yours, and your lease may be worded to land differently. Use this to know what to look for and what to ask - your state's tenant hotline or a local tenant attorney can answer it for your document.
Florida Law on Lease Acceleration Clause
- Section 83.595 gives the landlord a menu of remedies after breach, surrender, or abandonment.
- The landlord may retake possession and relet, using good faith efforts, holding the tenant liable for the shortfall.
- Critically, the landlord may instead stand by and do nothing, holding the tenant liable for rent as it becomes due - there is no forced mitigation duty.
- A separately signed addendum may set liquidated damages or an early termination fee capped at two months' rent, requiring no more than 60 days' notice from the tenant.
Fla. Stat. § 83.595 - statutes change; verify the current text for your situation.
Section 83.595 hands your landlord a menu once you breach, surrender, or abandon. They can retake the unit and relet it with good faith efforts, holding you liable for the shortfall - or they can stand by, do nothing, and collect rent from you as it becomes due.
That second option is what sets Florida apart. Texas voids any clause waiving the mitigation duty and Washington caps tenant liability by statute, while Florida law simply lets the empty unit sit. Your one built-in exit is a separately signed addendum setting liquidated damages or an early termination fee capped at two months' rent, which can't require more than 60 days' notice from you.
Florida Tenant Protections
If your landlord chooses to retake and relet the unit, they must use good faith efforts, and you owe only the gap between your rent and what the new tenant pays. An early termination fee under the statute has to sit in a separately signed addendum and is capped at two months' rent, so a bigger number is worth challenging.
That same addendum cannot demand more than 60 days' notice from you, which means a lease requiring 90 days before you can buy out reaches past what the statute allows.
What's Specific to Miami
Figures are the state rule, or the stronger city ordinance where one exists. Verify the current law for your own situation before relying on it.
Miami adds nothing. No city ordinance and no Miami-Dade rule touches rent acceleration or reletting - the county's tenant protections cover other ground, and Section 83.595 reads the same in Little Havana as it does in Ocala.
The market is where your leverage actually comes from. Miami rents are high and demand runs deep through the winter season, so a landlord claiming your unit simply couldn't be re-rented is making a difficult argument even though Florida never required them to try. Condo buildings are the real exception: association approval can hold up a replacement tenant for weeks, so start that process early if you're lining one up.
You want it in writing. Florida won't force reletting, so a written credit clause is doing work the statute refuses to do.
The statutory buyout only exists in a separately signed addendum. Without one, you're on the default rule and exposed to rent as it comes due.
Push back. The statute's capped option tops out at two months' rent, so a larger fee isn't the protected version of this deal.
Red flag. A capped termination fee can require no more than 60 days' notice from you, so a 90-day demand goes further than the statute.
Sources
The law this guide relies on, and where to read it. Statutes change, so confirm the current text before you act on it.
- Fla. Stat. § 83.595 on flsenate.gov, Florida's own publication of its statutes.
Red Flags to Watch Out For
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Total silence on re-renting
A lease that never mentions reletting leaves you on Florida's default, where the landlord can leave the unit empty and bill you as rent becomes due.
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Termination fee above two months
The statute's capped buyout tops out at two months' rent. A fee written above that is not the protected version and deserves a written challenge.
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Buyout buried in the lease
The capped early termination fee requires a separately signed addendum. A paragraph tucked into the lease body isn't that, whatever the heading calls it.
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Fee stacked on accelerated rent
Some Miami leases charge a termination fee and every remaining month. Being billed twice for one empty unit is worth disputing before you pay anything.
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No accounting after a re-lease
If they relet, you owe only the shortfall. Without an itemized statement showing the new rent and start date, you can't check their math.
Your Rights as a Miami Tenant
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You owe the shortfall, not everything
If your landlord retakes and relets the unit, your liability is the gap between your rent and the new tenant's, not the full remaining term.
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A capped buyout option
A separately signed addendum can cap your exit at two months' rent and can't require more than 60 days' notice from you.
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Good faith once they relet
Choosing the reletting remedy comes with a good faith standard. A unit never listed or shown is a weak version of that effort.
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The right to make them prove it
A demand letter is not a judgment. Your landlord still has to prove the damages, and you can negotiate or defend the number in court.
What To Do - Step by Step
Find the acceleration paragraph
Search your lease for 'accelerate', 'entire balance', or 'liquidated damages'. That language sets what they'll demand under Section 83.595.
Check for a signed addendum
Look for a separate early termination page you actually signed. That's the two months' rent exit, and it beats open-ended liability.
Give written notice early
Email plus certified mail with your move-out date. If a capped addendum applies, plan around the 60-day ceiling and don't cut it close.
Offer a qualified replacement tenant
Florida won't make them look, so do it for them. Send names in writing and keep every reply - a refused ready tenant is useful later.
Return keys and document everything
Photograph every room and hand keys over formally. A rent-ready unit removes the easiest excuse for leaving it empty for months.
Negotiate in writing, then defend
Most of these settle near the genuinely vacant months or the capped fee. If sued in Miami-Dade County court, make them prove the damages.