Lease Renewal Clause
in Your Lease
How this page is sourced
Statutes verified against primary state sources
Every statute cited here was read in its published text before this page went live: on the state's own site where that site can be reached, otherwise on a republished copy of the code. Court decisions are quoted from the published opinion and linked to it, so you can read the original yourself.
Primary sourcesNot legal advice
Content verified against primary state statutes before publicationLast updated: October 2026
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
- No section we read sets a default notice for not renewing a fixed-term lease.
- A notice your lease demands at the end of the term must be 30 to 60 days.
- That duty binds you only if your landlord owes non-renewal notice in the same window.
- Month to month: 30 days' written notice before the end of a monthly period.
- Since 2023, Fla. Stat. § 83.425 supersedes local rules on rental terms and notice.
Count it for your dates
30 days before: the last day to act
What it means: The date shown is 30 calendar days before the last day of the monthly period you picked. Written notice to end a month-to-month tenancy with that period must be given no later than the date shown. Applies to a landlord or a tenant ending a month-to-month tenancy; not a fixed-term lease, where any notice comes from the lease and must be 30 to 60 days under Fla. Stat. § 83.575 (Fla. Stat. § 83.57(3)). Calendar arithmetic only; check how the section counts days before you rely on a date.
Copy and send: Well before your lease's notice deadline, months before the term ends
Ask about renewal in writing
Fill in the brackets and keep a copy of what you send.
Understanding the Lease Renewal Clause
This page is for Miami renters whose lease is ending and who want to know how much warning they get, or owe, about renewal. In Florida, the answer starts with your lease.
The Florida sections we read set limits on a lease's notice clause, not a default period of their own, so the renewal paragraph you signed does most of the work. Find it early, note its dates, and ask your landlord about renewal in writing well before the term ends.
What renters assume
My landlord owes me some warning before deciding not to renew my one-year Miami lease.
What is actually true
No section we read in chapter 83, part II requires notice from either side when a fixed term ends. Any notice duty comes from your lease's renewal clause.
Read Florida's 60 days as a ceiling, not a promise - it only bites if your lease asked for notice in the first place. Seattle and Denver treat their numbers as something your landlord owes you.
Florida treats its number as a limit on what a lease can demand from you.
Lease Renewal 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.
The renewal deadline as an Ohio appellate court set it out; the asterisks are the opinion's own ellipses, marking words it left out:
[I]f Tenant is to vacate the premises as of December 31, 2011, Landlord must receive by October 31, 2011 Tenant’s written notice to terminate * * * or the Lease will automatically renew for the one year term beginning January 1, 2012 and ending December 31, 2012 * * * .
Quoted from the published opinion in Continental Ents., Ltd. v. Hunt, 2015-Ohio-5411 (Ohio Ct. App., 8th Dist., Cuyahoga No. 102200, Dec. 24, 2015). Judicial opinions are not subject to copyright; the lease language is reproduced in limited part for commentary under 17 U.S.C. § 107.
What the 4 highlighted phrases mean
“as of December 31, 2011”
Everything in a clause like this is measured backwards from the term's last day, so that date anchors the whole calculation. Florida polices the distance rather than the date: Fla. Stat. § 83.575 caps a lease-required end-of-term notice at 60 days and floors it at 30. A Miami lease demanding ninety or a hundred and twenty days is asking for more than the section allows.
“Tenant’s written notice to terminate”
Florida attaches a condition to any tenant-side notice requirement: a lease may demand one only if it also requires the landlord to give notice of non-renewal within the same period. A one-way deadline is the shape § 83.575 is written against, so before accepting that only your clock is running, read the paragraph for the landlord's matching obligation.
See the example
“for the one year term”
This is what silence buys, and Florida leaves the length of it to the lease. The contrast with a monthly tenancy is sharp, because there the state does fix a figure: § 83.57(3) requires 30 days' notice before the end of a monthly period. A twelve-month roll and a monthly roll are very different exposures from the same missed letter.
“ending December 31, 2012”
The far edge of the renewal term is the date a missed letter ties you to. Read it beside the reciprocity rule: where your lease requires you to give notice, § 83.575 is the section saying the landlord must be on the same clock. Then read the ruling below with its caution attached - the forgiveness shown there came from Ohio's Eighth District, and it does not carry over to Miami-Dade.
See the example
Two rulings, and the landlord lost the one that mattered. Ohio's Eighth District first reversed the trial court's conclusion that this clause made the lease perpetual and therefore void for failure to comply with the statute of conveyances, R.C. 5301.01: a one-year lease that renews into a second stated year does not automatically renew for a term exceeding three years, so the clause survived the statutory attack. Then the court affirmed judgment for the tenant anyway. She had substantially complied with the notice requirement by emailing the landlord under the subject line “RE: Nonrenewal of lease,” even though the clause demanded certified mail to a post office box, received 60 days out; enforcing it hypertechnically would be unconscionable. The much-quoted observation that “it is unreasonable to suppose that ordinary people can regulate their lives in such a manner so as to conform to a sixty-day lease termination provision” comes from Meadowbrook, an earlier Eighth District case, quoted in Continental - it is not Continental's own words. Two reading notes. The asterisks inside the quotation are the opinion's own ellipses, marking wording the court left out. And this is Ohio, Eighth District only: substantial compliance is not a national rule, and nothing on this page should be read as promising it anywhere else.
How this state's law treats this clause
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 Renewal Clause
- Section 83.575 caps any lease-required end-of-term notice at 60 days and floors it at 30 days.
- A lease may require tenant notice only if it also requires the landlord to give non-renewal notice within the same period.
- Liquidated damages for a missed tenant notice apply only if the landlord first sent the required written reminder.
- For month-to-month tenancies, section 83.57(3) requires 30 days' notice before the end of a monthly period.
Sources include Fla. Stat. § 83.575 - statutes change; verify the current text for your situation.
Our record of Florida law on renewal covers Fla. Stat. § 83.575 and § 83.57(3). Section 83.575 limits what your lease can demand from you at the end of the term.
- The range. A lease-set end-of-term notice cannot be longer than 60 days or shorter than 30 days.
- Both ways. The lease can require your notice only if it also requires your landlord to give non-renewal notice within the same period.
- The reminder. Liquidated damages for a missed notice date apply only if your landlord first sent you the written reminder the statute requires.
- Month to month. Under § 83.57(3), ending the tenancy takes at least 30 days' written notice before the end of a monthly period.
Statutes change, so check the current text of § 83.575 before you count a day.
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.
Our record of local law holds no Miami renewal rule of its own. Miami-Dade's code still prints a rule requiring 60 days' written notice before a rent increase above five percent, but Fla. Stat. § 83.425, in force since 2023, supersedes local rules on rental agreement terms and notice requirements.
If you read about county tenant protections written before that year, check the date on it. On a month-to-month tenancy, raising the rent effectively takes the same 30 days' written notice that ends the tenancy (§ 83.57(3)).
Your notice duty binds you only if the clause also requires your landlord to give non-renewal notice in the same window.
A lease-set end-of-term notice longer than 60 days or shorter than 30 falls outside § 83.575.
Auto-renewal clauses are easy to miss. Blow the opt-out window and you can be bound to another full term.
Liquidated damages for a missed notice date apply only if your landlord first sent the required written reminder. A clause skipping that step overreaches.
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. § 83.575 on flsenate.gov, Florida's own publication of its statutes.
Red Flags to Watch Out For
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One-sided notice requirement
The lease demands notice from you but nothing from your landlord. § 83.575 allows your notice duty only when it runs both directions.
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Month-to-month notice that ends mid-month
Under § 83.57(3), the 30 days' written notice runs to the end of a monthly period. Check which date the notice counts to.
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Auto-renewal with a tiny opt-out
The lease rolls into a new term unless you object inside a narrow window. Miss it and you may owe another full term at the new rate.
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Renewal rent left blank
The clause renews you at "then-current market rent" with nothing capping it. No section we read in chapter 83, part II caps renewal rent. Ask for a figure in writing.
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A rent hike right after a complaint
§ 83.64(1) bars discriminatorily raising your rent in retaliation for a good-faith step such as a complaint to a code enforcement agency. Keep the dates.
Your Rights as a Miami Tenant
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A 60-day ceiling on your notice
§ 83.575 won't let a lease demand more than 60 days' end-of-term notice from you, or less than 30.
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Mutual notice or none at all
Your notice duty is enforceable only when the same clause requires your landlord to give non-renewal notice within the same period.
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A written reminder before penalties
Liquidated damages for a missed notice date apply only if your landlord first delivered the written reminder the statute requires.
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30 days once you go month to month
Either side ends a monthly tenancy with 30 days' written notice before the end of a monthly period, under § 83.57(3).
What To Do - Step by Step
Find your term end date
Open the lease and read the renewal clause. Write down the end date and any notice deadline the clause sets.
Check the notice window both ways
Confirm the clause sits between 30 and 60 days and binds your landlord too. A one-way version isn't enforceable against you.
Ask in writing, early
Email your landlord or property manager asking whether they will renew and at what rent. A dated email is what you'll point to later.
Send your own notice on time
If you're leaving, put it in writing before the deadline and keep the sent copy. Missing it can trigger liquidated damages or roll you into another term.
Get renewal terms in writing
A verbal "we'll renew you" is worth little later. Ask for a signed renewal addendum before you stop apartment hunting.
Call Legal Services of Greater Miami
It helps income-eligible renters at no cost. Call while you still have weeks left on the lease, not days.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Lease Renewal rules near Florida
The same clause in the nearest states we cover.
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