TALLAHASSEE · The Florida Legislature on Tuesday voted to change the state’s 34-year-old rental laws to allow landlords to impose thousands of dollars in new penalties on tenants who break their leases.

Legislators authorized landlords to draw up rental contracts with early termination fees of two months’ rent, plus additional penalties equal to another month to compensate owners for any concessions or discounts they made.

But in order to become law, the bill (HB 1277) must pass Gov. Charlie Crist, who rents a condo in St. Petersburg. After Tuesday’s vote, Crist said he’d be “sympathetic” to renters. Until last fall, he also rented an apartment in Tallahassee, but broke the lease to move into the governor’s mansion in January.

“And it was costly. It was like $900. I feel the people’s pain,” Crist said.

Crist’s spokeswoman, Erin Isaac, later said the governor was speaking generally and had not yet taken a position on the bill.

The early termination fee would apply not only to tenants who leave midway through a rental contract, but those who don’t give 60-day written notice they are not renewing their leases. Read more

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