Florida Eviction Notice Template: 3-Day, 7-Day, and 30-Day Forms

Florida landlords use one of three eviction notice templates depending on the reason for ending the tenancy: a three-day notice for unpaid rent, a seven-day notice for other lease violations (in either a cure or a terminate form), and a 30-day notice to end a month-to-month tenancy without cause. Part II of Chapter 83 of the Florida Statutes sets the exact content, timing, and delivery rules, and Section 83.56 provides sample language your notice should “substantially” follow.¹ Pick the wrong template, or fill in the right one incorrectly, and a judge can throw the case out and send you back to serve a corrected notice.

Three-Day Notice for Unpaid Rent

Use this template the moment a rent payment is late and you want to move toward eviction. The notice demands that the tenant either pay the past-due rent or hand over possession of the unit within three days.¹

The dollar amount is where landlords most often trip themselves up. State only the base rent the tenant owes. Do not add late fees, utility charges, or other costs unless your lease specifically defines them as “additional rent.” Inflating the demand with unauthorized charges makes the notice defective, and a defective notice usually kills the case.

The three-day count excludes the day of delivery, weekends, and court-observed legal holidays. Serve a notice on a Wednesday with no holidays that week, and the tenant has through Monday to pay or leave. You cannot file for possession before that deadline expires.

Seven-Day Notice for Lease Violations

When the problem is something other than unpaid rent, the seven-day notice is the right template. Florida law splits these violations into two categories, and the notice must match the category.¹

Seven-Day Notice to Cure

This version applies to violations the tenant can fix, such as keeping an unauthorized pet or leaving trash in a common area. The template tells the tenant they have seven days to correct the problem. Fix it in time and the lease continues as if nothing happened.

Seven-Day Notice to Terminate

Reserve this template for serious problems: intentional property damage, or a repeat of the same violation within 12 months of a prior written warning. The tenant has seven days to vacate, with no chance to cure.

If you serve a terminate notice for something a court considers curable, the notice fails. When you are unsure which side of the line a violation falls on, use the cure version. You can escalate to the terminate form if the same behavior happens again inside the 12-month window.

Thirty-Day Notice to End a Month-to-Month Tenancy

When there is no fault to allege and you simply want to end a month-to-month arrangement, Florida Statute 83.57 requires at least 30 days’ written notice before the end of any monthly rental period.² (Older templates circulating online still show 15 days; those are out of date.)

The timing has to line up with the rental period, not with a random date. If the tenant’s monthly period runs from the first through the last day of the month, you need to deliver the notice by the first of the preceding month at the latest. No reason has to be stated on the notice.

What Every Florida Eviction Notice Must Contain

Whichever template you use, the same core information has to appear on the face of the notice:

Full legal names of every adult tenant on the lease or residing in the unit.
The property address, including apartment or unit number.
The specific reason: unpaid rent with the exact dollar amount, the lease provision violated, or termination of a month-to-month tenancy.
The deadline for compliance or vacating, expressed as a calendar date rather than a phrase like “seven days from today.”
A statement that the landlord intends to terminate the rental agreement if the issue is not resolved.

Section 83.56 includes model wording, and your notice does not have to be a word-for-word copy so long as the substance matches.¹ Ready-made templates that track the statute are available through the Florida Bar and through many county clerk of court websites, which often post downloadable PDF versions.

How to Deliver the Notice So the Clock Starts

A correctly written notice does nothing until it is delivered by an approved method. Florida law allows four:¹

Hand delivery directly to the tenant.
Mailing a true copy through the postal service.
Email, under a 2025 amendment to Section 83.56 that permits electronic delivery in accordance with Section 83.505.
Posting the notice at the residence (typically taped to the front door) if the tenant is absent from the property.

Telling the tenant in person, or leaving a voicemail, does not count. If it is not in writing and delivered by one of these four methods, the notice clock never begins. The clock starts the day after delivery, and for the three-day notice weekends and court-observed holidays do not tick.

Mistakes That Void the Notice

A handful of errors show up over and over in dismissed cases:

Adding late fees, utility bills, or other charges to a three-day notice when the lease does not treat them as rent.
Using the terminate version of the seven-day notice for a curable problem.
Serving a 30-day non-renewal notice mid-month so it does not line up with the end of the rental period.
Miscounting the deadline by including the delivery day, a weekend, or a holiday on a three-day notice.
Delivering the notice by phone call, text, or verbal warning rather than one of the four permitted methods.
Omitting one of the required elements, most often the exact dollar amount or the specific lease provision violated.

Any of these can send you back to the beginning: draft a corrected notice, serve it properly, and start the waiting period over.

Self-Help Is Not a Substitute for a Notice

Florida law flatly prohibits landlords from acting on their own instead of using the notice-and-court process. Changing the locks, shutting off utilities, removing doors or windows, or moving the tenant’s belongings to the curb without a court order is illegal even when the tenant owes months of rent.³ A landlord who does any of these things is liable for actual and consequential damages or three months’ rent, whichever is greater, plus attorney fees, and each separate violation can trigger its own damages award. The notice is not optional.

Federal Rules That Can Change the Template

Two federal overlays can alter what a Florida notice has to look like or how quickly it can be enforced.

Under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, a landlord cannot evict an active-duty servicemember or their dependents from a primary residence without a court order, provided the monthly rent falls below a threshold that is adjusted each year for housing cost inflation and published in the Federal Register (the base amount was $2,400 in 2003 and has increased substantially since). If military service has materially affected the servicemember’s ability to pay, the court can stay proceedings for at least 90 days or adjust the lease terms. Knowingly violating the SCRA is a federal misdemeanor.⁴

Tenants in public housing or in properties receiving project-based rental assistance through HUD may be entitled to at least 30 days’ notice before a nonpayment eviction is filed, along with specific written disclosures about curing the violation, recertifying income, or accessing emergency rental assistance. These federal requirements sit on top of Florida’s state notice periods, so if your unit is federally subsidized the three-day template alone is not enough.

1
The Florida Legislature. Florida Code 83.56 – Termination of Rental Agreement
2
The Florida Legislature. Florida Code 83.57 – Termination of Tenancy Without Specific Term
3
The Florida Legislature. Florida Code 83.67 – Prohibited Practices
4
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 50 USC 3951 – Evictions and Distress