🧪 TEST MODE ACTIVE Use test card: 4242 4242 4242 4242
50-State Surveys › Residential Lease Execution Formalities by State › Florida

Florida: Residential Lease Execution Formalities

verified against the statute 2026-07-29 7 statute sources

The short answer

A Florida lease for more than one year, or another lease agreement that cannot be performed within one year after it is made, requires a signed writing. Florida expressly removes the usual two-witness requirement for a real-property lease and related lease instruments; electronic records and signatures work when both parties agree to transact electronically. Florida sets no general deadline to deliver an executed lease copy, but requires written landlord or notice-recipient information at or before the tenancy begins; a lease for one year or longer must be recorded to bind creditors and later purchasers for value without notice.

Ask Ezel about your situation

This is the general rule in Florida. Ezel applies current Florida law to your specific facts and answers with citations to the statutes.

Governing law and scopeFla. Stat. §§ 83.40–.683, 83.50, 668.50, 689.01, 695.01, 695.03, 725.01; ordinary private dwelling lease
Writing thresholdWritten if term >1 year or agreement cannot be performed within 1 year after making (§§ 689.01(1), 725.01)
Required signatures and authoritySigned by party to be charged or lawful agent; conveyance rule uses party creating/transferring the >1-year term or authorized agent (§§ 689.01(1), 725.01)
Witness, acknowledgment, and notaryNo subscribing witnesses or seal for lease validity; no notary requirement. Acknowledgment/proof is required to record (§§ 689.01(1), 695.03)
Electronic executionAllowed only when both parties agree; e-record/signature satisfy writing/signature, and delivered record must be printable or storable (§ 668.50(3), (5), (7)–(8))
Required copy or written statementNo general executed-copy deadline in current ch. 83 pt. II; written landlord/notice-recipient name and address due at or before tenancy begins (§ 83.50)
Renewal, modification, and term formRenewal/extension must meet the >1-year rules if covered; assignment or surrender of a >1-year lease interest must be signed writing, but needs no witnesses (§§ 689.01(1), 725.01)
Recording and third-party effectLease ≥1 year must be recorded to bind creditors and later purchasers for value without notice; execution must be acknowledged/proved to record (§§ 695.01(1), 695.03)
Effect of noncomplianceNo action on covered unwritten/unsigned promise; >1-year estate not created outside signed writing. Nonrecording affects specified creditors/purchasers, not stated party-to-party validity (§§ 689.01, 695.01, 725.01)

Compare this rule across all 50 states + DC →

Requirements one by one

Writing threshold

Florida Statutes § 725.01 uses two routes. It covers a lease longer than one
year and any agreement that cannot be performed within one year after it is
made. An action on either agreement requires a written note or memorandum signed
by the party against whom enforcement is sought or an authorized signer.

Section 689.01(1) reaches the property interest itself. An estate or term longer
than one year must be created or transferred through a signed written
instrument.

Required signatures and authority

Section 725.01 uses the party-to-be-charged rule. Section 689.01(1) requires the
signature of the party creating, granting, transferring, assigning, or
surrendering the longer property interest, or that party's lawfully authorized
agent.

The statutes do not say every short residential lease must carry both parties'
signatures. A written lease commonly uses both signatures, but that document
practice is distinct from the statutory minimum for a particular enforcement
claim.

Witness, acknowledgment, and notary

Section 689.01(1) is unusually explicit: “no subscribing witnesses shall be
required for a lease of real property or any such instrument pertaining to a
lease of real property.” It also says no seal is necessary. Florida therefore
does not require witnesses or notarization merely to make an ordinary lease
valid between landlord and tenant.

Recording is separate. Florida Statutes § 695.03 requires acknowledgment, subscribing-
witness proof, legalization, or authentication in one of its stated forms before
an instrument concerning real property is entitled to recordation.

Electronic execution

Florida Statutes § 668.50(3) applies the Uniform Electronic Transaction Act to
electronic transaction records and signatures, subject to its listed exclusions.
Subsection (5)(b) requires agreement by both parties to conduct the transaction
electronically. Subsection (7)(c)-(d) makes an electronic record and signature
satisfy legal writing and signature requirements.

Electronic delivery must remain usable. Under § 668.50(8), the recipient must be
able to retain the record when received; a sender who blocks printing or storage
makes it unenforceable against the recipient.

Required copy or written statement

The complete current Florida Residential Landlord and Tenant Act, chapter 83
part II, contains no general deadline for giving a tenant an executed or signed
copy of the lease.

It does require a narrower written statement. Under § 83.50, the landlord or the
person authorized to make the rental agreement must disclose in writing, at or
before the tenancy begins, the name and address of the landlord or a person
authorized to receive notices and demands. Delivery may use email in accordance
with § 83.505.

Renewal, modification, and term form

The same time thresholds apply to a renewal or extension: if the resulting lease
is longer than one year or the agreement cannot be performed within one year
after making, § 725.01 requires a signed writing.

Section 689.01(1) separately says an assignment or surrender of a lease interest
for more than one year must use a signed instrument. Its lease-specific exception
means that instrument still does not need subscribing witnesses.

Recording and third-party effect

Florida uses a different cutoff for recording than for basic written validity.
Florida Statutes § 695.01(1) covers a lease for one year or longer. Unless recorded
according to law, that lease is not effective in law or equity against creditors
or later purchasers for value without notice.

Section 695.03 supplies the acknowledgment-or-proof gateway for recording. That
formality concerns third-party effect; it is not a notary requirement for the
ordinary lease between its original parties.

Effect of noncompliance

Section 725.01 says no action may be brought on a covered unwritten or unsigned
promise. Section 689.01 says a term longer than one year is not created or
transferred outside the required signed instrument.

Section 695.01 uses a narrower third-party consequence. An unrecorded one-year-
or-longer lease is ineffective against the specified creditors and later
purchasers without notice; the section does not say nonrecording alone voids the
lease between landlord and tenant.

What trips people up

Florida has two different one-year lines. The writing statutes cover a term
longer than one year. The recording statute starts at one year or longer.
A one-year lease can therefore fall outside the lease-duration limb of the
statute of frauds but inside the recording-priority rule.

The two-witness sentence has a lease exception. Reading only the opening of
§ 689.01(1) creates the wrong answer. The same subsection later removes
subscribing witnesses for a real-property lease and instruments pertaining to a
lease.

The landlord-address disclosure is not a lease-copy rule. Section 83.50
requires specified written contact information by commencement, but Florida's
current residential-tenancies part does not add a general deadline to deliver a
fully executed copy.

Common questions

Does an assignment of a long lease need witnesses? No. Section 689.01(1)
requires a signed instrument for assigning or surrendering a lease interest over
one year, but its witness exception covers “any such instrument pertaining to a
lease of real property.”

Can a Florida lease be signed electronically without forcing future e-signing?
The current Act requires agreement to the electronic transaction. Agreement for
one transaction does not itself change the other applicable law or lease terms;
the parties' actual electronic-consent arrangement controls under § 668.50(5).

Is a notary the only route to recordation? No. Section 695.03 also recognizes
proof by a subscribing witness and the other listed forms of legalization or
authentication. Those are recording routes, not ordinary lease-validity rules.

Statutes and sources

Source links

Every statute quoted above, linked, with the date we checked it.

Fla. Stat. § 725.01 · accessed 2026-07-29
Fla. Stat. § 689.01(1) · accessed 2026-07-29
Fla. Stat. § 668.50(3), (5), (7)–(8) · accessed 2026-07-29
Fla. Stat. ch. 83 pt. II (official residential-tenancies index) · accessed 2026-07-29
Fla. Stat. § 83.50 · accessed 2026-07-29
Fla. Stat. § 695.01(1) · accessed 2026-07-29
Fla. Stat. § 695.03 · accessed 2026-07-29
This page is general legal information about state-law execution formalities for an ordinary private residential lease, not legal advice about a particular tenancy, property, signer, electronic workflow, or recording decision. Special housing programs, property types, local ordinances, and lease terms can add different requirements. A lease may be enforceable between its parties yet ineffective against a purchaser, creditor, or other third person if it is not recorded. Verified against the cited official statutes on the date shown; confirm current law and obtain licensed advice before relying on an oral, unsigned, remotely executed, unusually long, renewed, modified, assigned, surrendered, or unrecorded lease.

Get the answer for your situation

You just read how Florida handles this in general. Ezel applies current Florida law to your facts and answers your specific question, with citations.

Opens in Ezel Pro. Every answer cites the authority it relies on.