Security Deposit Alternative in Florida
Florida gives you 15 days to return a security deposit if you are not claiming any of it. If you are claiming, you have to send the resident a written notice of that intention first, and then you have 30 days from the date of that notice to return the balance. Miss the notice and you lose the claim itself, not just the deadline. Every deduction becomes a documented process on a clock.
What Florida law says about security deposits
Read from the Florida statute on 2026-09-04. Deposit rules change, and this is general information rather than legal advice. Confirm the current text with your own counsel before you change a lease.
Can you require it of every Florida resident?
Florida is one of the few states with a law written for this exact arrangement. Section 83.491 says that where a lease requires a security deposit, a landlord “may offer a tenant the option to pay a fee in lieu of a security deposit.” The word that matters is option. You can put the monthly fee in front of every resident you approve, but the law is built around that resident still being able to choose the deposit instead. Making the fee a condition of the lease is not what it describes.
Fee-in-lieu provision: Statutes 83.491, read on 2026-09-04.
Rules differ by state and by city, and subsidized housing is its own question. This is general information for property managers, not legal advice. Get a written opinion before you make the fee a condition of tenancy anywhere.
How the program works in Florida
The mechanics are the same in every state Beagle operates in. The program is designed to comply with applicable state and local regulations, and the rate is set by the deposit amount rather than by geography, so a Florida property and one two states over are quoted the same way.
The resident chooses at signing
Instead of producing the full deposit, the resident pays a smaller non-refundable monthly fee that is billed with rent. Nothing is held, so nothing has to be returned.
The property keeps its protection
Damage beyond normal wear is reimbursed up to the deposit amount the unit would otherwise have required, so what you can recover does not shrink.
Move-out stops being a negotiation
A claim is filed against the program rather than deducted from money you are holding, which takes the itemised-deduction letter and the dispute that follows it off your team's desk.
You earn on every resident who takes it
You set an administrative fee on top of the premium, up to $5 per unit per month, and keep it.
Florida security deposit alternative FAQs
Florida's statute is written around offering it. Section 83.491 lets a landlord offer a tenant the option to pay a fee in lieu of a deposit, which reads as a choice rather than a condition of tenancy. If you want the fee on every Florida unit rather than as an option, have your own attorney review that structure before you roll it out.
Security deposit rules in other states
See it on your Florida units
Run the program against your own unit count, or walk through it with our team. No upfront fees, no onboarding charges, no long-term contracts.