2026 Florida Landlord Law Changes: What Orange County Owners Must Know

If you own rental property in Orange County — whether in Orlando, Winter Park, Apopka, or Ocoee — the rules you lease under have shifted over the past year, and a lot of what circulated about 2026 turned out to be wrong. Two changes are real and already in effect: email delivery of notices and a mandatory flood disclosure. One widely reported change, a longer non-payment notice, never became law.

Here's what changed, what didn't, and what to do about it.

The Non-Payment Notice Is Still Three Days

A bill that would have extended Florida's non-payment notice from three days to five — Senate Bill 716 — died in the Senate Judiciary Committee on March 13, 2026, per the Florida Senate's bill history. It never passed.

That means the rule you already know still applies. Under Florida Statute 83.56(3), a notice for non-payment of rent gives the tenant three days to pay or move out, not counting Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays.

What this means in practice:

• Don't switch your forms to a five-day notice. If you updated a template on the assumption the bill would pass, change it back.
• Count the days correctly. Weekends and legal holidays are excluded, so a notice served on a Thursday runs into the following week.
• Keep an attorney in the loop on anything unusual. A defective notice can get an eviction case dismissed and send you back to the start.

Email Notices Are Allowed — With a Signed Addendum

Since July 1, 2025, Florida Statute 83.505 lets landlords and tenants deliver certain statutory notices by email. It covers notices under the sections on security deposits, landlord address disclosure, pest-control access, termination for non-compliance or non-payment, and termination at the end of a lease.

The catch is how consent works. Both parties must sign an addendum to the rental agreement that specifically agrees to electronic delivery, and each must provide a valid email address. The addendum must make clear that the choice is voluntary and can be revoked or updated at any time. A single line buried in the lease is not the same thing.

Action item: if you want email delivery, use a proper electronic-notice addendum — Florida Realtors and most landlord-tenant attorneys have one — rather than writing your own clause. Keep the signed copy with the lease.

Flood Disclosure Under Florida Statute 83.512

Senate Bill 948 (2025) created Florida Statute 83.512, in effect since October 1, 2025. For any residential lease with a term of one year or longer, the landlord must give the prospective tenant a flood disclosure at or before signing.

The disclosure must be a separate document, not a clause inside the lease, and it covers:

1. Whether you know of flooding that damaged the unit during your ownership
2. Whether you've filed an insurance claim for flood damage to the unit
3. Whether you've received federal disaster assistance, such as from FEMA, for flood damage

If a landlord doesn't provide it and the tenant later suffers a substantial flood loss to their personal property, the tenant can terminate the lease by giving written notice and moving out within 30 days of the damage.

This matters in Orange County, where areas near the Butler Chain of Lakes, Shingle Creek, and low-lying parts of South Orlando sit in FEMA-designated flood zones. Steps to comply:

1. Get a disclosure form that tracks the statute from your attorney or a Florida Realtors forms library.
2. Answer it truthfully based on what you know about your ownership period.
3. Deliver it as its own signed document with every new lease of a year or longer, and keep a copy.

Checking your property on the FEMA Flood Map Service Center (msc.fema.gov) is still worth doing, but flood zone status is not what the statute asks you to disclose — your own flood history is.

Why This Moment Is Also a Smart Time to Get Listed

With vacancy across Orange County running near 9.5–10% heading into summer 2026, qualified tenants have options, and a complete, well-presented listing is what they respond to.

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The Bottom Line for Orange County Landlords

The past year's legislative changes aren't punishing landlords — they're raising the floor on paperwork. A flood disclosure form and, if you want it, an electronic-notice addendum are both straightforward updates. The non-payment notice is still three days. The landlords who struggle are the ones working from outdated templates or from headlines about bills that never passed.

Check your forms against the statutes. Add the flood disclosure to every lease of a year or longer. And if you have a vacancy coming up, list it where Orange County tenants are already looking.

This is general information, not legal advice. For a specific situation, talk to a Florida real estate attorney.

See FloridaRentalMLS plans and pricing — listings go live within 1 business day.