Florida Rental Fraud Law (HB 1293)

Florida's new rental fraud law took effect on October 1, 2026. HB 1293 — signed as Chapter 2026-143 on June 12, 2026 — makes it a third-degree felony to take possession of a rental using forged pay stubs, altered bank statements, a counterfeit ID, or someone else's identity. It also rewrites part of Florida Statute 83.56 so a landlord can terminate the lease with a seven-day notice and no cure period, whether or not criminal charges are ever filed. For small Okeechobee County landlords running one to five rentals without an in-house compliance team, this is the biggest change to Florida landlord-tenant law in 2026.

Key Takeaways

Under new Florida Statute 817.537, submitting forged documents or a false identity to take possession of a Florida rental is a third-degree felony as of October 1, 2026 — punishable by up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine.
The companion amendment to Florida Statute 83.56 adds fraudulent entry to the short list of noncompliance a landlord can act on with a seven-day written notice and no chance to cure.
The civil remedy does not require a criminal conviction, but it does require evidence. Landlords who don't keep the application packet, the ID copy, and the verification steps in writing have nothing to show the court.

What HB 1293 Actually Does, in Plain English

HB 1293 does two separate things that landlords should think about together.

It creates a new crime. New Florida Statute 817.537 says a person commits fraudulent entry of a residential dwelling unit when they knowingly and willfully enter and take possession of a rental by (a) making a materially false written statement about their identity on the rental application, (b) giving the landlord a forged, fictitious, or counterfeit document — the statute specifically lists driver licenses, state ID cards, bank statements, and pay stubs — or (c) impersonating someone else whose name they put on the application. It's a third-degree felony, which carries up to five years and a $5,000 fine under Florida's general sentencing structure. Prosecutors — not landlords — bring the charge.

It changes the eviction playbook. The bill amends F.S. 83.56(2)(a), the subsection that lists the few forms of tenant noncompliance so serious a landlord does not have to offer a chance to cure before terminating. Fraudulent entry now sits on that list alongside intentional destruction of property and repeated non-cure of the same violation. The statute adds a clause worth reading twice: the landlord can proceed "regardless of whether criminal proceedings have commenced." You don't have to wait for an arrest, a charge, or a conviction before you deliver the notice.

The bill passed 110-0 in the Florida House and 34-0 in the Senate — a rare level of unanimity for anything landlord-tenant.

The 7-Day Non-Curable Notice: How F.S. 83.56 Works Now

Under the amended F.S. 83.56, the civil path for a landlord who discovers fraud looks like this:

1. Deliver a written notice of termination. The notice must identify the lease, state that it is terminated under F.S. 83.56(2)(a) for fraudulent entry as defined in F.S. 817.537, give the tenant seven days from the date of delivery to vacate, and be delivered by hand to the tenant or an occupant 15 or older, by posting to the premises if nobody is home, or by first-class mail. Keep the signed delivery receipt or a dated photo of the posted notice.

2. Do not change the locks or move the tenant's belongings. HB 1293 does not create a self-help eviction. If the tenant stays past day seven, the landlord files a complaint for possession in Okeechobee County Court the same way as any other eviction under F.S. 83.59.

3. Bring the paper trail. The court will want to see the application, the fraudulent document itself (not just a description of it), the verification step that caught it — a bounced employer phone number, a bank letter saying the account doesn't exist, a photo ID that doesn't match the DMV database — and a short written statement explaining when the landlord discovered the fraud.

The seven-day clock is tight. Landlords who draft the notice themselves instead of using a Florida landlord-tenant attorney for the first one usually regret it. Specific language the courts expect is in F.S. 83.56(3) and in the service-of-notice rules at F.S. 83.56(4).

What This Means for Okeechobee County Landlords

Okeechobee is a small market — Zumper lists roughly 8 private landlord rentals in the county at a given time, and the average rent in June 2026 was $1,447 a month per Zumper's rent research. Thin markets look like they get less fraud, but the economics push the other way: a single bad applicant in a five-rental portfolio hits cash flow harder than it does in a 50-door operation, and the lower screening-tool budget most Okeechobee landlords run on makes forged documents easier to miss.

Three county-specific points to think about:

The courthouse is in Okeechobee, not West Palm. Evictions filed under F.S. 83.56 run through the Okeechobee County Court in the 19th Judicial Circuit. Filing fees, service-of-process cost, and typical calendar times for an uncontested seven-day case run $185 filing + $40 per defendant for the sheriff, with hearings commonly within three to four weeks of filing. Build that timeline into any decision about whether to serve the notice.

Seasonal and ranch-adjacent applicants need the same process as everyone else. Okeechobee's agricultural economy, the Raulerson Hospital workforce, and the trickle of snowbird arrivals in October mean small landlords here see a wider mix of applicants than a suburban Pasco or Seminole landlord does. Fair-housing exposure doesn't scale down with county size — the Fair Housing Act and Florida Statutes Chapter 760 apply the same way. Use the same written screening criteria for every applicant on the same property.

Davina Springs will not change the law. The 4,300-home proposed development in the county (still working its way through planning, per the Lake Okeechobee News) will eventually bring more applicants into the Okeechobee rental pool, which usually brings more fraudulent applicants with it. HB 1293 is already in effect — the time to tighten the paperwork is before Davina lifts the floor on application volume, not after.

For a related read on screening paperwork specifically, see our post on how to write screening criteria for a Florida rental. The Marion County framing applies to Okeechobee without modification.

Before Your Next Lease: Four Things to Verify

Catching fraud at the application stage is worth more than winning the eviction later. A short list, in the order a small landlord can actually run through it:

Match the ID to the applicant. Compare the photo and the name on the government-issued ID the applicant uploads to the person who shows up at the viewing. If something looks off — a shaded photo, a date-of-birth that doesn't match the application, a signature that doesn't match — ask for a second form of ID.
Call the employer on a number you looked up. Not the number on the pay stub. Google the business, get the main line, ask HR or the manager to confirm employment and dates. A forged pay stub usually breaks at this step.
Request two consecutive months of bank statements and spot-check the running balance. Fabricated bank statements rarely balance from one month to the next. If the ending balance on August's statement doesn't match the opening balance on September's, you have your answer without needing a bank letter.
Save everything. Keep the application, the ID copy, the pay stubs, the bank statements, the voicemail logs, and the notes from your reference calls in one folder for every applicant you take through screening — approved and denied. HB 1293 pushes the evidentiary burden toward whoever has the better paper trail, and in most cases that's the landlord.

Where FloridaRentalMLS fits: every plan, including the Basic plan, puts your Okeechobee rental on Stellar MLS and syndicates it to Zillow, Realtor.com, and other major rental sites, with MLS-compliant photo formatting and listing within 1 business day. Each inquiry — call, text, or email — is forwarded to you with full contact details, and screening stays in your hands. The Standard and Premium plans add longer listing windows and more photos, useful on a thinner-market rental where the right applicant pool is small and worth working for. Compare plans.

For a wider look at the state-level landlord law picture — email notice rules, flood disclosure, and the bills that did not pass this year — our 2026 Florida landlord law update is still current.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does the landlord need to prove the tenant knew the document was fraudulent? The statute requires the conduct to be "knowing and willful," so yes — but intent is usually proved by the circumstances. A pay stub with a fake employer, a bank statement from an account the bank says doesn't exist, or a driver license photo that doesn't match the person on the lease all speak for themselves. Discuss specifics with a Florida landlord-tenant attorney.

What if the fraudulent applicant has already been living there and paying rent for months? HB 1293 doesn't create a time limit on the seven-day notice. The non-curable termination applies when the landlord discovers fraudulent entry, regardless of when the lease was signed. Document the discovery date — when you learned of the fraud, and how — in writing before you serve the notice.

Does this change anything for leases signed before October 1, 2026? The civil amendment to F.S. 83.56 applies to any lease where fraudulent entry is discovered after October 1. The criminal statute at F.S. 817.537 applies to conduct — the act of submitting the fraudulent document — on or after October 1, 2026. A landlord who discovers fraud in a lease signed in July 2026 can serve the seven-day civil notice but cannot force a felony charge for conduct that pre-dated the statute.

Sources

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

Florida's Rental Fraud Law: What Okeechobee Landlords Must Do