Yes, you can sell a Florida house with a tenant living in it, and you do not need the tenant’s permission to sell. What you cannot do is sell the lease away. The statewide AS IS contract assumes the opposite of your situation: Paragraph 6(a) has you delivering the property at closing free of tenants, occupants and future tenancies unless Paragraph 6(b) is checked. Check that box and the buyer takes the house with your tenant and your lease obligations attached. Miss it, and you have promised an empty house you cannot legally empty.
The lease outlives the closing, so the contract has to say so
A sale transfers your ownership. It does not terminate a lease your tenant signed. Under section 695.01(1), Florida Statutes, a lease for a term of one year or longer is not good against a later purchaser for valuable consideration and without notice unless it has been recorded. That protection belongs only to a buyer who had no notice, so once you disclose the lease and deliver a copy, an unrecorded 12-month lease binds your buyer the same as a recorded one. Leases shorter than a year never fell under the recording requirement at all.
The current FloridaRealtors/FloridaBar AS IS Residential Contract for Sale and Purchase (form ASIS-7x) handles it in Paragraph 6. Paragraph 6(a) is the default: at closing the seller delivers occupancy and possession free of tenants, occupants and future tenancies. Paragraph 6(b) is a checkbox for property subject to leases or occupancy after closing, and it covers seasonal and short-term vacation rentals too. Checking it starts the disclosure clock below, and it gives the buyer a right to read the lease and walk away from the contract with the deposit if the terms do not suit them. A tenant therefore hands your buyer an exit you would not otherwise give them, which is the argument for putting the lease in front of buyers before they write.
What the buyer is entitled to see, and when
Paragraph 6 governs what you disclose up front. STANDARD D of the same contract governs what gets verified before closing, on a separate clock.
| Step | Deadline in the AS IS contract | What it has to contain |
|---|---|---|
| Disclose the lease and deliver copies | Within 5 days after the effective date | The facts and terms of every lease or occupancy agreement surviving closing |
| Buyer’s decision on the lease terms | Within 5 days after receiving those items | Written notice of termination, in the buyer’s sole discretion, with the deposit refunded |
| Tenant estoppel letters | At least 10 days before closing | Nature and duration of occupancy, rental rates, advance rent and security deposits paid |
| Seller’s affidavit, if estoppel letters cannot be obtained | Within that same period | The same information, after which the buyer may contact the tenant to confirm it |
| Buyer’s second exit, if the information conflicts | Within 5 days after receipt, and no later than 5 days before the closing date | Written notice terminating the contract, deposit refunded |
| Assignment of the leases | At closing | Seller delivers and assigns all leases; buyer assumes the seller’s obligations under them |
Plan around the trigger for that second termination right. It fires on a material difference between the estoppel letter or affidavit and what you represented under Paragraph 6, and it fires equally when a tenant simply fails or refuses to confirm your affidavit. A tenant who stops answering email in week three can cost you the contract without ever disputing a fact, so start the estoppel request early enough that silence is still fixable. Estoppel letters are not required on seasonal or short-term vacation rentals.
Can I sell my house with a tenant in it and still get buyers through the door?
Owning the house does not give you a key to walk in. Section 83.53, Florida Statutes splits access into two different rules, and only one of them has a notice period attached.
Subsection (1) says the tenant shall not unreasonably withhold consent to entry for a defined list of purposes, and exhibiting the dwelling unit to prospective or actual purchasers is on that list. Subsection (2) sets out when the landlord may actually enter for those purposes: with the tenant’s consent, in an emergency, when the tenant unreasonably withholds consent, or when the tenant has been absent for a period equal to half the time between rent payments. The statute’s 24-hour definition of reasonable notice, and its 7:30 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. window, are written for entry “for the purpose of repair,” so for a showing the governing question is which of those four circumstances applies. Subsection (3) limits all of it: the landlord shall not abuse the right of access nor use it to harass the tenant.
So the showing schedule is something you negotiate with your tenant before the listing goes live: the days and hours, the notice you will give, and how the tenant will be told. If a tenant refuses every reasonable request you land in the “unreasonably withholds consent” territory of subsection (2)(c), a fight conducted on your closing timeline. Making the showing terms attractive costs less than winning that argument.
The deposit is not yours to keep, and the rent splits at closing
Under section 83.49(7), Florida Statutes, on the sale or transfer of title of rental property, or on a change in the designated rental agent, all security deposits and advance rent held for the tenants must be transferred to the new owner or agent, together with any earned interest and an accurate accounting showing the amounts credited to each tenant account. Get a written receipt for the transfer. It releases you from the duty to hold that money, and it closes the statute’s rebuttable presumption that the new owner received the deposit, which is capped at one month’s rent.
On the settlement statement, STANDARD K of the AS IS contract prorates recurring items, rents among them, as of the day prior to the closing date, and credits advance rent and security deposits to the buyer. A hypothetical: your tenant pays $2,400 a month, you hold a $2,400 security deposit and no advance rent, November rent was collected on the first, and closing is set for November 20, 2026. November has 30 days, so the daily rate is $80.00. You keep the 19 days through November 19, which is $1,520.00, and the buyer is credited the 11 days from November 20 through November 30, which is $880.00. Add the $2,400.00 deposit and $3,280.00 comes off your proceeds at the table. Day-count convention is the closing agent’s, so confirm it against your own figures and against everything else that comes out of Florida net proceeds.
One duty outlasts the closing. Section 83.50, Florida Statutes requires written disclosure to the tenant of the name and address of the landlord or a person authorized to receive notices and demands, and the person so authorized retains that authority until the tenant is notified otherwise. If you were the designated contact and nobody tells the tenant in writing that the owner changed, a tenant’s notice sent to you is still validly served. Coordinate that notice and a rent forwarding instruction with the buyer, and keep proof you sent both.
If you need the house empty, work backward from the lease type
Selling vacant has to be scheduled, because the notice you can give depends on the tenancy.
- A lease with a fixed end date. You wait for the term unless the tenant agrees in writing to leave early. A sale is not a termination event.
- A fixed-term lease with a non-renewal clause. Section 83.575(1) lets a lease require notice before the tenant vacates at the end of the term only if it also requires the landlord to give notice of non-renewal in that same period, and caps the period at no less than 30 and no more than 60 days either way. The obligation exists only if your lease wrote it in.
- Month to month. Section 83.57(3) requires not less than 30 days’ notice prior to the end of a monthly period. Prior to the end of the period is the operative phrase, so notice served mid-month does not end the tenancy 30 days later. A year-to-year tenancy without a specific duration takes 60 days under section 83.57(1).
- A tenant willing to be bought out. Put the move-out date, the amount and the condition of the house in a signed agreement before you accept an offer promising vacant possession.
Count those notice periods before you pick a listing date. A seller who signs Paragraph 6(a) while a nine-month lease is running has promised something the law will not let them deliver.
Frequently asked questions
Can I sell my house in Florida if I have a tenant living in it?
Yes, and the tenant has no veto over the sale. The lease rides along with the house. Under Paragraph 6(b) of the AS IS contract you disclose the lease terms and deliver copies within 5 days after the effective date, the buyer gets 5 days after receipt to walk away with their deposit, and at closing you assign the leases to the buyer, who assumes your obligations under them.
Does my tenant have to let buyers in to see the house?
Section 83.53(1) says a tenant shall not unreasonably withhold consent to entry to exhibit the unit to prospective or actual purchasers. That duty on the tenant stops short of giving you a standing right to walk in. Section 83.53(2) permits entry for that purpose with the tenant’s consent, in an emergency, when consent is unreasonably withheld, or when the tenant is absent for half a rental period. The 24-hour notice definition and the 7:30 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. window are written for entry to make repairs. Negotiate the showing schedule in writing before the listing goes live.
Who ends up with the security deposit after the sale?
The buyer. Section 83.49(7) requires the deposits and any advance rent to be transferred to the new owner with earned interest and an accurate accounting per tenant, and STANDARD K credits advance rent and security deposits to the buyer at closing. Get a written receipt for the transfer, which releases you from the obligation to hold the money.
Where to go from here
A tenant-occupied sale is a scheduling problem more than a legal one. Worth mapping at the same time: who pays for title insurance when you sell, how taxes are prorated at closing, and, if you rented the house out after moving, what happens to a Save Our Homes benefit.
To have your lease dates, notice periods and showing terms lined up against a realistic listing date before you sign anything, book a strategy session with our team.
Nelson Cruz, P.A.
Founder & CEO
MVP Home Group, Real Broker LLC
Nelson brings nearly two decades in law enforcement to his work in real estate. View Nelson’s profile or contact our team at 407-901-9939 or [email protected].
Featured image: AI-generated editorial illustration of the covered front entry of a lived-in rental home, with an agent’s combination lockbox hanging on the door handle, a worn doormat, two potted ferns, a child’s bicycle against the porch column and a brass porch light in late-afternoon side light. Not a particular property or transaction.