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Florida Statute § 83.56(5)
provides, in pertinent part, that: “If the landlord accepts rent with actual knowledge of a
noncompliance by the tenant or accepts performance by the tenant of any other provision of the
rental agreement that is at variance with its provisions, … the landlord … waives his or her right
to terminate the rental agreement or to bring a civil action for that noncompliance, but not for
any subsequent or continuing noncompliance.”
Essentially, this statutory
provision means that if a landlord accepts rent knowing that the tenant is in default of the lease,
the landlord will be deemed to have waived the right to terminate the residential lease as a result
of that default.
LANDLORD RIGHTS TIP: It
is unclear whether this waiver provision applies in situations where the tenant has defaulted in
rent. It is, nonetheless, probably a distinction without a difference because the landlord is
unlikely to evict a tenant for non-payment of rent when the tenant pay the rent, albeit late,
before the institution of the eviction lawsuit.
In any event, Florida Statute
§ 83.56(5) does not apply if the default by the tenant is repeated or continued.
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