Florida's New Rental Fraud Law: What Broward Landlords Need to Know Before October 1

Florida just closed a loophole that landlords have been dealing with quietly for years.

Starting October 1, House Bill 1293 makes it a third degree felony to lie your way into a rental unit. That covers fake identity documents, forged pay stubs, doctored bank statements, and outright impersonation on a rental application. Before this law, a landlord who caught someone lying on an application after move-in was mostly stuck. They could try to evict for lease violations and hope the process held up. Now the fraud itself is the violation, and it is treated as one that cannot be fixed after the fact.

That last part matters more than the felony charge does for most owners. The law amends Florida's landlord-tenant statute so fraudulent entry is a non curable lease violation. In practice, that means a landlord can issue a 7 day notice to vacate with no opportunity for the tenant to correct it, and the eviction can move forward without waiting on a criminal case to resolve. Before, everything ran through the criminal system first. Now the civil remedy stands on its own.

The bill did not squeak through. It passed the Florida House 110 to 0 and the Senate 34 to 0, with the Florida Apartment Association backing it the whole way. When an industry group and a unanimous legislature agree on something this specific, it usually means the problem had gotten expensive enough that nobody wanted to defend the status quo. Online services that generate convincing fake pay stubs and bank statements have made application fraud easier to pull off than it used to be, and landlords across the state were absorbing the cost.

Here is what I would do if I owned or managed rental property in Broward. First, treat every applicant document as something you verify, not something you accept on sight. A pay stub or bank statement that looks clean on a phone screen can still be fabricated. Second, talk to whoever handles your applications now, whether that is you, a property manager, or a screening service, about what changes on October 1. The law gives you a faster, cleaner way to remove someone who lied to get in, but only if you can show the fraud. Keep your application file complete. Third, if you have been lenient about verifying income or ID because it slowed down getting a unit filled, this is a good moment to stop. The law is built for exactly the situation where speed created the opening.

None of this changes how you should treat an honest applicant. Most renters in Broward are exactly who they say they are, and the law does not touch them. It is aimed at the applications built to deceive, and it gives owners a real path once one gets through.

If you are weighing whether to buy a rental property in Broward right now, or you already own one and want a second opinion on your screening process, that is a conversation worth having before the 1st, not after.

Roger Averbuj, Broker | Prestige Heritage Realty | (954) 663-8461

Source: Florida HB 1293: New Rental Fraud Law Takes Effect October 1, 2026