Florida law
Important Florida Laws
One page for the Florida rules people meet in ordinary life, and the ones they would not think to search. Each report names the statute, the date, and the exception, then links to the guide.
The Florida crash-report threshold is $2,000, not $500.
On October 1, 2026, section 316.065, as amended by chapter 2026-39, moved the apparent property-damage threshold from $500 to $2,000. Anyone hurt or killed still means a report right away. The driver still stops, exchanges information, and helps the person who is hurt.
A landlord email is a legal notice only after a written agreement.
Since July 1, 2025, section 83.505 lets a landlord or tenant send legal notices by email only when both sides agreed in writing. A deposit comes back in 15 days when none of it is kept, or the landlord has 30 days to send a written claim. A late-rent notice is 3 days, and weekends and court holidays do not count. A landlord cannot change the locks or shut off the power to force someone out.
A one-year Florida lease requires a separate flood disclosure.
Since October 1, 2025, a landlord must give a prospective tenant a separate written flood disclosure at or before signing a residential lease of one year or longer. The same laws page sets that next to the radon and flood rules for buyers and sellers.
A stranger may not sell a Florida restaurant reservation.
Since July 1, 2025, the Restaurant Reservation Anti-Piracy Act, chapter 2025-55, bars a third-party platform from listing, advertising, or selling a reservation at a Florida restaurant. An operations charge is still allowed. Since July 1, 2026, section 509.214 requires the amount or percentage, and the purpose, to be disclosed.
Restaurant Reservation Anti-Piracy Act on the Florida laws guide.
A Florida patient overpayment has a 30-day refund clock.
Since January 1, 2026, chapter 2025-48 says a health care facility or practitioner who bills an insurer or a government program must refund a patient’s overpayment within 30 days after they determine the overpayment was made.
A roof contract after a Florida emergency carries a 10-day cancel line.
When a roof repair or replacement is signed within 180 days of events that led to a Governor’s emergency covering the property, the owner may cancel without penalty within 10 days after signing, or by the official start date, whichever comes first. The contract has to say so in bold type.
Trooper’s Law makes abandoning a restrained dog in a disaster a felony.
Trooper’s Law makes it a third-degree felony to restrain a dog outside during a natural disaster and then abandon it. Dexter’s Law is the cruelty statute beside it. The Pam Rock Act, chapter 2025-61, took effect July 1, 2025, and changed the dangerous-dog rules.
A driver license is not a Florida boating license.
Florida does not issue a general recreational boating license. A person born on or after January 1, 1988 who operates a motor of 10 horsepower or more generally needs photo identification and the FWC Boating Safety Education ID Card, unless a real exemption applies. Lucy’s Law, chapter 2025-197, raised the penalties for leaving the scene of a boating accident, created a crime for false information in a required report, and tightened reckless-operation rules.
A Florida condo milestone inspection is due the year the building turns 30.
A condominium or cooperative building of three habitable stories or taller must have a milestone structural inspection by December 31 of the year the building turns 30, and every 10 years after that.
Releasing a helium balloon on purpose is against Florida law.
Section 379.233 makes it unlawful to intentionally release, organize the release of, or cause the release of a balloon filled with a gas lighter than air. The Legislature wrote that large releases are a danger to wildlife and marine animals. A violation is a noncriminal littering infraction. The balloon section does not print its own fine. It points to the litter statute, and that paragraph sets a $150 civil penalty for the smaller amount. Indoor balloons, recovered hot-air balloons, and scientific or weather releases for a government agency or under a government contract are excepted. The section does not apply to a person 6 or younger.
Florida bars dyed baby chicks, ducklings, and rabbits.
Section 828.1615 makes it unlawful to dye or artificially color an animal under 12 weeks of age, or a fowl or rabbit of any age, to bring that dyed animal into Florida, or to sell, offer, or give away as merchandising premiums baby chickens, ducklings, or other fowl under 4 weeks old, or rabbits under 2 months old, to be used as pets, toys, or retail premiums. A violation is a second-degree misdemeanor. Temporary dyeing by agricultural entities for health reasons is excepted, and so are animals raised for agriculture or exhibition by a person with proper facilities. The laws guide last checked this on November 1, 2026.
Beer sold in Florida has to say “Florida” or “FL.”
Taxable malt beverages in individual containers, possessed here for sale or resale, must have the word “Florida” or “FL” in at least 8-point type, and no other state’s name. Possessing more than 4.5 gallons in unmarked individual containers is prima facie evidence they are held for sale. A manufacturer can skip the imprint if it proves a tracking system that, with at least 90 percent reliability, shows where the containers were produced, which state they were shipped into, and which Florida distributors received them. Approval comes before those unmarked containers are shipped in.
An orange may be colored. A tangerine may not.
Since 1949, section 601.79 has been a flat ban: no coloring matter on grapefruit or tangerines. Oranges are different. On oranges or citrus hybrids, the unlawful act is using coloring the Department of Agriculture has not first approved.
A 5.16-gallon wine container is a legal size in Florida.
It is unlawful to sell wine in Florida in an individual container holding more than 1 gallon, unless that container holds 5.16 gallons, or it is a glass container of 4.5, 6, 9, 12, or 15 liters. Qualified distributors and manufacturers may sell wine to each other in any size. Distilled spirits have their own cap: distributors and vendors may not sell them in any container larger than 1.75 liters, or 59.18 ounces. That cap is a sales rule for distributors and vendors.
Hiding a tracker on someone else’s phone or car can be a Florida felony.
Section 934.425 bars knowingly installing a tracking device or tracking app on another person’s property without consent, or using one to follow that person or their property without consent. The base offense is a third-degree felony. Since October 1, 2025, doing it to commit or help commit a dangerous crime is a second-degree felony. Consent is presumed revoked when a spouse files for divorce, or when either person files for a protective injunction. Parents, caregivers, law enforcement, court orders, and good-faith business uses have listed exceptions.
Florida sets the time a child under 6 may be left alone in a car.
More than 15 minutes is a second-degree misdemeanor. Any length of time with the motor running, the child’s health in danger, or the child in distress is a noncriminal traffic infraction, with a fine of $50 to $500. If it causes great bodily harm, permanent disability, or permanent disfigurement, it is a third-degree felony. A person who breaks into a locked car to rescue a child, vulnerable adult, or pet in imminent danger is immune from civil liability for damage to the car, but only if they confirm there is no other way out, call 911 or police, use no more force than needed, and stay until help arrives.
New pickleball courts are barred in Florida state parks.
Since July 1, 2025, chapter 2025-76 says Florida state parks must be managed for conservation-based recreation and the protection of natural and historical resources. The act bars new golf courses, tennis courts, pickleball courts, ball fields, and similar sporting facilities inside state park boundaries, and it bars new hotels and other lodging. Campsites and cabins remain allowed if they fit the park’s management plan. Existing facilities do not have to close.
A new Florida pet insurance policy may be returned within 30 days.
Florida’s Pet Insurance Act, chapter 2025-11, took effect January 1, 2026. Insurers must disclose key exclusions and limits, post a summary of important policy provisions, and explain how claim payments are figured. A buyer may return a new policy within 30 days of receiving it for a full premium refund if no claim has been filed. A waiting period for illness may not exceed 30 days, and no waiting period is allowed for accidents. A policy with a waiting period must let the buyer waive it after a veterinarian examines the pet.
Florida statutes do not contain an elephant-at-the-parking-meter law.
The laws guide checked the 2026 statutes and did not find a law that a person must pay the meter if an elephant, a goat, or an alligator is tied to it. The same check did not find statutes making it illegal to sing in public in a swimsuit, barring unmarried women from skydiving on Sundays, or barring men from appearing in public in a strapless gown. Each of those entries says no statute turned up. Last checked November 1, 2026.
Meter story on the Florida laws guide. Florida laws library.