If you own your mobile home but rent the lot it sits on, a separate Florida law covers you — Chapter 723, Florida Statutes. It is not the same law that covers ordinary renters, and it gives you protections most park residents in Polk County have never been told about.
We connect homeowners with local pros for mobile home leveling in Polk County, re-skirting and tie-downs around Lakeland, Winter Haven and Bartow, and we end up in a lot of conversations about lot rent, park rules and what happens when a park sells. This page is our attempt to answer those questions plainly, with the statute section next to every claim so you can check us.
We are not lawyers and this is not legal advice. It is a plain-English summary of what the statute says. For advice about your situation, call Florida Rural Legal Services at 1-888-582-3410 — they are a nonprofit law firm and Polk County is in their service area.
First: does Chapter 723 actually cover you?
This trips up almost everybody. Section 723.002(1) sets the scope, and it is narrow:
| Your situation |
Which law applies |
| You own the home, you rent the lot, and the park offers 10 or more lots for rent |
Chapter 723 — this page |
| You rent both the home and the lot |
Chapter 83, Part II (ordinary landlord–tenant law) |
| The park has fewer than 10 lots for rent |
Chapter 83, Part II |
| RV or park-model recreational unit |
Not Chapter 723 |
| Your home sits on land you own |
Not Chapter 723 — there is no lot tenancy |
One useful wrinkle: if your tenancy was already under Chapter 723 and the park later drops below 10 rentable lots, the chapter keeps applying to your tenancy.
Don’t confuse the 10-lot threshold above with the 26-lot threshold further down — the second one is about whether the park has to file a prospectus with the state. They are different rules and they get mixed up constantly.
Lot rent increases: the 90-day notice
Under s. 723.037(1), the park owner must give written notice at least 90 days before any of these three things:
- an increase in the lot rental amount
- a reduction in services or utilities the park provides
- a change in the rules and regulations
The notice goes to each affected homeowner and to the board of the homeowners’ association if one exists. The statute also says plainly that this right cannot be signed away — “the home owner’s right to the 90-day notice may not be waived or precluded by a home owner, or the homeowners’ committee, in an agreement with the park owner.”
What the notice has to say — and what it doesn’t
Section 723.037(2) requires only four things: the dollar amount of the present lot rent being increased, the dollar amount of the proposed increase, any reduction in services or rule change, and the effective date.
The notice does not have to explain why. That surprises people, and it is worth knowing before you call the office demanding a reason. The reasons only have to come out at the meeting described below.
If the increase includes pass-through charges, those must be itemized separately — the amount, which government body required the capital improvement, the type of charge, and the start and end dates of the pass-through.
The single biggest myth: there is no cap
Florida does not cap mobile home lot rent increases. There is no percentage limit and no dollar limit anywhere in s. 723.037. The state cannot roll back an increase for you.
The Department of Business and Professional Regulation says so on its own mobile homes page — the division is prohibited from determining whether an increase in lot rent is unreasonable.
The only control is s. 723.033, which lets a court decide whether rent is “unreasonable,” meaning above market rent for comparable parks in the competitive area. A court can refuse to enforce an increase, order a refund, or reduce future rent. But that is a lawsuit, not a phone call to Tallahassee.
The committee meeting — your real leverage
This is the part of Chapter 723 that most residents never use, and it is the strongest tool in the chapter.
After a 90-day notice, a committee of no more than five people, chosen by a majority of the affected homeowners or by the association’s board, can make a written request to meet with the park owner. That meeting must happen no later than 60 days before the change takes effect (s. 723.037(4)).
Here is why it matters. Section 723.037(4)(b)1 requires the park owner to:
“in good faith disclose and explain all material factors resulting in the decision to increase the lot rental amount… including how those factors justify the specific change proposed. The park owner or subdivision developer may not limit the discussion of the reasons for the change to generalities only, such as, but not limited to, increases in operational costs, changes in economic conditions, or rents charged by comparable mobile home parks.”
In practice that means:
- If the reason is rising costs, the owner must say which costs rose, by how much — and which costs went down, by how much.
- If the reason is what comparable parks charge, the owner must give you in writing, at or before the meeting, the name, address and lot rent of each comparable park, plus its facilities and services.
- The owner must prepare a written summary of those material factors, hand the committee a copy, and keep one for three years.
If the committee disagrees with the comparable-park justification, it has 15 days after the first meeting to supply its own comparable data in writing and request a second meeting. The owner then has 30 days to meet again.
One honest caveat. The statute says this subsection “is not intended to be enforced by civil or administrative action” — the meetings are treated as settlement discussions before mediation. So you cannot sue the park purely for running a bad meeting. You can, however, raise it with DBPR, which lists failure to meet with homeowner committees among the things it acts on. Those two positions sit in some tension, so don’t count on a court remedy here.
Mediation
Within 30 days after the last scheduled meeting, homeowners can petition DBPR to start mediation (s. 723.037(5)). It requires a majority of affected homeowners to designate, in writing, one of four grounds: the increase is unreasonable, the resulting lot rent is unreasonable, a service cut isn’t matched by a rent cut, or a rule change is unreasonable.
Practical points from s. 723.038:
- Each side pays a $250 filing fee to the mediator, within 30 days of appointment. Whatever isn’t used on the mediator’s hourly rate gets refunded.
- The petition must be served on the park owner by certified mail, return receipt requested, with the designation, the notices being challenged, and the records showing how the committee was chosen.
- The park owner has 10 days after receiving the petition to file objections.
- If a party refuses a proper request to mediate, that party forfeits attorney’s fees in any related action (s. 723.037(6)).
Get any agreement in writing. Section 723.038(6) says a mediated resolution is not final agency action — but a written one can be enforced in circuit court as a contract. A handshake at mediation is worth nothing.
And under s. 723.0381, for these rent and rule disputes, mediation is required before you can file a civil action. That precondition is tied to s. 723.037(5) disputes; it does not apply to defending an eviction, which moves on a much faster track.
Eviction: there are only five lawful grounds
This is the most empowering fact in the chapter. Section 723.061(1) lists five grounds, and nothing else is a lawful reason to evict you from your lot.
| Ground |
Notice / cure period |
| (a) Nonpayment of the lot rental amount |
Default must continue 5 days after delivery of a written demand |
| (b) Conviction of a law or ordinance violation deemed detrimental to other residents’ health, safety or welfare |
Vacate within 7 days of the notice |
| (c) Violation of a lawfully promulgated park rule, the rental agreement, or Chapter 723 |
7 days to correct a first violation |
| (d) Change in the use of the park land |
6 months’ notice — see below |
| (e) A purchaser, prospective tenant or occupant fails to be approved where park rules require approval |
Vacate within 7 days of the disapproval notice |
If you fall behind on rent
Nonpayment requires a written demand and a 5-day default period. If you then pay everything owed — rent, late charges, court costs and attorney’s fees — the court may deny the eviction for good cause. But that grace runs out: it is only available if nonpayment has not happened more than twice before.
The rule-violation trap: two strikes in 12 months
A first rule violation gives you 7 days to fix it, and fixing it ends the matter. The danger is the second one. The statute is blunt:
A second violation “within 12 months of the first violation is unequivocally a ground for eviction,” and “it is not a defense to any eviction proceeding that a violation has been cured after the second violation.”
So there is no second cure. Fixing the problem after strike two does not save you. The park must give at least 30 days’ notice before the date you have to vacate in that situation, and it must have given written notice of the first violation within 30 days of that first violation.
The 12 months runs from the first violation, not from the notice. And a violation more than a year after the first one does not count as a repeat — the statute says it “does not constitute a ground for eviction under this section.”
How notice must be delivered — check this first
Section 723.061(4) requires any notice under the eviction section to be in writing, posted on the premises, AND sent by certified or registered mail, return receipt requested. Both. Not one or the other.
It also says mailed notice is “deemed given 5 days after the date of postmark.” That quietly extends every deadline you have, and it is a real thing to check if a park is rushing you.
Evictions are filed in county court where the lot sits — for us that’s the Polk County Clerk of the Circuit Court — and the park owner is entitled to summary procedure, which means the case is put at the front of the calendar. These move fast. Do not wait to get advice.
One more myth worth killing: under s. 723.061(5), a park owner who accepts partial rent knowing about a violation does not automatically waive the right to terminate. The money gets accounted for at the final hearing. Many people believe the opposite.
If you think it’s retaliation
Section 723.0615 makes it unlawful for a park owner to raise your rent, cut your services, or bring or threaten an eviction primarily in retaliation for:
- filing a good-faith complaint with a government agency about building, housing or health code violations at the park
- organizing, encouraging or participating in a homeowners’ organization
- complaining to the park owner about failing to meet its obligations under s. 723.022
Retaliatory conduct can be raised as a defense in an action for possession. Note the framing — the statute gives you a shield, not a separate claim for damages.
If the park is sold
Here is where a lot of online summaries get it wrong, so read carefully.
When the owner offers the park for sale (s. 723.071(1)): the owner must notify the association’s officers by mail with the price, terms and conditions. The association then has 45 days from the date of mailing to execute a contract at that price. If the owner later offers it at a lower price, the homeowners get an extra 10 days to meet the new terms.
When the owner receives an offer from someone else (s. 723.071(2)): the owner must tell the association and must consider a counteroffer. But the statute then says the owner:
“shall be under no obligation to sell to the home owners or to interrupt or delay other negotiations and shall be free at any time to execute a contract for the sale of the park to a party or parties other than the home owners.”
That is not a right of first refusal. You will see it described that way all over the internet. It is a right to be told and to be considered — the owner can still sell to whoever they like. Knowing the difference will save you a painful misunderstanding.
There is also one step associations routinely miss: under s. 723.076(3), the association must record a notice of its right to purchase the park with the clerk of the circuit court, and send the park owner a copy by certified mail within 10 days of recording. If you are on an association board and this was never done, do it.
If the park closes or changes use — the money, and the deadline
A change in the use of the land is eviction ground (d), and it carries its own rules.
- Affected homeowners get at least 6 months’ notice of eviction.
- Within 20 days of giving that notice, the park owner must send a copy to DBPR and to the Florida Mobile Home Relocation Corporation.
- The notice must carry a statement telling you that you may be entitled to compensation from the Florida Mobile Home Relocation Trust Fund.
- The park owner may not raise the rent in the 90 days before giving a change-of-use notice.
The deadline that will cost you everything if you miss it: under s. 723.061(2), homeowners contesting a change in use must petition for administrative or judicial remedies within 90 days after the date of the notice, “or they will be barred from taking any subsequent action to contest the change in use.” Ninety days. Then the door closes.
What you can be paid
The dollar amounts are in s. 723.0612 — not, as many sites claim, in the sections that create the corporation or the trust fund.
| Option |
Single-section |
Multisection |
Statute |
| Move the home — actual moving expenses or the cap, whichever is less |
up to $3,000 |
up to $6,000 |
s. 723.0612(1) |
| Abandon the home in the park and take a flat payment |
$1,375 |
$2,750 |
s. 723.0612(7) |
Read the first row carefully. It is a reimbursement capped at $3,000 or $6,000 — not a cheque for that amount. If your move costs $1,800, you receive $1,800. Anyone telling you “you get $3,000” is wrong.
You take one option or the other, not both. And the money comes from the park owner: under s. 723.06116 the owner that closes the park pays the corporation $2,750 per single-section and $3,750 per multisection home, with penalties escalating to 25% if they pay late.
Applying — and the gates people fail
Claims go to the Florida Mobile Home Relocation Corporation (fmhrc@fmhrc.org, 888-320-0322). Under s. 723.0612(12), your application must be received within 1 year after the eviction period expires. Don’t wait.
You are not entitled to payment if the park relocates you at its own expense, if you had already moved out before the notice, if you took the abandonment payment, or if there was an eviction for nonpayment filed before the change-of-use notice was mailed (s. 723.0612(2)).
FMHRC also publishes its own eligibility criteria — agency guidance rather than statute, but these are the practical gates:
- The title must show body type “HS.”
- The park must be registered as a Chapter 723 park with DBPR.
- You must be the registered owner on the title.
- To abandon, the title must be free of liens.
- To relocate, your mover must be a Florida licensed mobile home installer.
- People who rent the home rather than own it are not eligible.
Rezoning: the county has to check first
Section 723.083 is short and worth knowing if your park is being rezoned:
“No agency of municipal, local, county, or state government shall approve any application for rezoning, or take any other official action, which would result in the removal or relocation of mobile home owners residing in a mobile home park without first determining that adequate mobile home parks or other suitable facilities exist for the relocation of the mobile home owners.”
That is a reason to show up at a Polk County Board of County Commissioners hearing, or a city commission hearing in Lakeland, Bartow or Winter Haven, and ask on the record whether that determination has been made.
You do not have to move your home just because you sold it
This is probably the most common false belief among lot renters, and s. 723.058 settles it. A park owner may not:
- deny or abridge your right to sell your mobile home within the park
- require you to remove the home from the park solely because you sold it
- ban “for sale” signs outright — it may regulate their size, placement and character
- take a commission on your sale price unless it was your agent under a written contract
- require you to sign a resale agreement as a condition of tenancy
- raise your rent discriminatorily because you refused to sign one
Any resale agreement expires automatically six months after you give written notice that you intend to sell and ask for the park’s help.
The honest caveat: the park can still require your buyer to be approved as a tenant under properly promulgated rules. Selling the home is your right; who gets to rent the lot afterward is a separate question.
Exit fees are illegal
Section 723.041 is blunt: “No person shall be required by a mobile home park owner to pay an exit fee upon termination of his or her residency.” If a park is billing you to leave, that is not lawful.
Entrance fees are different — they are allowed but must be disclosed in writing before you sign. If the home is removed inside two years, the fee is refunded at one twenty-fourth per month short of 24 months, paid back within 15 days of removal. No refund if you were evicted for nonpayment, ordinance violations or rule breaches.
Your prospectus is the document worth digging out
Parks with 26 or more lots must file a prospectus with the state, and must deliver it to you — with all exhibits, a separate flood disclosure, and the rules — before you sign the lot rental agreement or at the time of occupancy, whichever comes first (s. 723.011).
Two parts of it are quietly valuable:
- Section 723.012(9) requires the prospectus to disclose the factors that may affect lot rent increases. If the park later justifies an increase using a factor that isn’t in its own prospectus, that is a strong point to raise at the committee meeting and at mediation.
- Sections 723.012(12) and (13) require disclosure of current zoning, permitted uses, and definite future land use plans. That is your early warning system for a park closure. Go read those two items.
And if they never gave you one: under s. 723.014 the rental agreement is voidable until 15 days after you receive it. Cancel in writing within that window and you are entitled to a refund of any deposit “together with relocation costs for the mobile home, or the market value thereof… from the park owner.” That is a serious remedy and almost nobody uses it.
Forming a homeowners’ association
Under s. 723.075, an association needs at least two-thirds of all mobile home owners in the park to consent in writing to become members, and it must incorporate. Once it has, and once it notifies the park owner under s. 723.076, it becomes the representative of all the homeowners in Chapter 723 dealings with the park.
Watch the two different thresholds, because they are easy to mix up:
| What you’re doing |
Threshold |
Statute |
| Form the association |
Two-thirds of all homeowners, in writing |
s. 723.075 |
| Have standing to challenge a rent increase |
Majority of affected homeowners, in writing |
s. 723.037(1) |
| Petition for mediation |
Majority of affected homeowners, in writing |
s. 723.037(5) |
An association can exist perfectly legally and still have no standing on a particular rent increase. That catches boards out.
What the park owner owes you regardless
Section 723.022 requires the park owner at all times to comply with applicable building, housing and health codes; keep common-area buildings and improvements in good repair; keep common areas safe, clean and presentable; give residents access to them at reasonable times; and keep its utility connections and systems in proper working order.
Worth knowing: DBPR does not enforce building codes or sanitation. Those go to local code enforcement — Polk County’s, or your city’s if you’re inside Lakeland, Bartow, Winter Haven or Mulberry limits.
Where to go for help
Related reading: Mobile Home Hurricane Checklist for Florida (2026): Before, During and After · 4-Point Inspection for Mobile Homes in Florida · Mobile Home Roof-Over in Florida: Permits, Costs and Rules
Frequently asked questions
Does Florida cap how much my lot rent can go up?
No. There is no percentage or dollar cap on mobile home lot rent increases in Florida, and the state cannot roll one back. The park must give 90 days’ written notice (s. 723.037), and a court — not DBPR — can decide an increase is “unreasonable” under s. 723.033, but that requires a lawsuit.
How much notice does the park have to give before raising lot rent?
At least 90 days in writing, under s. 723.037(1). The same 90-day notice is required before reducing services or utilities or changing park rules. This right cannot be waived by agreement.
Can the park evict me for any reason it wants?
No. Section 723.061(1) lists five grounds and nothing else qualifies: nonpayment of lot rent, conviction of a law or ordinance violation harmful to other residents, violation of park rules or the rental agreement, a change in the use of the park land, or failure of a purchaser or occupant to be approved. Every notice must be both posted on the premises and sent by certified or registered mail.
If the park closes, do I get money to move my home?
You may. Under s. 723.0612 you can claim your actual moving expenses up to $3,000 for a single-section home or $6,000 for a multisection home, whichever is less — it is a capped reimbursement, not a flat payment. Alternatively you can abandon the home in the park for a flat $1,375 or $2,750. Apply to the Florida Mobile Home Relocation Corporation within one year after the eviction period expires.
Do I have to move my mobile home when I sell it?
No. Section 723.058 prohibits a park owner from requiring you to remove the home solely because you sold it, and from denying your right to sell it within the park. The park can still require your buyer to be approved as a tenant under its properly promulgated rules.
Can the park charge me a fee for leaving?
No. Section 723.041 states that no person shall be required to pay an exit fee upon termination of residency. Entrance fees are permitted if disclosed in writing beforehand, and are partly refundable if the home is removed within two years.
A note on why this page exists
We are an independent local referral service — we connect Polk County mobile homeowners with licensed contractors for leveling, vapor barriers, tie-downs and skirting. We don’t do the repairs ourselves and we don’t practice law.
We wrote this because park residents kept asking us questions we couldn’t answer, and because the accurate answers were buried in a statute nobody reads. If you spot something on this page that’s wrong, tell us and we’ll fix it and say that we did.
Sources: Chapter 723, Florida Statutes (Florida Senate) · DBPR Division of Florida Condominiums, Timeshares and Mobile Homes · FMHRC eligibility criteria. Last reviewed September 2026.
Buying, selling or transferring a home? See our guides to buying a mobile home in Florida, selling one, the title transfer and the MH vs RP decal.