Florida Senate - 2016                              CS for SB 342
       
       
        
       By the Committee on Banking and Insurance; and Senator Gibson
       
       597-02607-16                                           2016342c1
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to renters insurance; creating s.
    3         83.491, F.S.; requiring a residential rental agreement
    4         to specify whether renters insurance is required;
    5         specifying provisions that must be included if
    6         insurance is or is not required; providing that
    7         failure to include a certain notice in a rental
    8         agreement does not create a private cause of action or
    9         nullify any part of the rental agreement; providing an
   10         effective date.
   11          
   12  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   13  
   14         Section 1. Section 83.491, Florida Statutes, is created to
   15  read:
   16         83.491 Renters insurance.—A rental agreement entered into
   17  on or after January 1, 2017, must specify whether a tenant is
   18  required to obtain renters insurance and must provide in the
   19  agreement a line for the tenant’s initials immediately following
   20  that provision.
   21         (1) If renters insurance is required, the rental agreement
   22  must specify the coverage required.
   23         (2) If renters insurance is not required, the rental
   24  agreement must provide a statement in substantially the
   25  following form: “The tenant is not required to obtain renters
   26  insurance; however, the tenant is strongly advised to obtain
   27  renters insurance to cover damage to or loss of personal
   28  property.”
   29         (3) Failure to provide the notice in subsection (2) does
   30  not create a private cause of action and does not nullify any
   31  part of the rental agreement under this part.
   32         Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2016.
   33