Security Deposit Demand Letters
St. Petersburg, Florida · Fla. Stat. § 83.49

The St. Petersburg security deposit demand letter that gets deposits back.

Florida law gave your St. Petersburg landlord 30 days to return it or itemize. If that clock has run, a St. Petersburg security deposit demand letter puts Fla. Stat. § 83.49 to work on your side.

Demand my deposit back
Signed, printed and mailed certified for $20. Reading it first is free.
30
days to return or itemize
Penalties
for non-compliance
$20
letter + certified mail, one-time

Last updated September 2026 · local figures: U.S. Census ACS 2024 5-year

St. Petersburg deposit math
Median rent in St. Petersburg$1,663/mo
Typical deposit ≈ one month≈$1,700
Statutory deadline30 days

Median gross rent: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024 5-year (table B25064). Deposit example rounded to one month's rent; statutory figures are ceilings, and courts decide actual awards.

What St. Petersburg renters should know

St. Petersburg deposit law at a glance

The law that protects your deposit

Deposits in St. Petersburg are governed by Florida state law: Fla. Stat. § 83.49. If the landlord misses the 30-day certified mail notice, they forfeit the right to keep any of the deposit; the prevailing party in a deposit suit recovers attorney's fees. Full Florida deadline & penalty guide →

The court that would hear it

Deposit claims from St. Petersburg are filed in the Small Claims division of the County Court serving Pinellas County, a court designed for people without lawyers, hearing claims up to $8,000. A typical St. Petersburg deposit of about $1,700 sits well inside that limit, which is exactly why a statute-citing certified letter usually settles it first.

Local rules in St. Petersburg

Florida cities cannot add deposit rules, so do not go looking for one. Fla. Stat. section 83.425 reserves the regulation of residential tenancies to the state and names security deposits among the subjects no city or county may touch; local tenant ordinances passed before July 2023 are void. Fla. Stat. section 83.49 is the whole of the law here.

What you get for $20

The letter is written from your answers and St. Petersburg's own statute, and you see all of it before you pay. Signing sends it: printed, mailed certified, tracked, and returned to you as a signed PDF with proof of what it said and when.

The full walk-through, including what doing this yourself costs, is on how it works.

Have it mailed, not downloaded.$20 covers the letter, the printing, the certified postage, and the return receipt — and you read every word before you pay.
Read my St. Petersburg letter
On the last page of your letter

The bit that stops them arguing

Not a logo that says “verified.” A short record of how and when you signed, printed on the letter your St. Petersburg landlord is holding, plus a code made from the letter's own words.

  • The demand paragraph
  • The signature record
  • The SHA-256 hash
  • Certified Mail with Return Receipt
Pin 1 · The demand paragraphThe paragraph names your state's statute, the amount your landlord kept, the deadline they missed, and gives them a firm deadline to send the money before the letter says what happens next. Every part of it comes from the answers you gave, printed in the order the law expects.
Pin 2 · The signature recordMethod (drawn or typed), date, time zone, IP, browser, and consent to sign electronically. Printed on the letter itself, so the person receiving it can see how it was signed. Nothing goes out until a real person signs.
Pin 3 · The SHA-256 hashA 64-character code built from every word in your letter, recorded with the date and time you signed. It is your signing record: paste it into the checker at /verify/ and it confirms the wording you hold is the wording you signed, unchanged. It is not proof of delivery; the certified mail record below is.
Pin 4 · Certified Mail with Return ReceiptSomeone at the other end has to sign. This is the proof: the certified mail receipt, the USPS tracking history, and the delivery signature with its date. The Postal Service records them, our mail partner passes them to us, and we email them to you and post them on your letter tracker. Your landlord cannot claim the letter never came.

The closing words above are the real ones our engine writes for St. Petersburg letters, statute and deadline included. The name, signature and codes are made up; yours carry your own record. The time is shown in the signer's own time zone, not ours.

That code is built from every word in your letter. Change one word and it no longer matches. Type it into our checker and it tells you the letter is the same one you signed. See how a St. Petersburg letter checks out →

What a St. Petersburg deposit is usually worth

Put a number on it: gross rent in St. Petersburg sits near $1,663 a month (ACS 2024 5-year), so a one-month deposit is about what a renter here stands to lose. That tracks the Florida median of $1,669 fairly closely, so what is typical here is what is typical statewide.

About 37% of St. Petersburg households rent rather than own. That is a large enough population that the local court is thoroughly used to hearing deposit claims from tenants without lawyers. The rule that governs what happens to that money is set at the state level, by Fla. Stat. § 83.49, and it applies in St. Petersburg exactly as it does anywhere else in Florida.

It is worth naming the imbalance plainly. To you that sum is next month’s rent or the cost of the move you just made. To a landlord holding a dozen of them it is a line item worth stalling on, because stalling has historically been free. A formal, dated, statute-citing demand is what makes it stop being free.

St. Petersburg adds a layer state law does not

Most renters never find this out, and landlords rarely volunteer it:

Florida cities cannot add deposit rules, so do not go looking for one. Fla. Stat. section 83.425 reserves the regulation of residential tenancies to the state and names security deposits among the subjects no city or county may touch; local tenant ordinances passed before July 2023 are void. Fla. Stat. section 83.49 is the whole of the law here.Local rule on top of Fla. Stat. § 83.49 · general legal information, not legal advice

Your letter’s deadline and penalty citations still come from state law. That is what gives them teeth. But knowing the local layer exists changes the conversation, because a landlord who assumed you only knew the state rules is dealing with someone better informed than they expected. Local rules change more often than statutes do, so confirm the current position with the city before relying on it.

Leaving a St. Petersburg rental without losing the deposit

Markets this size are mostly individual owners and small operators, which cuts both ways. There is often no formal complaints process to turn to, but there is a real person who understands that a certified letter citing the statute is not something you leave in a drawer.

  • Photograph everything on the day you hand back the keys, not the week before. Original files, not screenshots. The date lives inside the file, and a screenshot throws it away.
  • Give the forwarding address in writing and keep the proof. This is the single most common way a good claim fails, in every city and every state.
  • Work out the right recipient before you send. The person who rented you the place and the person who owes you the deposit are not always the same, even in a small market.
  • Do not wait for the deadline to feel comfortable. Florida gives them 30 days. Once that has passed, waiting adds nothing but risk to your own evidence.

Where a St. Petersburg renter would actually file

Most of these disputes end with a check, not a hearing. But the letter only carries weight because of what sits behind it, so it is worth knowing what that is.

Florida routes deposit claims to the Small Claims division of the County Court, with a limit of $8,000. For a rental in St. Petersburg, that normally means the court serving Pinellas County. Filing fees and procedure are set by the court. The Florida judiciary publishes its own small claims instructions and forms, which is the page to read before you file.

Filing fees are typically a small fraction of a deposit, and the process is designed for people representing themselves. What decides it is paperwork: the lease, dated photographs, proof of your forwarding address, and a demand letter you can prove arrived.

Skip the trip to the Post Office.$20 covers the letter, the printing, the certified postage and the return receipt. No stamps, no green card to fill in wrong, no queue.
Read my St. Petersburg letter

St. Petersburg renters, by the numbers

$1,663
median gross rent per month in St. Petersburg
37%
of St. Petersburg's ≈119,000 households rent their home
≈44,000
renter households on the same 30-day clock
$8,000
small claims limit in Florida. Deposit cases fit easily

Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024 5-year, tables B25064 & B25003 (St. Petersburg; Census place “St. Petersburg city”); Fla. Stat. § 83.49. Population ≈263,000.

St. Petersburg deposit questions

How long does a landlord in St. Petersburg have to return a security deposit?
30 days. The statute (Fla. Stat. § 83.49) requires the landlord to act within 15 days of termination, or give written notice of an intended claim on the deposit by certified mail within 30 days. Miss it, and the law's remedies open up: If the landlord misses the 30-day certified mail notice, they forfeit the right to keep any of the deposit; the prevailing party in a deposit suit recovers attorney's fees.
Can I sue my landlord in small claims court in St. Petersburg?
Yes, that's exactly what the venue is for. Deposit claims from St. Petersburg are filed in the Small Claims division of the County Court serving Pinellas County, a court designed for people without lawyers, hearing claims up to $8,000. A demand letter sent by certified mail is the documented first step judges expect to see.
Is a demand letter worth it for a typical St. Petersburg deposit?
Median rent in St. Petersburg is $1,663 a month (U.S. Census, ACS 2024 5-year), and deposits typically run about one month's rent. Call it $1,700. The letter is $20 flat, certified mail included, and you read every word of it before paying.
Does St. Petersburg have its own deposit rules on top of state law?
Florida cities cannot add deposit rules, so do not go looking for one. Fla. Stat. section 83.425 reserves the regulation of residential tenancies to the state and names security deposits among the subjects no city or county may touch; local tenant ordinances passed before July 2023 are void. Fla. Stat. section 83.49 is the whole of the law here. So the state statute is the whole story here, which is what your letter cites and what sets the deadline and the penalty.

General legal information, not legal advice. Court limits and city ordinances change; verify current rules or consult a licensed Florida attorney.

Have it mailed, not downloaded.$20 covers the letter, the printing, the certified postage, and the return receipt — and you read every word before you pay.
Read my St. Petersburg letter
St. Petersburg · Renter guides

What to work out before you write to them

Nothing in St. Petersburg changes what Florida law says. It does change who you are dealing with, which makes knowing the answers below more useful, not less.

Deductions Which charges hold up and which do not Florida makes the landlord put their deductions in writing. That list is the whole argument, and most of them do not survive being read closely. Read the guide → Wear and tear Where wear and tear ends and damage begins Landlords lean on the ambiguity because renters rarely push back on it. In practice the line is clearer than it looks once you have seen where it falls, item by item. See the line → Evidence Build the record before you leave An hour with a camera on handover day is worth more than any argument you can make afterward. Original files, every room, meter readings, and the keys going back. Get the checklist → No response The deposit never came back Most renters read a missed deadline as their own failure. It is the landlord's obligation that lapsed, not your right. What to do →

If the fight is over a single line item:

Move-out cleaningPaintingCarpetPicture hooksPet charges

Or run the whole list through the deduction checker for St. Petersburg renters.

St. Petersburg · Keep reading

Worth reading next

Everything below is free and none of it needs an account.

Other Florida cities

Deposit law is the same across Florida. Rent, venue and local rules are not, so each of these has its own page.

Not renting in St. Petersburg any more? We send security deposit demand letters for renters outside St. Petersburg, Florida in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, each built on that state's own statute.

St. Petersburg · Free help

Where to get help near St. Petersburg

If you would rather talk to someone than read a statute, start here. These Florida organizations take renter questions for free, and the court listed is the one that would hear a St. Petersburg deposit claim.

Government and nonprofit resources, listed because they are useful. We are not affiliated with any of them, and none of them is affiliated with us. Every link here was checked on August 30, 2026.

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