Leasing and Subletting a Cooperative Unit: Why It Is a Sublease, and What That Changes

Jason Hamilton Mikes, JD, MBA
Founder & Managing Shareholder

• Published September 25, 2026
• Reviewed by Jason Hamilton Mikes, JD, MBA, September 26, 2026
• Florida Statutes as of July 1, 2026
• Applies to: Cooperatives

When a Florida cooperative member rents out a unit, the transaction is a sublease. The association holds title to all of the property and grants each member a proprietary lease; the member has no fee to convey and no lease to grant except out of that one. Chapter 719 contains almost nothing on leasing, so the proprietary lease and the bylaws do nearly all of the work, and the association's position as landlord gives it a stronger hand than a condominium association has.

Why it is a sublease and not a lease

Section 719.103(12) defines a cooperative as a form of ownership in which legal title is vested in the association and beneficial use is evidenced by an ownership interest in the association together with a lease or other muniment of title or possession granted by the association. The member's interest, the cooperative parcel under § 719.103(14), is the shares plus that lease. A unit owner under § 719.103(27) is the person holding both.

Nothing in that structure gives the member a freehold to rent out. The member is a lessee under the association's lease. An occupancy the member grants to a third party is carved out of the member's own leasehold, which makes it a sublease and makes the association the sublessor's landlord. Section 719.106(1)(i) uses exactly that vocabulary, capping the approval fee on a "lease, sublease, or other transfer" and barring any charge on the renewal of a lease or sublease with the same lessee or sublessee.

The consequences are practical, not academic. The association's consent requirement sits in a lease rather than in a recorded covenant. A default by the member under the proprietary lease reaches the subtenancy, because a sublease cannot outlive the estate it was carved from. And the association's approval power over subletting is typically drafted more broadly than a condominium's, for the same reason its approval power over sales is. See our guide to proprietary leases and occupancy agreements for how these clauses are built.

What the statute actually says about leasing

Very little. Three provisions, and only one of them is substantive.

• § 719.105(3) — when a unit is leased, the tenant has all use rights in association property otherwise available for use generally by unit owners, and the unit owner does not have those rights except as a guest. The provision preserves the landlord's right of access under Chapter 83 and expressly allows the association to adopt rules prohibiting dual usage of cooperative property by the owner and the tenant.
• § 719.106(1)(i) — the approval fee cap of $100 per applicant applies to leases and subleases; there is no charge on a renewal with the same tenant; and where the documents provide for it, the association may require a security deposit of up to one month's rent, held in a Florida interest-bearing account and returned or claimed by written notice within 15 days after the tenant vacates.
• § 719.104(2)(a)11. — rental records are official records where the association is acting as agent for the rental of units.

Section 719.105(3) is the one boards underuse. It means that during a lease term the member is not entitled to the pool, the clubhouse or the boat slips except as a guest, and the association may adopt a rule to stop both from using the property at once. Associations that let a member keep full amenity access while a tenant occupies the unit are giving away something the statute already gave them.

What is not there matters more. Chapter 719 contains no provision authorizing or limiting minimum or maximum lease terms, no cap on the number of leased units, no waiting period after purchase, and no statutory background screening authority over a proposed tenant. All of that has to be in the documents, or it does not exist.

Approval of a sublease

The approval power over a sublease comes from the same place as the approval power over a sale: the documents. Read the clause for what it covers before applying it. Many proprietary leases require consent to a sublease of the whole unit but are silent on a roommate, a family member in residence while the member is away, a corporate occupant, or a series of consecutive short stays.

1. Confirm the clause reaches this transaction, and confirm who decides.
2. Require the written sublease itself, with the term and rent stated, not a summary.
3. Apply the same written criteria you apply to a purchaser, on the same forms. A tenant screened loosely is a tenant you will be enforcing against later.
4. Charge only what § 719.106(1)(i) permits, and charge nothing on a renewal with the same tenant.
5. Collect the security deposit if the documents authorize it, put it in a Florida interest-bearing account, and calendar the 15-day return or claim date from the day the tenant vacates.
6. Deliver the rules to the tenant in writing and get a signed acknowledgment that the tenant is bound by them.

That last step is worth its own sentence. Section 719.303(1) binds each tenant and other invitee to the chapter, the cooperative documents and the rules, which means the association can proceed against the tenant directly. Doing so is far easier when the tenant signed for the rules on the day the sublease was approved. The fair housing and Fair Credit Reporting Act rules are identical to those on a sale; see screening applicants lawfully.

Amending leasing restrictions, and the § 718.110(13) gap

This is the point on which cooperative law and condominium law diverge most sharply, and boards regularly get it backwards.

In a condominium, § 718.110(13) provides that an amendment prohibiting unit owners from renting their units, or altering the duration of the rental term, or specifying or limiting the number of times owners may rent during a specified period, applies only to unit owners who consent to the amendment and to owners who acquire title after the amendment's effective date. It is a statutory grandfathering rule. It exists because the Florida Supreme Court had held in Woodside Village Condominium Association, Inc. v. Jahren, 806 So. 2d 452 (Fla. 2002), that a leasing amendment adopted by the required vote did bind owners who bought before it, on the reasoning that a purchaser takes with notice that the declaration may be amended. The Legislature then changed that result by statute for condominiums.

Chapter 719 has no counterpart. We reviewed § 719.1055, the cooperative amendment section, and no subsection addresses rental or leasing amendments or distinguishes between existing members and later purchasers. Section 719.1055(1) protects a member against an amendment that changes the configuration or size of the unit, materially alters the appurtenances, or changes the share of common expenses or common surplus, and requires that member and all record lienors to join. Leasing is not on that list.

So a cooperative amending its leasing restrictions has no statutory grandfathering rule to work around, and also none to rely on. The analysis falls back on the documents, on the amendment procedure the documents prescribe, and on the common law reasoning of cases like Jahren. That is a genuinely unsettled area for cooperatives, and the practical answer is not to guess. Have counsel review the amendment and the notice before the vote, and consider whether a voluntary grandfathering provision inside the amendment is worth the certainty it buys.

Short-term rentals

Short-term listings create four problems at once in a cooperative, and they compound.

1. Approval. Almost no proprietary lease contemplates a new occupant every weekend. If the document requires approval of each sublease, each booking is an unapproved sublease, and the violation count grows quickly.
2. Use. Many cooperative documents restrict the unit to use as a single-family private residence. A transient commercial use is a separate violation from the approval violation.
3. Amenities. Section 719.105(3) gives the tenant the member's use rights, which means a rotating cast of guests with pool and clubhouse access and no accountability to the community.
4. Insurance and safety. Transient occupancy affects the association's coverage and its risk profile, and it is the point at which a carrier starts asking questions.

Local regulation adds a layer. Florida preempts some aspects of vacation rental regulation to the state, and local ordinances in Lee, Collier and Charlotte Counties vary in what they still reach, including registration and minimum stay rules. A board should not assume either that the county will solve the problem or that the association's own restriction is preempted. Confirm both with counsel before building an enforcement position on either.

The association's own restriction, if the documents contain one, is generally the stronger tool, because it is enforceable under § 719.303(1) by the association directly without waiting on a code officer.

Remedies against a member who sublets without approval

Start with what the statute gives you, and note what it does not.

The fine cap is the number boards misjudge. One hundred dollars a violation with a thousand-dollar ceiling, and no lien, is not a deterrent against a member collecting short-term rent. A fine may be levied for each day of a continuing violation with a single notice and hearing, but the aggregate cap still applies, and the association cannot secure the fine against the unit. Our guide to enforcing the proprietary lease covers the notice and hearing mechanics in detail.

That pushes the real weight onto the proprietary lease. The association is the landlord, most proprietary leases contain a default and termination clause, and § 719.108(7) preserves "other remedies provided by the cooperative documents and permitted by law." Whether a Florida cooperative may actually terminate a proprietary lease and remove a member on that basis is not settled. Section 719.103(26) says an interest in a unit is an interest in real property, and § 719.108(5) directs that association liens be foreclosed like mortgages on real property, both of which cut against a summary forfeiture. Do not send a notice of termination without counsel, and do not promise the membership that one will work.

Where the sublet is accompanied by unpaid assessments, the collection track runs separately and is usually faster. See cooperative liens and remedies.

Contact Hamilton Mikes

Hamilton Mikes drafts and updates cooperative leasing restrictions, advises boards on amendments before they go to a vote, and handles enforcement against unapproved and short-term subletting in Lee, Collier and Charlotte Counties. Call 239-594-7227 or visit our Sales, Leases and Occupancy page.