Florida subscription auto-renewal law
Effective Original enactment: ch. 2010-58 (2010). Most recent amendment: ch. 2022-169 (2022 legislative session), which added the same-manner-cancellation requirement (§501.165(2)(d)). No 2024 or 2025 amendment found; current 2024 codification reflects ch. 2022-169 as the latest change. · Last reviewed 2026-06-26
The statute
Fla. Stat. §501.165 — Automatic renewal of service contracts (Title XXXIII, Ch. 501, Part I — General Provisions). Originally enacted s. 1, ch. 2010-58; amended s. 39, ch. 2011-194; last amended s. 2, ch. 2022-169.
Effective Original enactment: ch. 2010-58 (2010). Most recent amendment: ch. 2022-169 (2022 legislative session), which added the same-manner-cancellation requirement (§501.165(2)(d)). No 2024 or 2025 amendment found; current 2024 codification reflects ch. 2022-169 as the latest change.
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Fla. Stat. §501.2075 — Civil penalty (FDUTPA, Title XXXIII, Ch. 501, Part II — Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices). Provides enforcement mechanism for Chapter 501 violations including §501.165.
Effective Long-standing provision; penalty amount and structure unchanged in recent sessions.
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What it addresses
Each requirement below is stated in plain English first, then cited to the statute so you can read the primary source.
Disclosure before purchase
Section 501.165(2)(a) requires that a seller who sells, leases, or offers to sell or lease any service to a consumer pursuant to a service contract that includes an automatic renewal provision shall disclose the automatic renewal provision clearly and conspicuously in the contract or contract offer. The term 'automatic renewal provision' is defined in §501.165(1)(a) as a provision under which a service contract is renewed for a specified period of more than 1 month, if the renewal causes the service contract to be in effect more than 6 months after the day of the initiation of the service contract, effective unless the consumer gives notice of an intention to terminate. 'Consumer' under §501.165(1)(b) means an individual receiving service under a service contract, excluding individuals acting in a business or governmental capacity. The statutory disclosure obligation applies at the point of sale or offer (contract or contract offer). No specific font-size or placement rules are codified in §501.165 beyond 'clearly and conspicuously.'
Fla. Stat. §501.165(2)(a)Read the statute →
Renewal reminder
Section 501.165(2)(b) requires that for service contracts with a specified term of 12 months or more that automatically renew for a specified period of more than 1 month, the seller shall provide the consumer with written or electronic notification of the automatic renewal provision. The notification must be provided no less than 30 days and no more than 60 days before the cancellation deadline under the automatic renewal provision. The notification must clearly and conspicuously state: (1) that unless the consumer cancels the contract it will automatically renew; and (2) methods by which the consumer may obtain details of the automatic renewal provision and cancellation procedure — whether by contacting the seller at a specified telephone number or address, by referring to the contract, or by any other method. Section 501.165(2)(c) provides a safe harbor: a seller does not violate §501.165(2)(b) if it demonstrates that (1) it has established and implemented written compliance procedures and enforces them as a routine business practice, (2) any failure was the result of error, and (3) as a routine business practice when error caused a failure, the unearned portion of the contract subject to the automatic renewal provision is refunded as of the date the seller is notified of the error.
Fla. Stat. §501.165(2)(b); §501.165(2)(c) (safe harbor)Read the statute →
Cancellation mechanism
Section 501.165(2)(d) — added by ch. 2022-169 — requires that a seller that enters into or renews any service contract with a consumer that includes an automatic renewal provision must allow the consumer to cancel the service contract in the same manner, and by the same means, as the consumer manifested his or her acceptance of the service contract. This provision means, for example, that a contract accepted via online signup must also be cancelable via the same online mechanism; a contract accepted by phone or in writing must be cancelable by the same channel. The statute does not prescribe a specific cancellation mechanism independent of the acceptance channel; the requirement mirrors whatever method was used for acceptance.
Fla. Stat. §501.165(2)(d)Read the statute →
Penalties and enforcement
Primary statutory remedy: Under §501.165(2)(f), a violation of §501.165(2) renders the automatic renewal provision void and unenforceable. Civil penalty: Under Fla. Stat. §501.2075 (FDUTPA), any person who willfully uses a method, act, or practice declared unlawful under Chapter 501, or willfully violates rules adopted under Part II of Chapter 501, is liable for a civil penalty of not more than $10,000 for each such violation. The civil penalty may be recovered in any action brought by the enforcing authority (Attorney General or State Attorney). The court or department may waive the civil penalty if the person has already made full restitution or reimbursement or paid actual damages to consumers injured by the unlawful act. The enforcing authority is entitled to reasonable attorney's fees and costs if civil penalties are assessed. The $10,000 penalty requires a finding of 'willfulness' under §501.2075; not all §501.165 disclosure failures automatically satisfy that standard. Cited: Fla. Stat. §501.165(2)(f); Fla. Stat. §501.2075 (https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2024/0501.2075; https://law.justia.com/codes/florida/title-xxxiii/chapter-501/part-ii/section-501-2075/).
No Florida-specific §501.165 Attorney General enforcement actions were identified in this research as of June 2026. Class-action activity: FloSports settled an auto-renewal class action covering Florida subscribers (among other states) for $1.55 million; the settlement received final court approval in February 2024. The class covered subscribers who enrolled between August 29, 2018, and June 15, 2023, with a Florida billing address. The case was based on auto-renewal disclosure failures under various state ARLs including Florida's. Source: https://fsrenewalsettlement.com/; https://cheermedia.com/industry/flosports-settles-automatic-renewal-lawsuit-for-1-55-million/. Auto-renewal class actions in Florida are generally structured as FDUTPA private claims under §501.211, which allows recovery of actual damages (with a practical floor developed in case law) and attorney's fees. No 2024 or 2025 Florida AG press releases specifically citing §501.165 were found.
Caveats
1. SCOPE OF 'AUTOMATIC RENEWAL PROVISION': The statutory definition (§501.165(1)(a)) has a dual threshold — the renewal must be for more than 1 month AND must cause the contract to be in effect more than 6 months after initiation. Month-to-month rolling arrangements or short initial-term contracts may fall outside the definition even if they nominally 'auto-renew.' 2. SCOPE OF 'SERVICE CONTRACT': §501.165 covers 'a written contract for the performance of services over a fixed period of time or for a specified duration' (§501.165(1)(d)). Subscription or negative-option offers not formalized as a written fixed-term service contract may not be squarely within the statute's scope, though FDUTPA's general unfair/deceptive practices prohibition could independently apply. 3. MISSING CATEGORIES: Florida §501.165 does NOT contain affirmative-consent/opt-in requirements, acknowledgment-confirmation requirements, free-trial-conversion-notice requirements, or price-change-notice requirements. Those regulatory categories are absent from Florida's auto-renewal statute as codified in the 2024 statutes (including 2025C supplements). 4. INDUSTRY EXEMPTIONS (§501.165(2)(e)): The statute explicitly exempts financial institutions (§655.005), depository institutions (12 U.S.C. §1813(c)(2)), foreign banks, their subsidiaries/affiliates, health studios (§501.0125), entities licensed under insurance chapters 624/627/634/636/641, electric utilities (§366.02), and certain government-competing private water utilities (§180.05). 5. WILLFULNESS FOR PENALTY: The $10,000 FDUTPA civil penalty under §501.2075 requires 'willful' conduct. The primary automatic consequence of a §501.165(2) violation is that the auto-renewal provision is void and unenforceable (§501.165(2)(f)), not an automatic monetary penalty. 6. AMENDMENT DATES: The ch. 2022-169 effective date (the amendment adding §501.165(2)(d)) was not independently verified to a specific calendar date in this research; Florida legislative session chapters typically take effect July 1 of the session year unless otherwise specified, but this should be confirmed against the chapter text. 7. ONLINE-SPECIFIC RULES: Florida §501.165 does not have separate online-specific disclosure or consent requirements (unlike California's ARL which has explicit online-signup provisions). The same-manner-cancellation rule (§501.165(2)(d)) achieves similar practical effect for online signups without enumerating online separately.
Last reviewed 2026-06-26
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