Can I keep personal property that a former roommate left behind if they were not on the lease under FL landlord tenant laws

Florida Statute 715.104 governs notification of former tenants of personal property remaining on the premises after a tenancy has terminated. Your roomate may be considered a sub-tenant, especially if they were paying a portion of the rent or in some other way paying for the right to live there with you. I would mail them a notice advising them them that you will dispose of the property after 15 days from the date of the mailing of the letter. You should list the property and mail it by first class mail to the last known address and any other address you know may get it to them.

Provided your rent is current and there is way the landlord could claim a landlords lien for rent upon the personal property, I would say you could keep it. This presumes that the property was abandoned by the owner, in which case you could retain it.

1) You should not authomatically dispose-sell the furniture. I assume you may have entered into a contrract wih the tenant and the contract is the fist place you should look at. The contract sometimes includes provisions that deal with possessions that remain in flat after contract expires. Have a look because this may be crucial. Since the contract is not at my diposal, I can only provide you with general advise.

2) Contact first the tenant by regular post (ideally at his know residence address) and seek his permission to dispose of the possessions. If he agrees (ideally in writing or by e-mail), you should have no problem. It is also good to call him to see what is going on but the much better and safer approach to contact him by phone.

3) The tennant migt not agree with the disposal but, at the same time, might fail to come and get them within reasonable (e.g. 15 day' period. If you will incur costs associated with keeping the possessions for tenant's behalf after the passage of such time without the tennant showing up, you should dispose of the possessions. If you incur no costs associate with this, you may (but dont have to) mail another notice (out of courtesy) giving additional deadline to then tennant and after passage of such deadline, sell the furniture.