(1) The landlord of a public lodging establishment classified under s. 509.242(1)(d) or (e) as a nontransient apartment or transient apartment, respectively, must require that each employee of the establishment undergo a background screening as a condition of employment.
(2) The background screening required under subsection (1) must be performed by a consumer reporting agency in accordance with the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act and must include a screening of criminal history records and sexual predator and sexual offender registries of all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
(3) A landlord may disqualify a person from employment if the person has been convicted or found guilty of, or entered a plea of guilty or nolo contendere to, regardless of adjudication, any of the following offenses:

(a) A criminal offense involving disregard for the safety of others which, if committed in this state, is a felony or a misdemeanor of the first degree or, if committed in another state, would be a felony or a misdemeanor of the first degree if committed in this state.

Attorney's Note

Under the Florida Statutes, punishments for crimes depend on the classification. In the case of this section:
ClassPrisonFine
misdemeanor of the first degreeup to 1 yearup to $1,000
For details, see Fla. Stat. § 775.082(4)(a)

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Terms Used In Florida Statutes 83.515

  • Fair Credit Reporting Act: A federal law, established in 1971 and revised in 1997, that gives consumers the right to see their credit records and correct any mistakes. Source: OCC
  • Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
  • Landlord: means the owner or lessor of a dwelling unit. See Florida Statutes 83.43
  • Nolo contendere: No contest-has the same effect as a plea of guilty, as far as the criminal sentence is concerned, but may not be considered as an admission of guilt for any other purpose.
  • person: includes individuals, children, firms, associations, joint adventures, partnerships, estates, trusts, business trusts, syndicates, fiduciaries, corporations, and all other groups or combinations. See Florida Statutes 1.01
  • Plea: In a criminal case, the defendant's statement pleading "guilty" or "not guilty" in answer to the charges, a declaration made in open court.
(b) A criminal offense committed in any jurisdiction which involves violence, including, but not limited to, murder, sexual battery, robbery, carjacking, home-invasion robbery, and stalking.