Termite Bonds in Florida: Coverage, Cost & Transfer

A termite bond in Florida is a renewable contract with a pest control company licensed under Chapter 482, Florida Statutes. You pay an annual fee, and the company re-inspects the home and retreats any new termite activity. Stronger contracts also pay to repair new termite damage. No Florida law requires you to carry one, and a bond is not an insurance policy. It matters most when a home changes hands: the state WDO inspection report discloses evidence of previous treatment, and an active, transferable bond is usually the cheapest way for a buyer to keep that protection running without starting over.

”Termite Bond” Is Shorthand — Florida Law Calls It a WDO Contract

The phrase “termite bond” appears nowhere in Florida’s pest control statute. What you are actually buying is a wood-destroying organisms preventive or control contract, the instrument regulated by s. 482.226, Florida Statutes. Three practical consequences follow from that:

• Only a company licensed by FDACS (the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services) in the “Termites and Other Wood-Destroying Organisms” category can sell and service one.
• Whenever the company performs an inspection or treatment covered by the contract, the statute requires it to give you a signed report stating whether wood-destroying organisms were found, whether treatment was made, and which pesticide was used.
• The contract — not the salesperson’s pitch — defines what “covered” means. In Florida, “wood-destroying organisms” legally includes termites, powder-post beetles, oldhouse borers, and wood-decaying fungi, but most bonds cover a much narrower list, so the named organisms in your contract are what count.

Companies market these agreements under several names: termite bond, termite warranty, termite protection plan, renewal agreement. The label doesn’t matter; the written terms do.

Retreat Bond vs. Repair Bond

The single most important line in any Florida termite bond is whether it covers retreatment only, or retreatment plus repairs.

Type	What the company pays for	What to check in the contract
Retreatment-only bond	Returns and retreats at no extra charge if covered termites show up again. Pays nothing toward fixing damage. The cheaper and more common form	Which termite species are named; retreat conditions; renewal fee and how it escalates
Retreatment-and-repair bond	Retreats and also pays to repair new damage caused by covered termites after the bond took effect	The repair dollar cap; the pre-existing-damage exclusion; proof requirements for “new” damage

Because standard homeowners policies generally exclude termite damage, the repair bond is the only instrument that puts someone else on the hook for structural repairs — which is exactly why its exclusions deserve a slow read. Watch for: which termite species are covered (many Florida bonds cover subterranean termites but treat drywood termites or Formosan subterranean termites as separate coverage), requirements to keep renewals unbroken, and conditions that void coverage such as additions, moisture problems, or soil disturbance around the treated perimeter.

What the Written Contract Must Spell Out

Florida requires WDO work to be sold on written terms, and the University of Florida’s consumer guidance, How to Buy Pest Control Services (UF/IFAS ENY-219), lists what the contract should state. Use it as a checklist before signing:

Contract element	What to look for
Organisms covered	Named by common name (e.g., subterranean termite). Not “termites” in general
Purpose	Control of an existing infestation vs. prevention
Retreatment terms	Conditions under which the company will retreat
Repair terms	Conditions under which repairs will be made, with the repair price cap shown separately
Price	Maximum price for treatment; structural repairs listed separately
Renewal	What renewal fees will cost, contract duration, and the renewal option
Re-inspections	Whether they happen, how often, and at what cost
Bond obligations	”If guaranteed with a bond, what the obligations of the bond are; for instance, retreatments, repairs”

If a proposal is missing any row of that table, ask for it in writing. Wood-destroying organisms do not destroy a house overnight — you have time to compare two or three licensed companies before committing.

What Florida Bonds Cost (Advertised Figures)

FDACS licenses companies; it does not set prices, and there is no official rate card. What Florida providers publicly advertise, as of mid-2026, clusters like this:

Fee	Advertised range	Notes
Initial year	Often bundled with the initial treatment; roughly $700–$1,000 when sold standalone by large South Florida providers	Depends on treatment type and home size
Annual renewal	About $150–$400 per year	Repair bonds sit at the top of the range; several companies price renewals by home size
Transfer at sale	About $100–$250	One-time fee to move the bond to the new owner

Treat every number above as an advertising claim, not a quote — the only binding figure is the one printed in your contract, and renewal fees can rise year to year. What a bond costs to maintain is a separate question from what a WDO inspection costs in a real estate deal; for that, see our inspection cost guide.

Is a Termite Bond Worth It in Florida?

Usually yes — with the contract terms doing all the work. The case for a bond rests on two verifiable facts: standard homeowners policies generally exclude termite damage, so a repair bond is the only arrangement that shifts that risk to someone else; and in a resale, an active transferable bond preserves protection the buyer would otherwise have to re-establish by paying for a fresh initial treatment. A bond earns its renewal fee most clearly when the home has a documented treatment history, when you plan to sell within a few years (the bond transfers; a lapsed one does not), or when the contract is a true retreatment-and-repair agreement with a cap you have actually read. It earns it least when the contract is retreat-only with a rising renewal fee and a narrow organism list — at that point you are paying mostly for the annual re-inspection. The state’s own consumer guidance points the same direction: UF/IFAS advises comparing proposals from more than one licensed company before committing, because wood-destroying organisms do not destroy a house overnight. Compare, read the bond obligations line, then decide.

Transferring the Bond When the Home Sells

For a buyer, taking over the seller’s active bond is usually the best deal available: a transfer fee in the low hundreds preserves coverage that would otherwise require paying for a brand-new initial treatment to re-establish. For a seller, an active transferable bond is a genuine selling point in a state where termite pressure is a due-diligence question on every transaction.

The transfer is not automatic. A workable sequence:

1. Seller: confirm the bond is current — renewal paid, re-inspections up to date — before listing or at latest before the inspection period.
2. Either party: ask the pest company, in writing, whether the bond transfers, the fee, and the deadline. Many contracts require the transfer to be completed within a set window around closing.
3. Buyer: get copies of the contract, the treatment history, and the next renewal date before closing, and read the coverage terms — a retreat-only bond does not become a repair bond because the house changed owners.
4. Both: put the transfer (and who pays the fee) in the purchase contract, then confirm the completed transfer with the company in writing after closing.

One Florida-specific wrinkle: on newer homes, the builder’s soil pretreatment usually came with a first-year bond from the treating company. If you are buying a resale that is only a few years old, ask whether that original bond was ever renewed — reinstating a lapsed builder bond is a different (and pricier) conversation than renewing a live one. Lender and program rules on termite paperwork for new and existing homes are covered in our requirements guide.

Where the Bond Meets the WDO Report

Every WDO inspection performed for a Florida real estate transaction must be reported on FDACS Form 13645, and that form has a dedicated section for treatment history. State guidance instructs inspectors to report any signs of past treatment — patched drill holes in the foundation, a fumigation notice in the attic, bait stations around the perimeter. If the inspecting company treats the home at the time of the inspection, a copy of the WDO contract must be attached to the report.

Read it the right way: “evidence of previous treatment” on a report is not, by itself, a red flag. It is a prompt to ask the next question — what contract stands behind that treatment, and is it active and transferable? A house with documented treatment and a live bond is often a better-understood risk than a house with no history at all. How to read the rest of the form, section by section, is covered in our WDO report guide; if you are buying with a VA loan, findings on the report have their own clearing process, explained in our VA termite inspection guide.

Eight Questions to Ask Before You Sign (or Inherit) a Bond

1. Is this retreatment-only, or retreatment and repair — and what is the repair cap?
2. Exactly which organisms are named? Are drywood termites and Formosan subterranean termites covered or excluded?
3. What is the renewal fee now, and what has it risen to over the past few years?
4. How often do you re-inspect, and is that included in the renewal?
5. What voids the coverage — additions, landscaping, moisture, missed renewals?
6. Does the bond transfer at sale, at what fee, and by what deadline?
7. Is your company licensed with FDACS for termite and WDO work, and who is the certified operator in charge?
8. Will you put every answer above into the written contract?

A company that hesitates on the last question has answered all of them.

Bottom Line

A Florida termite bond is a regulated WDO contract, not insurance and not a legal requirement — its value lives entirely in its written terms. Know whether you are buying retreatment or repairs, treat advertised prices as starting points, and in a sale, push to transfer a current bond rather than let it lapse. To find companies licensed for this work, browse our directory of licensed Florida WDO inspectors by city or county.