Your rights under Florida law
What counts as landlord retaliation in Florida, and what to do
Florida law bars a landlord from raising your rent, cutting services, or bringing or threatening an eviction to punish you for a protected act, like complaining to code enforcement or organizing with other tenants. You can raise retaliation as a defense in an eviction if you acted in good faith. The defense fails if the landlord shows good cause, such as unpaid rent or a real lease violation.
Updated Last checked 3 min read
Quick answer
- Protected: code complaints to a government agency, joining a tenant group, written complaints to the landlord under 83.56(1), and exercising fair housing rights.
- Retaliation: singling you out for a rent hike or fewer services, or bringing or threatening an eviction.
- You must have acted in good faith.
- It doesn't protect you from an eviction for unpaid rent or a real lease violation.
- Keep the complaint, the landlord's reply and what happened after, with dates.
On this page
What the law protects
Section 83.64 lists the tenant actions a landlord may not retaliate against. The list is "not limited to" these, but these are the ones the statute names:
- Complaining to a government agency in charge of enforcing a building, housing or health code about a suspected violation.
- Organizing, encouraging or taking part in a tenant organization.
- Complaining to the landlord under section 83.56(1), the written notice about the landlord's failure to maintain the home.
- Ending a lease as a servicemember under section 83.682.
- Paying rent to a condo, co-op or homeowners association after it demanded the rent from you.
- Exercising your rights under local, state or federal fair housing laws.
The association item matters in South Florida. When an owner stops paying condo dues, the association can demand that the tenant pay the rent to it instead. A tenant who does what the association demands is protected.
What retaliation looks like
The statute names three moves: discriminatorily raising your rent, discriminatorily cutting services, and bringing or threatening to bring an eviction. Section 83.64(4) defines the discrimination part as treating a tenant differently from other tenants in the rent charged, the services provided, or the landlord's actions.
- June 2
- You email the manager about mold and a leaking AC line. No reply.
- June 20
- You report it to the city code office. An inspector visits.
- July 1
- You get a notice that your rent goes up $300 at renewal. Your neighbors' rents stay the same.
- July 8
- The manager says the pool and gym are now off limits to you.
The good-cause exception
Section 83.64(3) says retaliation isn't a defense if the landlord proves the eviction is for good cause. The examples given include nonpayment of rent, violating the lease or reasonable rules, and violating the landlord and tenant act. So a code complaint doesn't shield you from an eviction for rent you haven't paid.
How to protect yourself
Make complaints by email or letter, with dates and photos, since a phone complaint is hard to prove later. Keep paying rent on time and keep the receipts, because unpaid rent hands the landlord the good-cause answer to any retaliation defense.
Save everything that changes after you complain: rent notices, new rules aimed at you, services you lost, and what neighbors were told if they'll share it. If the landlord files for possession, retaliation goes in your answer, and the court registry rule still applies, so deposit the rent the complaint claims within 5 business days of service.
Florida doesn't regulate what a landlord charges at renewal, and since 2023 cities and counties can't either. A big increase that every tenant gets isn't retaliation. One that lands only on the tenant who just called the inspector can be.
Questions people ask
Can my landlord raise my rent because I complained?
Not as punishment. Section 83.64 bars discriminatory rent increases in retaliation for protected acts like a good-faith code complaint. A landlord can still raise rent at renewal for everyone.
How do I prove retaliation in Florida?
Show the timing and the comparison: a written complaint, followed soon after by a rent hike, lost services or an eviction threat that other tenants didn't get.
Can my landlord refuse to renew my lease after I complained?
The statute bars bringing or threatening an action for possession in retaliation. If you stay after a non-renewal and the landlord files, you can raise retaliation as a defense, and the landlord wins if it proves good cause.
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Words in this guide
Sources
- Florida Statutes, section 83.64: Retaliatory conductleg.state.fl.us
- Florida Statutes, section 83.56: Termination of rental agreementleg.state.fl.us
- Florida Statutes, section 83.60: Defenses to action for rent or possession, procedureleg.state.fl.us
- Florida Statutes, section 83.682: Termination of rental agreement by a servicememberleg.state.fl.us
- Florida Statutes, section 83.425: Preemptionleg.state.fl.us
Checked against these sources on by Rentvana Editorial. If something has changed, email hello@rentvana.com and we'll fix it.
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Call 888-601-8344 to talk to a licensed agent, or email hello@rentvana.com and one gets back to you within 1 hour, 8am to 9pm. Renters never pay Rentvana.