Repairs in a Florida rental, and when you can withhold rent

What your landlord has to fix

Section 83.51(1) sets the baseline for every Florida rental. The landlord has to comply with the building, housing and health codes that apply, and where no code applies, keep the roof, windows, doors, floors, steps, porches, exterior walls and foundation in good repair and the plumbing in reasonable working condition. Screens have to be in reasonable condition when you move in, and torn screens get repaired once a year when needed. For a single-family home or duplex, the lease can change those duties in writing.

Section 83.51(2) adds a second list for apartments, condos and anything else that isn't a single-family home or duplex, unless you agreed otherwise in writing:

• Extermination of rats, mice, roaches, ants, wood-destroying organisms and bedbugs
• Locks and keys
• Clean and safe common areas
• Garbage removal and outside trash receptacles
• Working heat in winter, running water and hot water

If the building has to be tented or treated and you need to leave, the landlord has to give you 7 days' written notice, you can't be required to stay out more than 4 days, and the rent for those days is abated. In a house or duplex, the landlord installs working smoke detectors at the start unless you agreed otherwise in writing. The lease can also make you pay for garbage, water, fuel or other utilities, and the landlord isn't responsible for damage you, your family or your guests caused.

What about the AC?

Florida law doesn't require a landlord to provide air conditioning. It isn't named anywhere in section 83.51, and Miami-Dade County's minimum housing standards page lists heat, plumbing, hot water, lighting and ventilation without mentioning cooling.

Your lease decides it, so find the maintenance section before you sign, and if it doesn't say who repairs the AC and who changes the filters, ask for one sentence that does. If your lease puts AC repairs on the landlord, a dead unit in August is a breach of a material term, and section 83.56(1) lets you give 7 days' written notice and end the lease if it isn't fixed. That's a different remedy from withholding rent, which the statute ties to code and structural problems.

How to ask for a repair the right way

Report the problem in writing with photos and the date, even if you also called. Then make the home available with the 24 hours' notice the law requires for repairs, and keep track of who came and when.

If nothing happens, deliver a written notice that names the problem and says you'll withhold rent, or end the lease, if it isn't fixed within 7 days. Hand it over, mail it, or email it if you signed an email addendum, and keep a copy. A code complaint helps too: 311 in unincorporated Miami-Dade, or the code compliance office in cities like Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach. Section 83.64 protects a good-faith complaint to a government agency from retaliation.

Withholding rent: what can go wrong

Section 83.60(1)(b) makes the landlord's material failure to meet section 83.51(1) a complete defense to an eviction for nonpayment, as long as you gave the 7-day written notice first. The court then decides how much, if anything, your rent should drop for the time the home was worth less.

Section 83.60(2) is where withholding goes wrong. When a landlord sues and you raise any defense other than "I paid", you must pay the rent the landlord claims into the court registry within 5 days of being served, not counting weekends and legal holidays, and keep paying rent there as it comes due. Miss that and you've waived every defense except payment, and the landlord can get an immediate default judgment and a writ of possession. You can also ask the court to set the right amount within those 5 days, with documents. If you've spent the withheld rent, you can't make the deposit, and the defense is gone.

Ending the lease instead

Under section 83.56(1), if the landlord doesn't fix a material problem within 7 days of your written notice, you can end the lease. If the home is untenantable and you leave, you owe no rent for the time it was unlivable. If it's still livable and you stay, the rent is cut in proportion to the lost value. Damage from a storm or fire you didn't cause has its own rules in section 83.63, covered in when a storm damages your rental.