Florida Landlords Don’t Have to Fix the AC. 6 Things They Do Have to Fix

Got roaches in your apartment?

In many Florida rentals, getting rid of them is your landlord’s job.

Your air conditioner is another story.

Here’s what Florida landlords legally have to fix, and what falls on you.

Note: This is general information, not legal advice. Rental rules and notice periods are subject to change.

1. Code Violations

Every building, housing, and health code that applies to your rental binds your landlord.

That duty runs at all times during your tenancy.

In unincorporated Miami-Dade County, for example, the minimum housing code requires owners to provide adequate lighting and ventilation, and it also covers rodents and insects.

The codes that cover your rental depend on your address.

If you rent a single-family home or duplex, a written lease can change this duty, so read your lease for the exact terms.

2. Roofs, Floors, and Walls

Landlords have to keep your rental’s roofs, windows, doors, floors, steps, porches, exterior walls, and foundations in good repair.

That applies when no building, housing, or health code covers the problem.

Every other structural piece has to resist normal forces and loads.

If your roof leaks through each afternoon thunderstorm, it isn’t in good repair.

3. Plumbing

A rental’s plumbing has to stay in reasonable working condition where no building, housing, or health code covers it, and keeping it that way is the landlord’s job.

Where a code applies, the code sets the standard.

A burst pipe under your sink or a toilet that won’t flush is a plumbing problem.

The tenant rules ask you to keep the plumbing fixtures you use clean, sanitary, and in repair.

4. Pest Extermination

Pest extermination is a landlord duty in every rental except a single-family home or duplex, unless your lease says otherwise.

The list covers rats, mice, roaches, ants, wood-destroying organisms, and bedbugs.

Under the state's pest control law, wood-destroying organisms include termites, powder-post beetles, oldhouse borers, and wood-decaying fungi.

If treatment means you have to leave, the landlord owes you 7 days' written notice.

You only have to stay away for up to 4 days, and the landlord must abate your rent for that time.

5. Locks and Keys

Locks and keys fall to landlords in those same rentals, who have to make reasonable provisions for them.

A rental has to come with reasonable security, including working and locking doors and windows, according to The Florida Bar's consumer pamphlet.

A landlord can't keep you out of your home by changing the locks, and that includes a bootlock or a similar device.

6. Heat, Water, and Hot Water

Winter heat, running water, and hot water are landlord duties in those same rentals.

The duty covers heat only during winter.

Hot water is year-round.

If your water heater stops working, you're without hot water, and that duty is the landlord's.

Landlords can't cut off your water or heat to push you out, even when they control the service or pay the bill.

What the Law Skips

Landlords get their repair duties from state law, and that list never mentions cooling.

Legal Services of Greater Miami, in a repair guide posted on Miami-Dade County's social services site, says state law doesn't require air conditioning.

The rules for tenants mention air conditioning only once, in a list of fixtures and appliances you have to operate in a reasonable manner.

A 2024 House bill would have required certain landlords to provide working air conditioning.

The bill never made it out of a subcommittee that year.

Your lease can close the gap, though.

A landlord who supplies a working air conditioner as part of the rental agreement has to repair it.

If your lease promises air conditioning and the landlord materially fails to provide it, you can send written notice.

The notice has to name the problem and say you intend to terminate the rental agreement.

If 7 days pass without compliance, you may end the lease.

Damage You Cause

Landlords aren't responsible for damage you cause.

That includes damage from your family or anyone on the premises with your consent, if a careless or wrongful act caused it.

That means a door a guest kicked in doesn't land on your landlord's repair list.

The tenant rules add that you can't destroy, deface, damage, or remove any part of the rental.

Who Inspects Apartments

Apartment landlords face state inspection as well as the terms of your lease.

The Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR) regulates apartments as public lodging establishments and may inspect them for safety and sanitation issues.

You can file a complaint with DBPR by phone, online, or by email.

Withholding Defense

If your landlord sues you for unpaid rent, you may be able to raise a defense built on a material code, structural, or plumbing failure.

In apartments and similar rentals, you can't raise your landlord's failure on pests, locks, or hot water as a defense when the landlord files to evict you.

You can raise the defense only after 7 days have passed since you delivered written notice.

That notice has to name the problem and say you won't pay rent because of it, so choose your wording carefully.

A successful defense beats the landlord's claim for possession.

The court then decides how much to reduce the rent.

But you have to deposit the rent the landlord claims into the court registry within 5 days of being served.