Your Right to Habitable Housing in Florida

Florida law requires your landlord to follow the applicable building, housing, and health codes for the whole tenancy or, where no code applies, to keep the roof, structure, and plumbing in good repair (Florida Statutes section 83.51). If the landlord materially fails that duty, meaning a significant failure rather than a minor flaw, you can give a written notice, and once 7 days pass after delivery without a fix, you can end the lease under section 83.56(1) or withhold rent under section 83.60(1)(b). Florida has no repair-and-deduct law, and if you withhold rent and the landlord files for eviction, you must deposit the rent with the court, or ask the court to set the amount, within 5 days of being served, not counting weekends and legal holidays, to keep your defense.

What section 83.51 requires of every landlord

At all times during the tenancy, a Florida landlord must:

• Comply with the applicable building, housing, and health codes.
• Where no such code applies, keep the roof, windows, doors, floors, steps, porches, exterior walls, foundation, and other structural parts in good repair and able to bear normal loads, and keep the plumbing in reasonable working condition.
• Install screens in reasonable condition when the tenancy starts, then repair screen damage once a year when needed.

The landlord is not responsible for conditions caused by the negligent or wrongful act of you, a family member, or someone on the property with your permission. The duty also does not cover a mobile home or other structure you own. Section 83.51 is Florida's version of the habitability right described in basic tenant rights.

Extra duties for apartments, narrower ones for houses and duplexes

If you rent an apartment or any unit other than a single-family home or duplex, the landlord must also make reasonable provision for the following, unless you agreed otherwise in writing:

• Extermination of rats, mice, roaches, ants, wood-destroying organisms, and bedbugs. If you must leave for treatment, the landlord must give 7 days' written notice, cannot require you to stay out more than 4 days, and must reduce the rent for that time.
• Locks and keys.
• Clean and safe common areas.
• Garbage removal and outside trash containers.
• Working heat in winter, running water, and hot water.

Your lease can still make you pay for garbage removal, water, fuel, or utilities.

If you rent a single-family home or duplex, none of those five duties applies by statute. The code and structural duties still apply, but the law lets you and the landlord change them in writing, so read the lease for clauses that shift repairs to you. The one added duty for a house or duplex is installing working smoke detectors at move-in, unless you agreed otherwise in writing.

One limit matters if you plan to withhold rent: a failure on the apartment-only list cannot, by itself, be raised as a defense to an eviction. It can when the same problem also violates the housing or health code, because the code duty then controls.

Section 83.51 does not mention air conditioning or mold. Either problem counts as a breach of the landlord's duty when it violates the applicable housing or health code, which your city or county code enforcement office can confirm with an inspection. If your lease promises working air conditioning, a failure to provide it can also support ending the lease under section 83.56(1) as a breach of a material (important) lease term. Mold in your rental covers documenting and cleaning up mold.

Step 1: Send a 7-day written notice

Write a notice that lists each problem and says what you will do if it is not fixed within 7 days: end the lease, withhold rent, or both. The Florida Bar's approved Form 4 covers withholding, termination, or both.

• Deliver it by hand or by mail. Email counts only if you and the landlord signed a lease addendum agreeing to email notices.
• A withholding notice can go to the landlord, the landlord's designated agent, a resident manager, or whoever collects your rent.
• Keep a copy, proof of delivery, dated photos, and any code inspection report.

The 7 days run from delivery and are counted under Florida's court rule for computing time. Start with the first day after delivery that is not a weekend or legal holiday, count 7 days including weekends, and if the 7th day falls on a weekend or legal holiday, the period ends on the next business day. The same rule adds 5 more days after that when a period runs from service by mail only, so mailing makes the wait longer. If you plan to withhold, deliver the notice early enough that the period ends before your next rent payment is due. Requesting repairs in Florida covers the repair request that usually comes first.

Option 1: End the lease

If the landlord has not fixed a material violation of the code duty, or of a material lease term, within 7 days after delivery of a notice stating that you intend to terminate, you may end the lease under section 83.56(1). Your security deposit is then handled under the usual return rules.

If the violation comes from causes beyond the landlord's control and the landlord keeps making every reasonable effort to fix it, the lease may be ended or changed by you and the landlord on these terms. If the unit is untenantable (unfit to live in) and you move out, you owe no rent while it stays that way. If the unit is still livable and you stay, the rent for the violation period drops in proportion to the lost rental value.

Option 2: Withhold rent, then pay it into the court registry

Once 7 days pass after delivery of a notice stating that you will not pay rent because of the violation, you can withhold rent and use the violation as a defense if the landlord sues for possession. A material violation of the code duty is a complete defense to an eviction for nonpayment, and the judge or jury decides how much, if anything, to reduce the rent for the unit's lost value during the violation. You owe the rest. Form 4's instructions advise putting each month's rent in a separate bank account until the dispute is resolved.

The landlord can respond with a 3-day notice demanding the rent, not counting weekends and legal holidays, and then file for eviction. Under section 83.60(2), raising any defense other than payment, including the repair defense, requires the steps below, starting within 5 days after you are served, not counting weekends and legal holidays:

1. File a written answer with the court clerk stating your defense, and mail or hand a copy to the landlord or the landlord's attorney. The court's answer form, Form 1.947(b), has a checkbox for this defense ("The landlord did not make repairs, and I withheld my rent after sending written notice to the landlord"), with a copy of your notice attached.
2. Deposit into the court registry, an account held by the clerk, the rent the complaint says you owe. If you think that figure is wrong, file a motion to determine rent with your answer, with documents showing the error.
3. Keep paying rent to the clerk as each payment comes due until the case ends.

Missing the deadline waives every defense except payment, and the landlord is entitled to an immediate default judgment and a writ of possession (the order that lets the sheriff remove you) without a hearing. Tenants in public housing or with a rent subsidy deposit only their share of the rent.

Example: your rent is $1,800. You withheld June's rent after a 7-day notice, the landlord filed, and you were served on a Monday in a week with no holidays. Your answer, plus either the $1,800 deposit or a motion to determine rent, is due by the following Monday, 5 weekdays later. The clerk also charges a registry fee of 3% of the first $500 and 1.5% of the rest, so the deposit costs $34.50 more ($15 plus $19.50). July's $1,800 goes to the clerk when it comes due. If the court finds the violation cut the unit's value by 25% during June, it reduces June's rent to $1,350.

The party that wins a lawsuit over the lease or the landlord-tenant law can recover reasonable attorney fees and court costs from the loser, so a withholding defense that fails can leave you owing the landlord's fees as well as the rent. Can you legally withhold rent compares Florida's rule with other states, and Florida eviction protections covers the rest of the eviction process.

Why Florida has no repair-and-deduct option

Florida's residential landlord-tenant law includes no repair-and-deduct remedy. Paying for a repair yourself and subtracting it from rent is protected only if your lease or a written agreement with the landlord allows it. If the landlord treats the shortfall as unpaid rent, your statutory defense is the 7-day withholding rule, which requires the notice, the court deposit, and a court decision on the reduction. The court, not your repair bill, sets how much rent you owe.