Habitability: A Landlord's Duty to Repair

Florida law requires landlords to maintain rental property in a condition that complies with applicable building, housing, and health codes, and to keep essential systems — plumbing, heating where climate requires it, electrical, and structural elements — in good working order. This duty generally can't be waived in the lease for most residential tenancies.

What a tenant has to do first

Before withholding rent or terminating a lease over a habitability problem, a tenant must give the landlord written notice of the issue and a reasonable opportunity — generally 7 days — to fix it. Skipping this step and simply withholding rent is one of the most common tenant mistakes, and it can expose the tenant to an eviction for nonpayment even when the underlying complaint about the condition of the unit is completely legitimate.

What happens if the landlord doesn't fix it

If the landlord doesn't make the repair within the notice period, Florida law gives the tenant options depending on the severity: terminating the lease, or in some circumstances withholding rent going forward (into the court registry, not simply keeping it) until the repair is made. These remedies come with their own strict procedural requirements, so the safest approach is following the statute's notice process exactly, in writing, rather than relying on a verbal complaint.

What's usually the tenant's responsibility instead

Minor maintenance and damage caused by the tenant's own actions typically fall on the tenant, not the landlord, and some obligations — like pest control or lawn care in a single-family rental — can be shifted to the tenant by the lease. Reading what the specific lease assigns to which party matters, since the baseline statutory duties can be supplemented, though not eliminated, by the lease terms.