Did You Know That Florida Law Doesn't Require Landlords To Provide Or Fix AC?

When you rent an apartment or condo, you’d expect to have a working AC system, especially in the worst of the Florida heat and humidity. What you may not realize is that no Florida law requires landlords to provide or fix a broken AC system. If you want a cool, low-humidity environment, you might have no choice but to pay for that yourself.

Across the U.S., few laws guarantee renters cool air. Many housing laws were adapted from those drafted decades ago in the Northeast, when few dangerously hot days meant no pressing need to codify a right to air conditioning.

But the world is warming.

In Florida, where temperatures tend to dip below freezing just a handful of days each year, most landlords are required to provide access to heat for tenants. But there is no legal obligation for a landlord to provide a means for air conditioning.

In 2021, Representative Michael Grieco and Senator Jason Pizzo filed bills (HB 819 and SB 1134) requiring Florida landlords to maintain working air conditioning systems. Currently, landlords are only required to have a working heating system, adequate plumbing with cold and hot water, and roofs, windows, doors, stairs, foundations, and walls that are in good repair. Pest control, trash removal, smoke detectors, working locks, and safe common areas are also on the list.

There’s no law regarding air conditioning beyond it being the tenant’s responsibility to use AC in a “reasonable” manner. If you live in a rented house, apartment, condo, etc. and the AC breaks down, your landlord is not legally required to fix it, as the bills to change this died in the subcommittee and in the Judiciary.

“Which … doesn’t make a lot of sense,” said Tom Felke, associate dean of health and human services at Florida Gulf Coast University.

Despite a lack of regulation, according to federal government surveys, the majority of Americans live with some air conditioning.

Still, some 14 million households are without, resulting in heat-related fatalities each year.

Florida laws addressing air conditioning have some nuance, said Jeffrey Hearne, the chief advocacy officer for Legal Services of Greater Miami, a nonprofit law group that provides free legal services to people in need.

While Hearne said individual leases govern each situation, landlords are typically required to maintain air-conditioning units present at the start of a lease.

But, that doesn’t always happen.

Last session, Florida Rep. Jervonte Edmonds co-sponsored a bill that would have required landlords to provide air conditioning, but the legislation failed to make it out of committee.

“It’s crazy that in the state of Florida, where temperatures feel like 100 degrees, landlords aren’t required to have AC units in their dwellings,” said Edmonds.

Landlord-tenant attorneys said renters should ask for air conditioning maintenance to added to their leases before they sign.

While landlords under Florida law do not have to provide or maintain air conditioning, these are some of the items they are required to provide:

• electricity
• running water
• secure roofs, doors, and windows
• smoke detectors
• trash removal
• heat

AC Unit.Photo byGetty Images