Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Florida
Landlord/Tenant Dispute
I live in a rental house under an oral agreement. I pay $900 a month (she raised it last year without notice) and this past week my air conditioner started having problems. The fan motor was dying, but we could get it started without damaging the unit. I told her on Wednesday, she did not come by the property until Saturday and, even though we found someone who could come and fix it that day and a place that was open for parts on Saturday, she refused to fix it, saying she needed to check prices on Monday and it may be Tuesday before she could fix it. We only have two screens in the whole house, the rest of the windows cannot be opened because we have cats, and the house is reaching over 95 degrees. We have had lots of problems with this landlord, including her showing up without notice several times a month, walking in the house, washing her car in the backyard, keeping the gated to the backyard locked so we cannot park our cars in the driveway, although we can enter the backyard through the house. I cannot find anything in the statutes on this subject, please help!
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Landlord/Tenant Dispute
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Florida law is silent on the question of a landlord's responsibility to provide air conditioning. Chapter 83 specifically mentions heating but fails to take into account the extreme heat in the State.
I would suggest that you let the landlord know that you will contact local authorities if the air conditioning is not fixed on Monday. Perhaps the concern of having a local (city or county) inspector come to the house will get some action on the landlord's part.
Scott R. Jay, Esq.
Re: Landlord/Tenant Dispute
The appropriate statute is Ch. 83, residential tenancies. You may be able to state a claim for constructive eviction. Alternatively, you may want to provide the LL with 30 days notice of your intent to leave and rent elsewhere. If you file a claim you may be able to recover as damages any increase you've had to pay in rent as a result of being forced to leave the premises. In any event, you should ask the LL for a written lease or ask an attorney to draft one for you. The requirements of CH. 83 are inferred in every residential lease.
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