How does a tenant withhold rent from the landlord when there are problems with the rental?

Attorney Tom Olsen: There's a tenant and there's a problem with the property and the tenant has a remedy under Florida statute Chapter 83, Part 2. Let's just recap. What is the tenant's remedy? What should the tenant do if there's a problem with the property that they're renting from the landlord?

Attorney Caleb Maggio: Well, Tom, they should deliver what's called a seven-day notice to cure. This is a written document that specifies the particular problem, that identifies that landlord, I'm going to be withholding rent in X amount of dollars because that's what this problem is worth and you have seven days to come and fix it, or I will be withholding that rent from you.

Tom: Can you give us some examples of what tenants have done as far as you know, as far as what kind of things they're putting on these seven-day notices?

Caleb: Sure, Tom. The big one is AC. I've seen some mold as well. Every once in a while you'll get smaller issues like a leaky faucet or a stained carpet. I wouldn't particularly advise doing it for those little things because you're going to look quite silly to a court if you really fight it later. Particularly for stuff like AC in Florida, that's really important, Tom.

Tom: Remind me, does the Florida statute obligate a landlord to provide air conditioning and/or heat in any residential unit?

Caleb: In Florida, air conditioning is required, Tom.

Tom: Okay. I don't think that's always been the case. I think it used to just be heat, but now it's actually air conditioning too.

Caleb: I believe that's correct, Tom.

Tom: You were talking about a little old lady that ran into a problem. She was a tenant. Tell the listeners about that problem that she had as a tenant.

Caleb: Her AC was no longer working. She was older. She didn't have the physical capability to move around things, and she had a lot of furniture in the way of that AC unit. The landlord had sent a repairman and what she had done is she had paid some movers to move her furniture out of the way of the AC unit so the repairman could get there. What she then did was she withheld the cost of hiring the mover from the landlord in the next month's rent.

Unfortunately, that is not a basis under the seven-day notice to cure, to withhold the rent. She ended up getting an eviction filed against her for that. She came to me a bit too late and it was too late to do anything about it. She ended up being out of luck in that situation. As a tenant, you have to be very careful and follow the statute on what you are authorized to withhold rent for.

Tom: What she really should have done was when the landlord's men came to fix the air conditioner, had them move whatever needed to be moved.

Caleb: That's right. Either that or if they refuse, then she would be required to remove it herself or incur the cost of removing it herself. It is her furniture.