Florida Trend | Florida's Business Authority

Florida laws seem to favor landlords over renters, survey says

This week, RENTCafé, a nationwide apartment search website, released a new study looking at the complex (and sometimes complicated) relationship between tenants and landlords, and found the most renter-friendly or landlord-friendly US states. To do that, RENTCafé compared laws referring to the 10 most common aspects of tenancy including security deposits, rent increases, the warranty of habitability and eviction notices. Then they created a ranking system based on the best and worst scenarios for renters and landlords.  

How did Florida rank? 

  • On the 40th spot on our list, Florida is among the places where the legislation seems to favor landlords. 
  • Renters who fall behind on rent get just 3 days to remedy the situation according to Florida Statutes. Failure to comply can get them evicted after another 7 days.
  • Also the fact that there are no statutes regulating rent increase or if a tenant is allowed to repair and deduct costs from rent shows that a tenant's life is not always sunny in Florida, especially when looking at the state laws. But at least they get the option to withhold rent for habitability issues.
  • Which states have the best and worst laws for renters? Vermont ranked 1st on our "renter-friendliness" scale. A landlord here cannot increase the rent without a 60-day notice, while in the District of Columbia  renters get a whole month to come up with the money if they can't pay the rent on time. On the other side of the spectrum, tenants in Arkansas have to pay for their apartment even if it has habitability issues and 5 days late on rent can get them evicted.

What's the bottom line? The Northern states developed more laws that regulated renting, while the Southern states shaped their laws to protect landlords and their properties. You can check out the interactive map and more details about the legislation in each state here: https://www.rentcafe.com/blog/renting/states-best-worst-laws-renters/