Fort Lauderdale, FL Rental Property Rules: Repairs & Habitability (2026)

" That baseline sits alongside owner/operator duties in the same section to maintain shared yards, courts, driveways, lawns and shrubbery in a clean and sanitary condition, and to prevent stagnant water from accumulating on the exterior premises. Hotel and rooming house owners carry parallel duties: sanitary and safe maintenance of equipment, walls, floors and ceilings; privacy devices on windows; a ban on cooking in individual rooming units; sanitary garbage and trash disposal; and a ban on using cellar or basement space as a habitable room.

The Minimum Housing Code's enforcement mechanism backs the standard with teeth. Under Sec. 9-257, the city's enforcing agency may inspect any dwelling, dwelling unit, hotel or rooming house at reasonable hours, and the owner or occupant must give free access. Where the enforcing agency finds a unit so dilapidated, damaged, decayed, unsanitary or unsafe that it creates a serious hazard, or lacking adequate illumination, ventilation or sanitary facilities, Sec. 9-259 lets the city declare it unfit for human occupancy, order it vacated within 5 days, and placard the structure in red lettering until the defects are corrected. An owner has 15 days to appeal to the unsafe structures and housing appeals board under Sec. 9-258(e).