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

Sec. 18-101 of the Sanford City Code adopts the 2015 International Property Maintenance Code by reference, and Sec. 18-102 incorporates its full text into the City Code as amendments. Chapter 6 of that adopted code sets the mechanical habitability floor: Sec. 602.2 requires every dwelling to have heating facilities capable of maintaining 68 degrees Fahrenheit in all habitable rooms, bathrooms and toilet rooms, based on the winter outdoor design temperature for the locality, and bars cooking appliances or portable unvented fuel-burning space heaters from being used to meet that requirement, dropping to 65 degrees where the average monthly temperature stays above 30 degrees.

Sec. 602.3, Heat supply, separately obligates every owner or operator who rents, leases or lets a dwelling unit or sleeping unit, and who has agreed expressly or by implication to furnish heat, to actually supply heat maintaining that 68-degree minimum during the heating season, printed in the adopted code with the season's start and end dates left as unfilled '[DATE]' placeholders rather than city-specific dates. Beyond heating, the same adopted code's Chapter 3 requires the owner to maintain rental structures and exterior property in a clean, safe and sanitary condition (Sec.

301.2), keeps sidewalks and driveways free of hazardous conditions (Sec. 302.3), and requires exterior walls, roofs, foundations, stairs, window and door frames and insect screens to be kept sound, weathertight and in good repair (Sec. 304). Habitability enforcement runs through the same code: Sec. 106.1 makes it unlawful to violate any provision of the adopted Property Maintenance Code, and Sec. 106.2 directs that notice and prosecution of violations proceed under Chapter 26 of the City of Sanford Code of Ordinances, the city's code enforcement chapter.