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

Section 19-231, in Chapter 19's Division 2 ('Specific Technical Requirements'), lists eighteen numbered habitability standards that apply to every dwelling unit offered for occupancy in the city, not just registered rentals. Sanitary facilities must include a kitchen sink, a private water closet, a bathtub or shower, and a lavatory, all connected to both hot and cold water lines, with water heating capable of delivering water at least 120 degrees Fahrenheit at every required fixture. Permanent heating equipment must hold habitable rooms at 70 degrees three feet above the floor under ordinary minimum winter conditions, and unvented fuel-fired heaters are barred from bedrooms and multifamily dwellings outright.

Smoke detectors approved by Underwriters' Laboratories are required in every unit, sized and placed to manufacturer specs or NFPA 74. Habitable rooms need window or skylight area equal to at least 10 percent of floor space (15 percent for skylight-only rooms), with at least 45 percent of that area openable for ventilation. Space standards require 150 square feet of habitable floor area for the first occupant plus 100 square feet per additional occupant, 70 square feet per single sleeping occupant, and a 7-foot minimum ceiling height.

Item (17) closes the list with the catch-all standard that applies regardless of which specific item a landlord violates: every unit let or offered to let must be clean, sanitary, fit for human habitation and in a good state of repair. Section 19-232 then splits day-to-day responsibility, owners maintain shared/public areas, screens, and accessory structures, while occupants keep their own unit clean and dispose of garbage properly, but the construction and condition standards in § 19-231 remain the owner's baseline obligation regardless of who is at fault for day-to-day upkeep.