Bay County, FL Rental Property Rules: Rent Control (2026)
Rent control rules in Bay County, FL, also known as rent stabilization or rent cap ordinances, limit annual rent increases and protect tenants from displacement.
Key Facts
- Governing law
- Fla. Stat. § 125.0103(2) (2023)
- Local rent caps
- Fully preempted statewide
- Only exception
- Inclusionary housing land-use tools
- Origin
- Ch. 77-50, Laws of Florida (1977)
- Latest amendment
- Ch. 2023-17
- Applies to
- Unincorporated county and all cities
Summary
Bay County cannot cap or freeze rents on private rental housing. Fla. Stat. § 125.0103(2) (2023) bars every Florida county, municipality, and local government entity from adopting a law, ordinance, or rule that controls rents. The only carve-out lets Bay County use land-use tools like inclusionary housing ordinances to expand affordable housing supply, not to set rent ceilings.
(1)(a) Except as hereinafter provided, a county, municipality, or other entity of local government may not adopt or maintain in effect an ordinance or a rule that has the effect of imposing price controls upon a lawful business activity that is not franchised by, owned by, or under contract with, the governmental agency, unless specifically provided by general law. ... (2) A municipality, county, or other entity of local government may not adopt or maintain in effect any law, ordinance, rule, or other measure that would have the effect of imposing controls on rents. (3) Notwithstanding any other provisions of this section, municipalities, counties, or other entities of local government may adopt and maintain in effect any law, ordinance, rule, or other measure which is adopted for the purposes of increasing the supply of affordable housing using land use mechanisms such as inclusionary housing ordinances.
Full Breakdown
Florida's ban on local rent control is not new law: the operative language in subsection (2) traces to chapter 77-50, Laws of Florida (1977), and the section has been amended nine times since, most recently by chapter 2023-17. Subsection (1)(a) already bars a county from capping prices on any private business it does not own, franchise, or contract with, carving out only public-service rates such as water, sewer, solid waste, transit, taxicabs, ports, and towing or vehicle-storage rates that counties must set maximum caps for under subsection (1)(c).
Subsection (2) goes further for housing specifically: it blocks "any law, ordinance, rule, or other measure" with the effect of imposing controls on rents, wording broader than the price-control language in subsection (1) because it reaches indirect measures, not just a formally labeled price-control ordinance. The only statutory escape hatch is subsection (3), which lets Bay County adopt land-use mechanisms, such as inclusionary housing ordinances requiring new developments to set aside affordable units, because those tools expand supply rather than cap what a landlord may charge on existing units.
Bay County's Code of Ordinances has no rent board, rent-increase notice mandate, or rent-freeze provision for the unincorporated county, and none of its incorporated cities, Panama City, Panama City Beach, Lynn Haven, Callaway or Springfield, may adopt one either. State law forecloses the option entirely, regardless of local housing-cost conditions or a documented shortage.
Violations & Fines
There is no local citation or fine for an "excessive" rent increase in Bay County, because no ordinance may exist to enforce one. A landlord who raises rent mid-lease still violates the written rental agreement, not a rent-control law, and a tenant's remedy runs through Chapter 83's landlord-tenant provisions in county or circuit court, not a county housing authority, since Bay County has no rent board or hearing process to petition.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can Bay County or Panama City limit how much a landlord raises rent?
Has Bay County ever tried to adopt rent control?
Is there any way for Bay County to address high rents?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Bay County
Florida rules heatmap·Compare Bay County to another location·View the Florida rental property rules overview
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