Rent control rules in St. Petersburg, FL — also known as rent stabilization or rent cap ordinances — limit annual rent increases and protect tenants from displacement.
St. Petersburg has no rent control ordinance. Florida preempts all local rent control under Fla. Stat. Sec. 125.0103, and the 2023 Live Local Act (SB 102) eliminated the housing-emergency exception. HB 1417 (Fla. Stat. Sec. 166.0444) further preempted local tenant-protection ordinances. St. Petersburg cannot adopt rent stabilization, rent caps, or any local limit on rent increases. Landlords set rent and increases by lease contract subject only to state notice rules.
Rent in St. Petersburg is set by the market and the lease, not by ordinance — and state law keeps it that way. Florida preempts local rent control through Fla. Stat. §125.0103, the 2023 Live Local Act (SB 102) closed the housing-emergency exception that once existed on paper, and HB 1417 (§166.0444) barred local tenant-protection ordinances more broadly. So St. Petersburg cannot cap rents or limit increases even if it wanted to. Tenants' main protections are procedural: the lease terms themselves and state notice rules, including 30 days' notice for month-to-month rent changes.
No local rent-control rules exist to violate — state law preempts them. Rent-increase disputes are lease and state-law matters, not code enforcement issues.
Other ordinances people look up for this city. Green dot = verified primary-source excerpt.
St. Petersburg, FL
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Side-by-side rule comparisons with other cities in Pinellas County.
See how other cities in Pinellas County handle rent control.
See how St. Petersburg's rent control rules stack up against other locations.
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