Broken AC in a Florida rental: a tenant's guide

On base or off base: who you call

If you are a military family near Eglin or Hurlburt, start with where you live.

If you live in housing on Eglin AFB or Hurlburt Field, AC repairs go through the base housing office or its privatized housing partner. Census figures (2020 to 2024) count about 954 housing units in the Eglin ZIP (32542) and 583 in the Hurlburt ZIP (32544). Use the work order process you were given at move-in and keep a record of each request. Crestview AC Desk can't help with on-base housing.

If you rent off base, anywhere from Crestview to Mary Esther, you are an ordinary Florida tenant. Your landlord's duties come from state law and your lease, the same as any civilian renter. The rest of this page is for you.

What Florida law says

Section 83.51 of the Florida Statutes sets out what a landlord has to maintain. It requires compliance with applicable building, housing and health codes. For buildings other than single-family homes and duplexes, unless the lease says otherwise, it also lists things like heat during winter and running water.

Air conditioning is not on that list. That surprises people in a place where Crestview logs 108 days a year at 90°F or hotter, but it is what the statute says. I did not find a state or local rule that requires AC in rentals.

That does not leave you without options. The answer depends on two other things.

Your lease and local codes

Many leases say who maintains the AC. Read yours for:

• A clause that lists appliances or systems the landlord maintains. AC is often named.
• A clause that makes the tenant responsible for filters and minor repairs.
• How repair requests must be made, and to whom.
• Whether a property manager or an HOA is involved. If a management company runs the rental, the lease should name it.

If the lease says the landlord maintains the AC, that is a contract obligation even though the statute does not list it. Local building and housing codes can also matter, since 83.51 requires the landlord to follow them. What those codes require for a given property is a question for someone who knows them.

Put the request in writing

Call or text if that is how your landlord works, but also send it in writing. Email is fine if your lease allows it. Include:

1. The date the AC stopped working and what it is doing (not cooling, not turning on, leaking, frozen coil).
2. The indoor temperature if you have a thermometer, and anyone in the home who is vulnerable to heat, such as small children or someone with a medical condition.
3. A request for a repair by a specific, reasonable date.
4. Photos of the thermostat and any water around the air handler.

Keep copies of everything, including the landlord's replies. Don't hire a contractor and deduct it from rent on your own. That is the step where you want advice first. A local legal aid office or a landlord-tenant attorney can tell you what applies before you withhold rent or pay for a repair yourself. If you are in the military, the legal assistance office on your installation is another place to ask.

Things to check before you call

Some AC failures are quick fixes you are allowed to check yourself:

• Check that the thermostat is set to cool and the screen has power. Replace the batteries if it uses them.
• Check the breaker panel for a tripped AC breaker. Reset it once. If it trips again, leave it off and report it.
• Look at the filter. A badly clogged filter can freeze the coil and stop cooling.
• Look for water around the indoor unit. A clogged condensate drain can trip a float switch that shuts the AC off. That is common in this humidity. Our drain line page explains it.

Mention what you checked in your written request. It saves the technician a trip and shows you acted reasonably. If you just moved in for a PCS, our PCS move-in AC checklist covers what to look at on day one.

Heat safety while you wait

Where you live changes the risk. Inland, the afternoons are the problem: the Crestview airport logs 108 days a year at 90°F or hotter, against 71 at the Destin-Fort Walton Beach Airport (2016 to 2025). Near the beach, the nights are: the coast logs 106 nights a year that never drop below 75°F, against 10 in Crestview. A rental in Fort Walton Beach or Destin without AC may not cool off overnight, and that is when your body needs the break.

The National Weather Service lists the signs. Heat exhaustion usually means heavy sweating and cold, clammy skin, often with nausea or dizziness. Get to a cooler place and sip water. Heat stroke is an emergency: a high body temperature with hot red skin, or confusion. Call 911.

• Spend the hottest part of the day somewhere air conditioned: a library, a store, a friend's place.
• Check on older neighbors and anyone with a medical condition.
• Pets need the same thought.

If you are the landlord

Crestview AC Desk is a free referral service. We pass your request to one licensed local HVAC company. Ask the company whether they charge a diagnostic fee before the visit, and ask for the failed part by name and a photo, with the price, so you can compare repair against replacement. Fort Walton Beach has the oldest housing in the area, with 45% of homes built before 1980, so an older rental may be on its second or third system, with a history nobody wrote down. Our AC repair cost guide lists published prices for common repairs, and our AC repair page covers the request.