ORLANDO, Fla. — Families living at the Southern Oaks apartment complex off Silver Star Road told Channel 9 they have been living without AC for weeks and they can’t bare it any longer.
The temperature inside some of the apartments is hotter inside than it is outside.
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Anthony Brown and his family have felt miserable inside their own homes and they’re not alone.
“We’ve been asking for help for a while but we haven’t really got it,” Brown said.
Neighbors said it gets hotter than 90 degrees inside if fans and plug-ins aren’t on. They said two people have fainted.
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Channel 9 asked the complex’s office manager why the AC was out and when they’ll get fixed, and she said had nothing to say.
We asked a local real estate attorney who’s responsible for keeping residents cool.
“Surprisingly enough, under Florida statute, the landlord is not required to provide air conditioning, they are required to provide heat,” attorney Barry Miller.
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That is unless it says otherwise in the lease. The Southern Oaks lease states that Southern Oaks is responsible for the AC equipment.
“If the lease says that they’re providing AC and maintain it and they don’t do that, and the landlord breaches that, the landlord could be responsible for consequential damages,” Miller said.
That means tenants can write a letter giving the landlord a week to fix the problem. After that, tenants can break their lease without fees, get their security deposit back or withhold their rent and file that money with the courts.
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