No, Your Landlord Can't Shut Off Your Electricity or Water in Florida

Last month, a woman who lives in the Broward city of West Park emailed state Rep. Shevrin Jones with an urgent problem.

Unable to pay her rent, she said her landlord had shut off the electricity to the home she shares with her husband and three children. Jones promised to help and contacted the landlord to let him know that what he was doing was illegal.

"When I got to that point, he hung up on me," Jones tells New Times. "He went over to their house again to threaten to throw them out."

Under Florida law, landlords can't shut off a home's power or water in an attempt to force out a renter. But now that many tenants are struggling to pay rent because of a coronavirus-related job loss, some advocates worry that cash-strapped families could face retaliation in the form of a utility shutoff.

Read more: https://www.browardpalmbeach.com/news/can-your-landlord-shut-off-power-or-water-in-florida-no-10639450