ORLANDO, Fla. — The Florida Senate is expected to soon vote on a bill that would prohibit local governments from enacting their own Tenant Bill of Rights.

What You Need To Know

  • House Bill 1417 would weaken local governments' ability to regulate the rental housing market 

  • The Florida Senate is expected to vote on bill soon

  • The Republican-controlled Senate is expected to pass the bill

The House passed its version of the bill on Wednesday.

If passed it could be a problem for local governments like Orange County, which adopted a Tenant Bill of Rights last year to protect against sky rocketing prices.

Over the past year many renters across Central Florida saw their rent increase not a few percentage points, but by hundreds of dollars per month.

The county’s Tenant Bill of Rights says rent increases can’t go above 5%, and there needs to be a 60 day lease termination.

Now, if passed House Bill 1417 could greatly weaken those efforts.

Mike Bustillos knows a thing or two about renting an apartment — he’s been doing it for nearly 20 years.

Bustillos used to work in Orange, Osceola, and Lake counties but always lived where he wanted to, in Orange County. No matter where he lived, he was renting while saving in hopes of one day becoming a home owner.

“I use to have a job that didn’t pay enough, I use to be a teacher,” Bustillos said. “I couldn’t save up enough, and now I make enough, but I haven’t saved up enough yet, and I no longer qualify for a first-time homebuyer loan.”

Bustillos is no longer a teacher — he left the profession to work in network engineering, where he could make more money to help pay rent and save.

It’s a catch-22, though, because rent, like everything else, costs more. 

In Orlando Bustillos was paying $1,600 a month with a 10% increase. Now, he pays $2,200 a month renting in Winter Garden. 

“If we were going to sign a lease for the first time in our complex now, it would be $2,800,” Bustillos said. “We are way below the curve for our complex.”

The bill under consideration in the Florida Legislature would strip away the right of local governments to regulate tenant and landlord relationships.

Instead, that ability would be given to the state alone, which means many of the protections now in place could be undone. 

“It’s difficult to be a renter in Orange County,” Bustillos said. “I, for the life of me, can’t understand why the state government would be stepping in to tell local jurisdictions what they can and can’t do when it comes to local housing protections.”