South Florida Personal Injury Lawyers Blog
Last updated September 15, 2026 · Reviewed by Elizabeth Estrada
Florida Statute § 768.0706 gives the owner of an apartment complex a presumption against liability for crimes committed on the property by third parties who are not its employees or agents, as long as the owner substantially implemented a list of security measures. Two 2026 bills would have denied that protection to properties with a recent history of reported crimes. Both died in committee on March 13, 2026, so the Florida apartment negligent security presumption remains exactly as the Legislature wrote it in 2023.
The presumption is not automatic. Subsection (3) puts the burden of proof on the owner or principal operator to show that it substantially implemented the security measures the statute lists. For a tenant or guest hurt in a robbery, shooting, or assault, the owner’s security records are central evidence, and our Florida negligent security attorneys ask for them first.
What the 2026 Bills Would Have Changed
Negligent security is a premises liability claim in which a person injured by a third party’s crime on someone else’s property seeks to hold the owner responsible for failing to provide adequate security. House Bill 1423, filed January 9, 2026, would have added a new subsection (4) to § 768.0706. Under it, an owner could not receive the presumption if two or more of these crimes had been reported at the property in the 24 months before the incident:
- Murder
- Robbery
- Sexual battery
- Aggravated assault
- Battery
- Kidnapping or false imprisonment
- A crime involving a firearm
The House Civil Justice and Claims Subcommittee amended the bill on January 29 so the crimes had to be reported to the owner or principal operator, and passed it 14 to 3. It then went to the Judiciary Committee and died there. The Senate version, Senate Bill 956, carried the same seven crimes and the same 24-month window. It was referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee and died there on the same day, March 13, without a committee vote.
What the Owner Must Prove Under the Florida Apartment Negligent Security Presumption
The statute covers multifamily residential property, which it defines as a residential building or group of buildings, such as apartments, townhouses, or condominiums, with at least five dwelling units on a particular parcel. The measures are concrete. They include a camera system at points of entry and exit that keeps footage retrievable for at least 30 days, a parking lot lit to an average of at least 1.8 foot-candles from dusk to dawn, lighting in walkways, laundry rooms, common areas, and porches, a deadbolt of at least one inch on each unit door, locks on windows and exterior sliding doors, locked pool gates with key or fob access, and peepholes on unit doors that have no window.
Two more require paperwork. The owner needs a crime prevention through environmental design assessment, known as a CPTED assessment, no more than three years old and performed by a law enforcement agency or a designated Florida CPTED practitioner, and the owner must remain in substantial compliance with it. Employees must receive crime deterrence and safety training, with new hires trained within 60 days. An owner that cannot produce the assessment or the training records has a harder time carrying its burden.
Crime History After the Bills Failed
A House staff analysis of CS/HB 1423 observed that negligent security cases often turn on whether the crime was foreseeable, and that similar crimes previously committed on the premises are one kind of evidence of foreseeability. The bills would have made a reported history of the listed crimes remove the presumption outright. That did not become law, and § 768.0706 as it stands contains no crime-history exception. The statute also states that it does not establish a private cause of action.
Friedman Rodman Frank & Estrada has represented injured people across South Florida since 1976, and our negligent security results include a $6.5 million recovery. In an apartment case we ask for the property’s prior incident reports alongside its security records, because the two together show what the owner knew and what it did about it.
Asking for the Owner’s Security Records Early
The camera measure in the statute calls for footage retrievable for at least 30 days, so video from the night of a crime may not be available for long. At Friedman Rodman Frank & Estrada, we represent tenants and guests hurt by crimes at apartment complexes in Miami-Dade, Broward, and Collier Counties. Call our office at (305) 448-8585 or send us a message and we will go through your claim with you at no charge.