If you were shot, assaulted, robbed, or sexually assaulted at a Florida vacation rental, the property’s owner or operator may be liable when the attack was reasonably foreseeable and reasonable security could have prevented it. The claim is against the property, not the attacker, and it doesn’t depend on an arrest.

Foreseeability means the owner knew or should have known of the danger, and you generally show it with records that existed before the attack: prior crimes on or near the property, police call history, complaints to the host or association, and any security assessment.

Being attacked where you were supposed to feel safe is disorienting, and a vacation rental gives you no front desk to walk to and no night manager to call. You let yourself in with a code, and the person responsible for the locks and the lighting may be a property manager you’ve never met.

If you’re still figuring out how a rental injury claim works, our guide to vacation rental injuries in Florida starts there.

What a Negligent Security Claim Means at a Vacation Rental

The attack was a crime, and a negligent security claim is a separate civil claim against the people responsible for the property. It asks whether they took reasonable precautions against a risk they knew about, or had reason to know about. What you can recover still depends on liability, your losses, and the applicable coverage.

When Florida Law Requires a Property Owner to Guard Against Foreseeable Crime

Florida courts have said a landowner has a duty to protect an invitee on the premises from a reasonably foreseeable criminal attack, and a paying guest is someone the property invited in. In a 1983 decision, Stevens v. Jefferson, the Florida Supreme Court said foreseeability doesn’t require the owner to have known about a specific dangerous person; it is enough to prove the owner knew or should have known of a dangerous condition on the premises that was likely to cause harm. You would also generally have to show that reasonable precautions could have prevented the attack.

An attack with no warning signs behind it generally isn’t one the property is responsible for, but a history of break-ins, a gate everyone complained about, or a stairwell light that stayed out for months is a different case.

Why a Vacation Rental Is Different from a Hotel

A hotel has staff on site and one company responsible for the building; a vacation rental generally has neither, but Florida’s lodging law still applies to a licensed rental. Section 509.211 requires an approved lock on every door of a public lodging unit that opens to the outside, to an adjoining room, or to a hallway, and under Section 509.032 the state doesn’t routinely inspect vacation rentals. When a host uses Airbnb’s smart-lock integration, Airbnb says guest codes are generated automatically and expire within two hours of checkout; but a keypad code that never changes is a different situation.

The Records That Can Show an Attack Was Foreseeable

Foreseeability is built from records. They generally existed before the attack, some of them are public, and each one may show a different piece of what the property knew.

Prior Crimes On or Near the Property, and How Similar They Have to Be

Prior similar crimes bear directly on whether an attack was foreseeable, but Florida’s appellate courts have not applied one test to how similar, how close, and how recent they must be. A Florida Bar Journal review of the case law described the Third District Court of Appeal, which hears Miami-Dade appeals, as having required prior crimes that were similar, on the premises, and within the two previous years, while other districts let juries weigh nearby and dissimilar crimes as part of the whole picture.

Police Call History and Public Records

Section 119.07, Florida’s public records law, lets any person inspect and copy public records, and police calls for service and incident reports for an address are generally public. Section 119.071 exempts active criminal investigative information, so the file on your own attack may be withheld while the investigation is active, while older records about the address may still be available. The same section keeps information that may reveal the identity of a victim of a sexual offense confidential in law enforcement records, and an attorney can explain what a civil claim would and wouldn’t require of you, including what becomes public, before you decide anything.

Complaints, Assessments, Cameras, and What the Listing Promised

Notice can be as simple as a prior guest’s message that the gate wouldn’t latch, a review that mentions strangers in the parking lot at night, or a security complaint in condo board minutes. A crime prevention through environmental design assessment, a professional review of how a property’s layout and lighting affect crime, shows what the owner was told and what was done about it, and a listing that promised a gated community, a doorman, or a secure building set an expectation the property may not have met.

Cameras can help too. Airbnb has banned indoor cameras in listings since April 30, 2024, but allows outdoor cameras when the listing discloses them, so a doorbell camera the listing mentioned may have recorded the attacker. Ask the building in writing for footage as soon as you can; an attorney can send a formal request to preserve it. The only retention period Florida sets is in Section 768.0706, the 2023 negligent security statute: 30 days of entry footage, and only for a multifamily owner claiming its presumption.

Florida’s 2023 Negligent Security Law and the Presumption Against Liability

In 2023, Florida changed the rules for negligent security claims filed after March 24, 2023. Section 768.0706 gives the owner or principal operator of a multifamily residential property (apartments, townhouses, or condominiums with at least five dwelling units on one parcel) a presumption against liability if it can prove it put listed security measures in place, and Section 768.0701 requires the attacker’s own fault to be considered. A single-family house, a duplex, or a fourplex is outside the presumption entirely; a condo tower with units rented on Airbnb or Vrbo may be inside it, and the presumption covers crimes on the premises by third parties who are not the owner’s employees or agents.

The Security Measures an Owner Must Substantially Implement to Claim Presumption

To claim the presumption, the owner or principal operator must substantially implement the measures the statute lists:

• A camera system at points of entry and exit that records and keeps footage retrievable for at least 30 days
• Parking lot lighting at a set brightness, and lighting in walkways, laundry rooms, common areas, and porches, on from dusk until dawn
• At least a 1-inch deadbolt on each unit door, locks on each window and exterior sliding door, and a peephole or door viewer on unit doors without a window
• Locked gates with key or fob access along pool fence areas
• By January 1, 2025, a crime prevention through environmental design assessment no more than 3 years old, performed by a law enforcement agency or a state-designated practitioner, with the property staying in substantial compliance with it
• Crime deterrence and safety training for employees, with new hires trained within 60 days

The Owner Carries the Burden of Proving the Measures Were in Place

Section 768.0706 puts the burden of proof on the owner or principal operator to demonstrate that the measures were substantially implemented, so the records that bear on it include camera logs, lighting, locks, the assessment and its date, and training records. Proving that is the building’s job, not yours, and without that showing, your claim generally proceeds on the ordinary foreseeability questions. The statute doesn’t say how the presumption can be overcome once it applies, creates no private cause of action, and, as of 2024, had no standard jury instruction from Florida’s civil jury instructions committee, so an attorney can assess how it applies to the building you stayed in.

How Florida Requires the Attacker’s Share of Fault to Be Considered

Section 768.0701 provides that in a negligent security claim against a property’s owner, lessor, operator, or manager, the jury or judge deciding the case must consider the fault of everyone who contributed to the injury, including the attacker. Under Section 768.81, Florida’s comparative fault statute, judgment is entered against each liable party based on its percentage of fault, so a judgment against an owner found liable generally reflects only its own percentage, and your own share, if any, reduces your damages unless you are found more than 50% at fault for your own harm. None of that means the attack was your fault; it means the owner’s share is measured against everyone else’s.

Who Controlled the Locks, the Lighting, and the Gate at the Rental

Whether a party may be liable for security generally depends on what it controlled, and at a vacation rental that control is split. Our guide to who is liable for an Airbnb or Vrbo injury in Florida explains each party’s role.

What the Host, the Building, and the Manager Generally Control

The host or owner generally controls the unit’s locks, the entrance lighting, and who has the access code, so a code that was never changed or a broken deadbolt a prior guest reported may support a claim against the host if that failure contributed to the attack. In a condo or apartment-style building, the gates, garage, lobby cameras, common-area lighting, and any security staff are generally the association’s or operator’s responsibility, and a manager who handled guest access or a security company that ignored its contract may also be part of the case.

Airbnb and Vrbo generally don’t control security at a property, and our guide to suing Airbnb or Vrbo explains the narrow exceptions. In most cases, a verdict or settlement is paid by insurance, and our guide to vacation rental insurance claims explains how to identify the policies behind a rental.

Frequently Asked Questions About Negligent Security at Florida Vacation Rentals

These are the questions we hear most often from people who were attacked at a rental and want to know whether the property is part of the case.

Does Florida’s presumption law apply to a single-family Airbnb house?

Generally, no. Section 768.0706 reaches multifamily residential property with five or more dwelling units on one parcel, so a single-family house or a duplex is outside it, and the ordinary foreseeability rules apply with no presumption in the owner’s favor.

How long do I have to file a negligent security claim in Florida?

Section 95.11, Florida’s statute of limitations, generally gives you two years to file a negligence lawsuit, and a negligent security claim is a negligence claim. A wrongful death claim after a vacation rental death also carries a two-year period, while a claim against the attacker personally for assault or battery is an intentional tort with a four-year period under the same section. Exceptions can affect the filing date, and an attorney can assess which deadline applies to your claim.

What should I do first after an attack at a vacation rental?

Call 911 and get medical care. Airbnb’s guest support guidance says to contact local police or emergency services immediately if your safety is threatened, to take photos or videos as evidence, and to report the issue to Airbnb, which staffs a safety line day and night. Save every message, and for the first day and the first week, see our guide to what to do after a vacation rental injury.

Talk to Stabinski Law About a Negligent Security Claim at a Vacation Rental

If you were attacked at a rental in Miami or anywhere in Florida, you shouldn’t have to piece together the property’s history on your own while you recover. Our Miami Airbnb security lawyers handle these claims across Florida, and if you’ve already gone home, we handle the Miami side while you continue care where you live, by phone, email, or secure portal. We can review whether the attack was foreseeable on the records available, whether the owner can claim the 2023 presumption, and who controlled the security at the property.

Stabinski Law has represented injured people in Florida since 1970, through two generations of the same family. You can expect personal attorney attention: an attorney reviews your inquiry and explains your options in plain language. Our bilingual attorneys and staff can discuss your questions, documents, and next steps in Spanish.

Consultations are free. If we accept your case on a contingency-fee basis, you pay no attorney’s fees upfront. Your written agreement explains our fee from any recovery and how case costs are handled. Contact Stabinski Law or call 305-643-3100 to talk through what happened at the property and what your options may be.