Can a Florida Landlord Be Liable for a Criminal Attack on a Tenant?

Quick Summary

Yes. A Florida landlord can be held liable when a tenant is injured in a criminal attack by someone else, but only when the criminal conduct was reasonably foreseeable and the landlord knew or should have known about the danger. A landlord isn't an insurer of your safety. But a December 2025 decision from Florida's Third District Court of Appeal shows how much a landlord's knowledge of prior crime matters, including crime in the surrounding neighborhood.

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Key Takeaways

• A Florida landlord isn't automatically liable when a tenant becomes the victim of a crime.
• Florida courts recognize a special relationship between landlords and tenants, which can create a duty to take precautions or warn when criminal conduct is foreseeable.
• Foreseeability doesn't require predicting the specific crime, who would commit it, when, or how.
• Prior crimes don't have to happen at your exact address, because crime in the surrounding neighborhood can be part of the analysis.
• Prior crimes don't have to match the attack that injured you, since crimes against people and property can both bear on foreseeability.
• Florida Statute 768.0701 requires the factfinder to weigh the fault of everyone who contributed to the injury, including both the criminal and the property owner.
• Florida Statute 768.0706 gives some multifamily properties a presumption against liability, but only when the owner substantially implements the full set of security measures it lists.

What This Means for You

If you were assaulted, robbed or shot on property you rent or were lawfully visiting, your instinct is that the person who attacked you is responsible. He is. That's his criminal case.

But Florida civil law lets you ask a second question, and nobody is going to ask it for you.

Did someone responsible for that property already know there was a danger here, and do nothing?

Sometimes the answer is no. Sometimes it's an entire crime history nobody ever looked at.

He Asked About the Neighborhood. He Was Told It Was "Calm."

Juan Guelmes had rented a home in a Homestead cul-de-sac for roughly 16 months. He was outside cleaning his car when a man he didn't know walked up, grabbed the chain around his neck and told him to hand it over.

Guelmes refused. The man shot him in the shoulder. They started fighting, and the attacker shot him three more times.

The man who fired the gun committed the crime. Nobody argued otherwise. But Guelmes's lawsuit focused on something from long before the shooting. Before renting, he asked the property manager about the neighborhood. He testified he was told it was "calm."

The evidence at trial told a different story. A Miami-Dade jury found the landlord, Dama Holding LLC, negligent and awarded Guelmes $4 million. Florida's Third District Court of Appeal affirmed on December 3, 2025. SOURCE: Dama Holding LLC v. Guelmes, No. 3D24-0684 (Fla. 3d DCA Dec. 3, 2025)

When Can a Florida Landlord Be Responsible for a Third-Party Criminal Attack?

Florida law doesn't make a landlord an insurer of a tenant's safety. Generally, a property owner has no duty to protect anyone from criminal conduct that couldn't reasonably have been foreseen.

But Florida courts recognize a special relationship between landlords and tenants. When criminal conduct is foreseeable, that relationship can create a duty to take reasonable precautions, and sometimes a duty to warn.

What "Foreseeable" Actually Means

Negligent security is the legal term for a premises liability claim brought when a property owner failed to take reasonable precautions against a foreseeable criminal attack.

Foreseeable doesn't mean the landlord had to know who would commit the crime, when, or how. The question is whether the information available beforehand made the risk of criminal activity reasonably predictable.

Why the Evidence Against This Landlord Was So Significant

The verdict wasn't based on somebody calling the area a "high-crime neighborhood." There was much more.

The Crime History Around the Property

Guelmes's security expert testified that 351 crimes occurred within the relevant police geographic grid in the five years before the attack, including robbery, armed robbery, burglary, theft, aggravated battery and aggravated assault. The expert described it as a very, very high crime area. SOURCE: Dama Holding LLC v. Guelmes, No. 3D24-0684 (Fla. 3d DCA Dec. 3, 2025)

Crimes at the Rental House Itself

There was also evidence of crimes involving other properties Dama Holding owned in the same cul-de-sac. And there had been prior crimes at the house Guelmes rented:

• A residential burglary and theft
• An occupied residential armed burglary
• A burglary and grand theft

The appellate court noted evidence that the landlord knew about at least some of that activity. So this wasn't a general argument that crime exists somewhere in Homestead. There was crime in the surrounding grid, on the landlord's other properties, and at the rental home itself before this tenant signed a lease.

What the Landlord Did About the Risk

Before trial, the parties stipulated that Dama had:

• No security cameras or gate
• No security company or guards
• No security survey of the property or surrounding area
• No procedures or policies for protecting tenants from violent crime
• No security budget

One of the owners testified the company had never attempted to determine whether the neighborhood was a high-crime area. The property manager testified he had never checked police records to determine crime levels at any property he managed.

⚠️ Critical Warning: What an owner knew, and what an owner reasonably should have known, are both fair game. Choosing not to look isn't the same as not knowing.

Two Questions the Third District Answered

Do Prior Crimes Have to Happen on the Exact Property?

No. The landlord argued that crimes outside its property shouldn't establish foreseeability. The Third District rejected that, explaining that incidents in the surrounding neighborhood can be relevant.

That doesn't mean any crime nearby creates liability. It means a landlord can't draw a line at the property line and ignore everything past it.

Does the Prior Crime Have to Match the Attack?

Not necessarily. A landlord can't always win by arguing nobody had ever been shot there before. The Third District discussed prior Florida decisions recognizing that crimes against both people and property can bear on foreseeability, even when the earlier crimes were less serious.

A burglary isn't a shooting. But a pattern can still help a jury decide whether a later violent crime was foreseeable.

What the Florida Appeals Court Actually Decided

This part gets misreported, so I want to be precise. The Third District did not hold that every landlord in a high-crime neighborhood is liable when a tenant becomes a crime victim, and it did not create a rule that some number of prior crimes establishes negligence.

It held there was sufficient evidence for a jury to decide whether this attack was foreseeable. The jury heard it, found the landlord negligent and awarded $4 million.

Florida Law Has Changed Since This Attack

Guelmes was attacked in 2014. Florida enacted significant premises liability legislation on third-party criminal acts in 2023, and those provisions are Florida law today.

Florida Statute 768.0701

When someone lawfully on commercial or real property is injured by the criminal act of a third party and sues the owner, lessor, operator or manager, the trier of fact must consider the fault of all persons who contributed to the injury. SOURCE: Fla. Stat. § 768.0701

So a Florida negligent security case isn't an either-or between blaming the criminal and blaming the property owner. Both go into the analysis.

Florida Statute 768.0706

Florida also gives certain multifamily residential properties a presumption against liability when the owner substantially implements a specified set of security measures.

It applies to properties with at least five dwelling units on a parcel. The measures include cameras at entry and exit points keeping footage retrievable for at least 30 days, a parking lot lit to an average of at least 1.8 foot-candles per square foot, lighting in walkways and common areas, deadbolts and locks, a crime prevention assessment, and employee safety training. SOURCE: Fla. Stat. § 768.0706

Note the word substantially, and note that it's the full set. A camera bolted to a wall doesn't get a complex the presumption. The owner carries the burden of proving the measures were implemented.

What I Look For First

I represented a woman attacked in the parking area of her Broward County apartment complex. Her first call started the way most of these do. She said she knew it was nobody's fault but the man who attacked her, and wasn't sure she had a case.

We pulled the calls for service for that address. Dozens over three years. Maintenance tickets showed the rear gate had been broken for months and residents had reported it repeatedly. The camera covering that lot had been out of service since before she moved in.

She had no idea any of it existed, and no reason she would. The evidence that decides these cases usually isn't anything you saw. It's paperwork in a management office and in police databases, and you can't get most of it alone.

If you were seriously hurt in a criminal attack on someone else's property in Florida, call Kris Torres Injury Law at 561.414.4769 for a free case review, or → request a free consultation online. There's no fee unless we recover for you.

What Evidence Matters in a Florida Negligent Security Case?

An attack takes seconds. Proving what the owner knew beforehand can require looking back years. Evidence often includes:

• Police reports and calls for service
• Prior crimes at or near the property
• Previous tenant complaints
• Surveillance video
• Security and maintenance records
• Broken gates, locks, lights or cameras
• Communications between tenants and management

What to Do After a Criminal Attack on Florida Property

Your safety and medical care come first. Once you're safe, these steps protect the record.

1. Report the crime to law enforcement. Make sure an official report exists and write down the report number.
2. Get medical attention right away. Some injuries worsen over time, and your records document the injuries and the timeline.
3. Photograph the scene if it's safe. Capture lighting, gates, locks, doors and cameras. Conditions change fast after an incident.
4. Save every communication with the landlord or property manager. Don't delete old emails, texts, maintenance requests or complaints about security.
5. Write down what you were told about the property. If anyone described the neighborhood or the security before you moved in, record what was said and who said it.
6. Identify witnesses. Neighbors and other tenants often know about earlier incidents.
7. Don't assume the attacker is the only responsible party. Criminal responsibility and civil responsibility are separate questions.
8. Talk to a Florida personal injury attorney early. These investigations need police records, property records, video and prior complaints a tenant can't obtain alone.

Read more in our → guide to Florida personal injury claims

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I sue my landlord if someone attacks me at my apartment in Florida?Possibly. A claim may exist when the attack was foreseeable and the landlord knew or should have known about the danger but failed to respond reasonably.

Do previous crimes have to occur at my apartment complex?Not always. Florida courts have recognized that criminal activity in the surrounding neighborhood may be relevant to foreseeability, depending on the facts.

What if the previous crimes were burglaries but I was assaulted or shot?Prior crimes don't have to be identical to the attack that injured you. Crimes against people and property can both be relevant to whether later criminal activity was foreseeable.

Does having security cameras automatically protect a landlord from liability?No. Florida Statute 768.0706 provides that presumption only when the owner substantially implements the full collection of measures the statute requires. Cameras are one part.

Does the landlord have to know the specific attacker was dangerous?Not necessarily. Foreseeability concerns the risk of criminal activity at that location, not whether the landlord could have identified the attacker.

What if my landlord told me the neighborhood was safe?That alone doesn't establish liability, but communications between tenant and landlord can become evidence. In Dama, the tenant testified he asked and was told the area was "calm."

What if the person who attacked me is never caught?A negligent security claim concerns the property owner's conduct, not the attacker's. An unknown attacker doesn't by itself decide whether a claim exists.

Does this apply only to apartments?No. Florida Statute 768.0701 covers claims against the owner, lessor, operator or manager of commercial or real property, so these claims arise at rentals, parking garages, hotels, bars and retail properties. The 768.0706 presumption is narrower and covers only qualifying multifamily residential properties.

How long do I have to file a negligent security claim in Florida?Florida currently provides a two-year limitations period for negligence actions in many cases, but exceptions apply depending on when the claim arose and who the defendant is. Have your deadline evaluated early.

Final Thoughts

The thing I keep coming back to isn't the $4 million. It's the property manager's testimony that he had never checked police records at any property he managed.

That information wasn't hidden. A security expert pulled it years after the fact without much difficulty. Three hundred fifty-one crimes in five years, sitting in a database, available to anyone who asked.

The landlord never asked. And when the tenant asked, he was told the area was calm.

That's the gap Florida law will look at. Not whether an owner can stop every crime, because nobody can. Whether an owner who had every reason to see a danger coming can point at the criminal and walk away from the part that was his.

Get Help Now

I'm Kris Torres. I've practiced personal injury law in Florida for 16 years and recovered more than $100 million for clients. When someone is seriously injured in a shooting, assault or robbery on rental or commercial property, the first thing I want to know is what happened before the attack.

Were there prior crimes? Had tenants complained? Were the lights out, the gate broken, the cameras dead? Had anyone checked?

If you or someone in your family was seriously injured in a criminal attack on property in Florida, contact Kris Torres Injury Law for a free consultation. We represent injury victims throughout Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties and across Florida, from our offices in Miami and Jupiter. Your consultation is free, and you pay nothing unless we win your case.

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