Hurricane season maintenance checklist for Florida rental properties

When is hurricane season in Florida, and when does it peak?

The official Atlantic season runs from June 1 to November 30, according to the National Hurricane Center. The weather does not spread itself evenly across those six months. The center puts the peak on September 10, with most activity between mid-August and mid-October, and it notes that storms sometimes form before the season opens or after it closes. Measured over 1991 to 2020, an average season brings 14 named storms, seven hurricanes and three major hurricanes.

For a property manager, the shape of that curve is the useful part. June and July are the months for slow work: roof inspections, tree trimming, a vendor list that someone has actually called.

In September, the same list is a race against a forecast cone.

What should a rental property checklist cover before the season starts?

The pre-season work falls into three piles: the buildings, the records and the people. All of it is easier in June.

The buildings

• Clean and repair gutters and downspouts, and check that the ground slopes away from each foundation so water does not collect against it. Both appear on the EPA's moisture-control list for preventing mold, along with keeping air conditioning drip pans clean and drain lines flowing.
• Check that site drains and catch basins run clear before the first heavy rain tests them.
• Walk the roofs, the flashing and the seals around windows and doors, and trim limbs that hang over roofs.
• Test smoke alarms and carbon monoxide alarms in every unit.
• Look up each property's evacuation zone with the state's Know Your Zone map, linked from the Florida Division of Emergency Management's plan and prepare page.

The records

• Photograph every unit, every exterior wall and every roof plane, with dates. After a storm, they are your best proof of what the building looked like before.
• Pull each property's insurance policy, note the deductibles and write down how to file a claim.
• Keep copies of policies, insurance cards and key documents in a waterproof container, which is what the state's disaster supply kit checklist recommends for households too.

The people

• Build a vendor list by trade (roofing, plumbing, electrical, water mitigation, tree removal) and confirm that each vendor's certificate of insurance is current now, not after landfall. The guide to vetting a maintenance vendor in Florida covers what to check.
• Agree with each vendor, in advance, how work will be dispatched after a storm, when all of their customers call at once.
• Collect a current phone number and email address for every resident, and decide how notices will go out if the office loses power.
• Send residents the state's household guidance: the Division of Emergency Management asks families to build a kit with supplies for at least 7 days, including 1 gallon of water per person per day.

Buy the property's own supplies early as well. Since August 1, 2025, Florida has exempted a list of preparedness items from sales tax year-round, where before they were exempt only during tax holidays, according to the Department of Revenue's Tax Information Publication 25A01-05. It covers AA, AAA, C, D, 6-volt and 9-volt batteries; carbon monoxide alarms; smoke detection devices; fire extinguishers; portable generators producing 10,000 running watts or less; portable gas or diesel cans holding 5 gallons or less; waterproof tarps of 1,000 square feet or less; ground anchor systems and tie-down kits; and life jackets, insect repellent, sunscreen and bicycle helmets. The limits are on size and capacity, not on price.

What is the difference between a hurricane watch and a hurricane warning?

A hurricane watch means hurricane conditions, sustained winds of 74 mph or more, are possible in the area. The National Weather Service explains that the hurricane center issues a watch 48 hours before it expects tropical-storm-force winds, because it may not be safe to prepare once winds reach that strength. A hurricane warning means hurricane conditions are expected, and it comes 36 hours before tropical-storm-force winds, which begin at 39 mph.

Both clocks, in other words, run to the wind, not to landfall. A warning leaves a day and a half before outdoor work turns unsafe, and the weather service's advice under one is blunt: all preparations should be complete.

When a watch is issued

• Bring in or tie down anything the wind can lift: patio furniture, grills, trash and recycling bins, signs, stacked building materials.
• Clear storm drains, gutters and patio drains one more time.
• Photograph exteriors and common areas again, so the before pictures are days old instead of months.
• Send residents a notice with the property's evacuation zone, where to find official orders and how to reach maintenance after the storm.
• Fill the tanks on maintenance vehicles and keep some cash on hand. The state's supply checklist recommends both, noting that banks and ATMs may not be available after a storm.
• Confirm with each vendor who will be available once the winds drop, and in what order you will call them.

When a warning is issued

• Finish what is in progress. Anything not done now waits until after the storm.
• Get staff and vendors off roofs and ladders.
• Remind residents that evacuation orders come from local officials, and that the weather service's guidance under a warning is to evacuate immediately if ordered.

What should happen while the storm passes?

Very little, which is the point. No staff member or vendor belongs on site in tropical-storm-force winds, and no work order is worth a drive through floodwater. Ready.gov puts the danger in numbers: six inches of moving water can knock a person down, and one foot of moving water can sweep a vehicle away.

Keep a log instead. Record each resident report with the time, the unit and a photo if the resident can take one safely; that log becomes the dispatch queue the moment it is safe to move. If the weather service issues an Extreme Wind Warning, sustained winds of 115 mph or more, usually from the eyewall, are expected within the hour, and its instruction is to shelter in an interior part of a well-built structure.

What should a property manager do after the hurricane?

1. 1Wait for the all clear. Ready.gov's flood guidance is to return only when authorities say it is safe.
2. 2Treat every wet room as live until proven otherwise. The same guidance says not to touch electrical equipment that is wet or while standing in water, to turn off the electricity only if it is safe to do so, and to remember that underground or downed power lines can electrically charge floodwater.
3. 3Photograph before anyone cleans. Ready.gov's hurricane guidance says to document property damage with photographs and to contact the insurance company. Take a wide shot of each room, a close shot of each damaged item and the waterline if there is one.
4. 4Start drying within the first day. The EPA says wet materials dried within 24 to 48 hours will, in most cases, not grow mold. The guide to water intrusion and mold after a storm covers what to dry, what to throw out and when Florida requires a licensed mold professional.
5. 5Triage the log. Water still coming in, sewage, lost cooling and anything unsafe go first; cosmetic damage waits. On 1Stop, that first group is the Emergency category on the request form, and HQ calls back on each one to say whether 1Stop can cover it, because emergencies have no published response target yet. Lake and Polk take scheduled work only, and the other ten counties on the coverage map are still signing up vendors, with no response target yet.

What does Florida law say when a storm makes a rental unlivable?

Section 83.63 of the Florida Statutes covers casualty damage. When the premises are damaged or destroyed, other than by the tenant's wrongful or negligent acts, so that the enjoyment of the premises is substantially impaired, the statute lets the tenant terminate the rental agreement and immediately vacate. The tenant may instead vacate only the part made unusable, in which case rent is reduced by the fair rental value of that part. If the agreement is terminated, the landlord must handle the deposit under section 83.49(3).

A newer duty sits beside those. Chapter 2025-190, Laws of Florida, signed June 26, 2025, added a requirement that the tenant be given either the opportunity to collect belongings when it is safe to do so, or notice of a date by which they can, and that date must fall within a reasonable time.

Federal aid follows its own lines. FEMA's Individuals and Households Program funds repairs to owner-occupied homes that serve as the household's primary residence, and it can pay for temporary housing, such as rental assistance, for people who cannot live in their homes. FEMA adds that the program is not a substitute for insurance. A displaced resident may qualify for the housing help; a rental building is not the owner-occupied home the repair money is meant for.

The building and the people who live in it recover on different paperwork.