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A two-story stucco garden apartment courtyard in warm late-morning light with an exterior stairway, a swept path, a wall light and a closed gate

Homestead negligent security lawyer

What the 2023 statute requires of an apartment owner, and where it does not apply

A negligent security claim says a property owner should have foreseen a crime and failed to take reasonable measures against it. Since 2023, Fla. Stat. § 768.0706 gives the owner of a multifamily residential property of five or more dwelling units a presumption against liability — but only if the owner proves it substantially implemented nine specific security measures, and § 768.0706(3) places that burden squarely on the owner. The statute reaches nothing else: a store parking lot on US-1, a gas station, a bar, a hotel or a packing house yard is governed by ordinary premises liability with no presumption at all. That distinction matters a great deal in Homestead, Naranja and Leisure City, where most of the rental housing is garden apartments in blocks of five or more units. The nine requirements and how foreseeability is proved are explained in full on the Florida negligent security page. What follows is the South Dade part.

Free case review Homestead (786) 900-0184
Miami-Dade County crashes, 2024
60,000Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles
People injured
29,359In Miami-Dade County alone, in one year
People killed
272Down from 325 the year before
Where the statute applies
5+ unitsThe 2023 presumption covers multifamily residential only. § 768.0706(1)(b)

Quick answers about Homestead negligent security claims

Where does the 2023 statute apply?
Only to a multifamily residential property of five or more dwelling units. § 768.0706(1)(b). A store, a bar, a hotel, a garage or a parking lot is not covered by it at all.
Does the presumption mean the owner wins?
No. Section 768.0706(3) puts the burden on the owner to prove it substantially implemented the nine measures. Until it does, there is no presumption to apply.
What are the nine things?
They include lighting to a stated standard in common areas, parking lots and walkways; a one-inch deadbolt on each unit door; locking devices on windows and sliding doors; a peephole or viewer; and a documented crime-prevention assessment.
What if it happened at a store or a gas station?
Then ordinary premises liability applies, with no presumption and no statutory checklist. Foreseeability is proved with the crime history of that location and its surroundings.
Does an arrest have to happen first?
No. The claim is against the property owner for failing to take reasonable measures, not against the person who committed the crime, and it does not depend on a prosecution.
What evidence disappears fastest?
Camera footage, which overwrites within days, and the lighting as it actually was. A bulb gets replaced and a gate gets repaired within a week of a serious incident.
How long do I have?
Two years for a claim arising on or after March 24, 2023, under § 95.11. The footage and the lighting evidence are gone long before that.

01 The law, once

Which Florida laws apply to a Homestead negligent security claim

The rules are the same across Florida, so they are written out in full on one page rather than repeated here. They are explained on the statewide negligent security page, with the statute text linked.

A negligent security claim says the property owner should have foreseen the crime and did not take reasonable measures against it. Since 2023, Fla. Stat. § 768.0706 gives the owner of a multifamily residential property of five or more dwelling units a presumption against liability — but only if it proves it substantially implemented nine specific things, and § 768.0706(3) puts that burden on the owner.

The statute reaches no further than that. A garage, a hotel, a store, a bar, an office park or a parking lot is governed by ordinary premises liability with no presumption at all. Fault is apportioned under § 768.81, and the deadline is two years.

What follows is the part that is specific to Miami-Dade County — where these claims arise, where you will be treated, which courthouse the case goes to, and how the records are obtained.

02 The places

Where negligent security claims arise in Miami-Dade County

The rental housing in Homestead, Naranja and Leisure City is mostly two-story garden apartments built in blocks — which means the 2023 statute applies to a great deal of it, and the first question in the case is not what the owner did but whether the owner can prove it did nine specific things.

  • Garden apartments of five or more unitsMost of the rental stock in Homestead, Naranja and Leisure City. The 2023 presumption is in play, and the burden to earn it is the owner’s.
  • Duplexes and single-family rentalsFewer than five dwelling units, so § 768.0706 does not apply. Ordinary premises liability instead, with no checklist.
  • The US-1 retail parking lotsNot multifamily residential, so no presumption at all. Foreseeability is proved from the crime history of that lot.
  • Gas stations and convenience storesOpen late, cash on site, and the recurring setting for these claims. Ordinary premises liability.
  • Bars and nightlifeIncluding event nights. No presumption, and the question is what the operator knew about prior incidents on its own property.
  • Hotels and motels along US-1Commercial lodging rather than multifamily residential. The 2023 statute does not reach them.
  • Packing houses, nurseries and labor housingBusiness property. Whether housing on it is multifamily residential of five or more units is a question of fact worth establishing early.
  • Public housing and county-managed propertyA governmental owner adds § 768.28: a written notice requirement first, and caps on recovery.

03 The nine measures

A presumption the owner has to earn

Most writing about § 768.0706 describes it as a shield for apartment owners. It is more accurately a checklist they have to satisfy before they get one. Subsection (1) gives the owner of a multifamily residential property of five or more dwelling units a presumption against liability for a criminal act by a third party — if it substantially implemented nine specific security measures.

And subsection (3) states who has to prove that. The burden is on the owner. Until the owner comes forward with evidence that it substantially implemented the nine measures, there is no presumption in the case at all.

The nine are concrete rather than general. Lighting to a stated standard in parking lots, walkways and common areas. A one-inch deadbolt on each dwelling unit door. A locking device on each window, sliding door and exterior door. A peephole or viewer on a door without a window. Locked gates at pool fences. Lighting in laundry rooms. A published emergency contact. Security training for employees. And a crime-prevention assessment, with a requirement that it be done periodically.

Which turns the case into a documentary question. Not "was the property safe" as an impression, but whether the owner can produce the records that show each of those measures was in place. An owner who cannot document a crime-prevention assessment has not satisfied the statute, and the presumption does not arrive.

04 Where it does not apply

Most of these claims are not under the statute

The statute’s reach is narrow and it is defined by one phrase: multifamily residential property of five or more dwelling units. A store, a gas station, a bar, a hotel, a motel, an office, a parking garage or a surface parking lot is none of those things.

For every one of those, the law is ordinary premises liability. No presumption, no nine-point checklist, and no shortcut for the owner. The question is whether the criminal act was reasonably foreseeable and whether the owner took reasonable measures in light of it.

Which makes crime history the central evidence. What had happened on that property before, what had happened immediately around it, what the operator had been told, and what it did about any of it. Calls for service to a specific address are a public record, and they are frequently the strongest exhibit in the case.

And it is worth establishing which category a property is in before anything else. A mixed-use building, a complex with four units in one building and four in another, or housing attached to a business are all genuine questions of fact, and the answer decides what each side has to prove.

05 The South Dade housing stock

Why the statute is in play here more than elsewhere

Rental housing in Homestead, Naranja, Leisure City and Goulds is predominantly two-story garden apartments built in blocks. Exterior stairways, open walkways, a shared courtyard, a perimeter fence with a pedestrian gate, and surface parking. Most of those properties have five or more dwelling units.

So § 768.0706 applies to a large share of these claims here, more than it would in a part of the county dominated by single-family houses or by high-rise buildings with a staffed lobby.

And the features the statute names are exactly the features of that housing type. Lighting over an open walkway and a surface lot. A deadbolt on a door that opens directly to the outside. A locking device on a sliding door onto a ground-floor patio. A locked gate at a pool fence. These are not abstractions on a garden-apartment property; they are the physical facts of it.

Which also means they are easy to document and easy to fix. A light gets replaced, a gate gets repaired and a lock gets changed within days of a serious incident, and the photographs from the first week are the only record of the property as it was when the crime happened.

06 Foreseeability

What the owner knew, and what the records show

Whether the statute applies or not, foreseeability is the heart of the claim. The question is not whether a crime was certain, but whether this kind of crime on this property was reasonably foreseeable to the owner.

That is proved from records rather than from impressions. Law enforcement calls for service to the address, prior incident reports, tenant complaints, management’s own emails and work orders, and any security assessment that was done or was not.

Tenant complaints are the most valuable and the most often lost. A written complaint about a broken gate, a light that had been out for months or a lock that did not work is direct evidence that the owner knew. Those complaints are frequently in a text message, a resident portal or an email that nobody thinks to save.

And management’s own response is part of the story. A work order that was opened and never closed, or a vendor invoice for a repair that happened the week after the incident rather than the month before it, says more than any argument about reasonableness.

07 The first week

Footage, lighting and the records request

Camera footage is the first thing to go. Retention on an apartment or retail system is commonly days. A written demand to preserve it, addressed to the management company or the registered agent and describing the camera and the time window, is the earliest real deadline in the case.

Photograph the lighting at the same hour of night the incident happened. Not in daylight. What a person could actually see, and which fixtures were dark. That is the single most persuasive piece of evidence in a lighting case and it cannot be recreated after a bulb is replaced.

Photograph the gate, the locks and the fence line as they are. Whether the gate latched, whether the pedestrian gate was propped, whether the deadbolt was a one-inch throw. The statute is specific about these, which cuts both ways.

And request the public records early. Calls for service to that address are obtainable from the agency that serves it — Homestead Police, Florida City Police or the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office — and the crime history of a property is the foundation of foreseeability.

08 Examples of situations

Situations this office sees in Miami-Dade County

The following are examples of the kinds of situations that arise in this county. They are illustrations of how the rules apply, not descriptions of past cases, and they do not predict any outcome. Every claim turns on its own facts, its own coverage and its own medical record.

  • The dark walkway in Naranja

    An assault on an open second-floor walkway where two fixtures had been out for weeks and tenants had complained. The complaint record and the night photographs are the case; the statute names the lighting standard directly.

  • The propped gate

    A pedestrian gate in a perimeter fence that had not latched in months. The statute requires locked gates at a pool fence specifically, and a perimeter gate that never worked is ordinary negligence on top of that.

  • The convenience store lot on US-1

    Not multifamily residential, so no presumption and no checklist. Foreseeability comes from the calls for service to that address and from what the operator had already been told.

  • The four-unit building

    A property with fewer than five dwelling units falls outside § 768.0706 entirely. Ordinary premises liability applies, and establishing the unit count is the first thing to do rather than the last.

09 The evidence

Evidence that exists here and often goes uncollected

Almost every camera that saw the crash overwrites itself within days or weeks. The difference between a disputed liability case and a straightforward one is usually whether someone asked for the footage while it still existed.

  • A written preservation demand

    To the management company and the registered agent, within days, naming the cameras and the window. This is the earliest deadline in the case.

  • Night photographs of the lighting

    At the same hour the incident happened. What could actually be seen, and which fixtures were dark. A replaced bulb erases this permanently.

  • Calls for service to the address

    From the agency that serves the property. The crime history of that specific address is the foundation of foreseeability.

  • Tenant complaints, in any form

    A text, a resident portal message, an email about a broken gate or a dark walkway. Direct evidence the owner knew, and the easiest thing to lose.

  • The locks, gates and fence as they are

    Photographed before repair. The statute is specific about deadbolt throw, window locks and gate locking, which makes the physical detail decisive.

  • Who owns and who manages

    The Property Appraiser for the parcel owner, the Division of Corporations for the management company and its registered agent. Usually not the same entity.

10 The report

What to collect after an assault on a South Dade property

Get a police report, and get its number. Homestead Police inside the city, Florida City Police in Florida City, and the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office in the unincorporated areas. The report is the independent record that the incident happened where and when you say it did.

Send a written preservation demand within days. To the management company and the registered agent, naming the cameras and the window. Verbal requests to a leasing office preserve nothing and the footage is gone within the week.

Photograph the property at night. The lighting as it was at that hour, the gate, the fence line and the locks. These are the exact features the statute lists, and they are repaired quickly after a serious incident.

Establish the owner, not the sign at the entrance. The Miami-Dade Property Appraiser identifies the parcel owner and the Division of Corporations identifies the management company and its registered agent. These are frequently three different entities.

11 The office

Where the Homestead office is, and how to get there

DAPENALAW is at 100 NE 15th Street, Suite 210, Homestead, FL 33030, open Monday to Friday, 08:30 to 17:00. The direct number is (786) 900-0184.

The office is at 100 NE 15th Street in downtown Homestead, a short drive from the Florida Turnpike and from US-1, and minutes from the South Dade Justice Center where many of these cases are heard. It is the closest office for Florida City, the Redland, Leisure City and Naranja.

You do not have to come in. The first conversation can be by phone or video, documents are handled electronically, and where an injury makes travel difficult the meeting happens where you are. The Homestead office is the closest one for Homestead, Florida City, Leisure City, Naranja, Princeton, Goulds, the Redland, Silver Palm and the area around Homestead Air Reserve Base. The Sunset Drive office in South Miami is usually the shorter drive from Kendall, Cutler Bay and the rest of the county.

More about the Homestead office · All three offices

Homestead negligent security questions, answered

Do I need a lawyer for a negligent security claim in Homestead?

This is not a case to attempt alone. The evidence that decides it — camera footage, the lighting as it was, the complaint history and the owner’s own records — is held by the other side and most of it is gone within a week.

It is also the one area of premises law where a 2023 statute sets out nine specific requirements, and knowing which of them the owner can actually document is the difference between a claim and a letter.

Does the 2023 statute mean the apartment owner is protected?

Only if the owner earns it. Section 768.0706(1) gives a presumption against liability to the owner of a multifamily residential property of five or more dwelling units, but only where it substantially implemented nine specific measures.

And § 768.0706(3) puts the burden of proving that on the owner. Until the owner produces the records, there is no presumption in the case.

What if it happened at a store or a parking lot?

Then § 768.0706 does not apply at all. It reaches only multifamily residential property of five or more dwelling units.

Ordinary premises liability applies instead: whether the crime was reasonably foreseeable, and whether the owner took reasonable measures. Foreseeability is proved from the crime history of that address and from what the operator had already been told.

Why does this come up so much in South Dade?

Because of the housing type. Rental housing in Homestead, Naranja, Leisure City and Goulds is predominantly two-story garden apartments in blocks of five or more units, with open walkways, exterior stairs, surface parking and a perimeter fence.

That is exactly the property the statute describes, and exactly the kind of property where its nine measures — walkway lighting, exterior deadbolts, sliding-door locks, a locked pool gate — are physical facts rather than abstractions.

Does someone have to be arrested first?

No. The claim is against the property owner for failing to take reasonable security measures, not against the person who committed the crime.

A prosecution may never happen and the claim does not wait for one. What matters is what the owner knew and what the owner did.

What does it cost to ask?

The consultation is free and the representation is on a contingency fee, generally payable only on recovery. Case expenses are governed by the written agreement.

The conversation is with Jose A. Dapena, not an intake department.

12 Keep reading

This page is general information about Florida law, not legal advice about your case. Published by Jose A. Dapena, P.A. Last updated October 2026.

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