(FL) Question about sketchy windows on 3rd floor apt, I have a 3yr old so I’m concerned about safety.
Just posting on here because I don’t know whether this is legally sufficient/up to code or not. My apts maintenance man admits to the windows being defective and needing replacement, but they also tell me they’re “secure enough” for my 3 year old. if you’re knowledgeable on this please comment!
When I first moved in 2yrs ago I couldn’t get them to lock so maintenance came and messed with them for a while till they eventually got them to lock. Wasn’t a big deal. Thought they were secure enough and my son was barely even walking at the time. So I just never opened my windows all that time so I wouldn’t struggle to get them relatched.
Fast forward to now, my son is 3 and is very active, strong, and curious and has climbed up into the windowsills many times lately. So I figured I’d check them out and make sure they’re actually secure & locked good.
First I noticed that one lock had no tension and felt broken, so I mentioned it to my apts again. They sent maintenance back to look & he wiggled the levers deemed them “secure enough” and told me they can’t actually fix them or make them work properly because my windows would need to be replaced. Said they are badly misaligned from the building settling, and said he noticed about a 1/4” warp/dip in the window. After he left I realized I could actually see the locks by standing on a stool and looking down at them, so I checked all of them and that was kind of alarming ngl.
For context, the windows have 2 locks per window. The windows are like tilted basically, super misaligned, and then the top of the bottom sash is also warping/bowed inwards on some.
Living room windows:
Window #1: I noticed the left side lock was so far above the keeper that the lock fully extends out into the air above the window (which is why that one felt tensionless and broken), then the lock on the right side was not extended much into the keeper at all. So that immediately freaked me out. I tested it to see how easy it would open if my son ever messed with it. Now I cannot get the lock back in at all because it doesn’t line up. So I’ll have to call them back to attempt to force it back in. Guess I shouldn’t have tried opening it but it really scared me seeing the only thing in between my kid & a 3 story drop was 1 measly lock that was barely in the keeper. They had just got done looking at them and telling me they were good enough so I wanted to see for myself. I remembered after that, that was the window that was the hardest for maintenance to get locked. Couldn’t remember at first which ones were the most problematic bc it had been 2 yrs, but it was definitely that one. Pretty alarming to realize all this time it was only being held shut by 1 lock being a fraction of the way into the keeper…..
Window #2: Has a similar problem. Left side lock will not line up at all. However the right side lock is actually fully in the keeper so that’s a relief at least.
Childs bedroom windows:
All of the locks in there only go halfway into the keeper at most.
I also noticed all the windows have stickers about a child fall guard mechanism and how to operate it, but it’s not even installed on any of the windows I opened..
So they technically can “lock”, but this does not seem secure at allllll. At least not in my case of having a 3 year old that can easily climb into the windows & doesn’t understand the concept of death yet🥲🙃. So I’m just wondering do I have to accept this as good enough? Is this truly deemed “secure enough” legally or is this actually up to code? Google tells me it’s not and is very dangerous, but the actual wording from the FL building code rules are fairly vague so wanted to ask real people for input. Thank you if you read this or comment 🙏
Posted Sep 14, 2026, 8:08 PM UTC