Can You Ask the Seller for Repairs on an As-Is Contract in Florida? (2026)

Short answer: you can always ask, and the seller is under no obligation to agree. Your leverage is not the request itself, it is your right to cancel during the inspection period and get your deposit back. That right expires, and with it most of your negotiating power.

The as-is form is the dominant contract in this market, and its name does more damage than its terms do. Buyers hear as-is and assume they have signed away the ability to negotiate anything after the inspection. That is not what it means, and believing it costs people money.

What as-is actually changes

As-is governs repair obligations. It means the seller is not committing in advance to fix defects, and the buyer takes the property in its present condition.

It does not mean you cannot inspect. It does not mean you cannot ask. And it emphatically does not mean the seller can conceal what they know, the duty to disclose known material defects that are not readily observable survives an as-is contract completely intact.

What the as-is form removes is the default repair framework. Under a contract that obligates the seller to address defined defective items, you argue about whether a particular finding fits the definition. Under as-is there is no definition to argue about, so both sides simply negotiate. Removing the framework did not remove the negotiation. It moved it.

Worth confirming which version you actually signed, because the non-as-is version of the Florida contract handles seller repair obligations differently. Your own contract is the authority on your transaction.

Where the leverage really comes from

This is the part that reframes the whole conversation.

During the inspection period the buyer may cancel at their sole discretion and have the deposit returned. No proof of a defect, no justification, no negotiation about whether the reason is good enough. That is an unusually strong right, and it is the entire source of your leverage.

So when you submit a repair request, the seller is not weighing whether they are required to fix anything. They are weighing what happens if they say no. Refusing everything risks losing a buyer who is already under contractMLS status terms describing a property's stage in the sales process. "Under contract" (sometimes shown as active-under-contract) generally means a signed contract exists but the listing may still accept backup offers or show contingency status. "Pending" typically means all contingencies have been satisfied and the sale is proceeding to closing, with the property effectively off the market. Exact usage can vary slightly by MLS and by listing agent. and going back on the market, where they face new showings, a stale listing, and a new buyer who will order their own inspection and very likely find the same things.

That calculation is why compromises happen constantly on as-is deals despite the seller owing nothing. It is not generosity. It is arithmetic.

Your leverage is a wasting asset

Everything above is true only while the inspection period is running. When it expires without a cancellation notice, you have accepted the property in its condition.

After that point a repair request is just a request. The seller can ignore it entirely, and the only thing you can do about it is default and lose your deposit, which is not a threat anyone takes seriously.

The practical consequences shape how you should run the period. Book the inspector immediately rather than after a few days of thinking. Read the report the day it arrives. Get contractor opinions on anything significant while the clock is still running. And submit your request with enough time left for an actual back and forth, not on the final afternoon.

I have watched buyers lose real negotiating room simply by scheduling the inspection late in the window. The inspector found the same things either way. The difference was that one buyer had eight days to use the information and the other had one.

Repair, credit, or price reduction

Once a seller is willing to do something, there are three shapes it can take, and they are not equivalent.

• A seller repair means the work gets done before closing, on the seller's budget and by a contractor they chose, while they are also packing to move. Quality varies, and you are inheriting the result
• A closing cost credit hands you the money and lets you choose the contractor, the timing, and the standard. Usually the better deal for a buyer, with two limits worth knowing
• A price reduction lowers the purchase price, which shrinks your loan slightly but puts no cash in your hand for the actual repair

The two limits on a credit are worth understanding before you name a number. A financing concession generally cannot exceed your actual closing costs, so a credit larger than what you owe at the table does not become cash in your pocket. And every loan program caps what an interested party may contribute, with conventional limits varying by down payment and FHA, VA, and USDA each having their own. Ask your lender what your specific cap is, because agreeing to a credit your loan will not permit just sends everyone back to renegotiate later.

There is also a case for the repair rather than the credit: anything that has to be fixed for you to obtain insurance or for the loan to close is work that needs to happen before closing, not after. A credit does not solve a problem that is blocking the transaction itself.

How to ask so the answer is yes

The request that gets met is not the longest one. It is the one that reads as reasonable to someone who owes you nothing.

• Prioritize ruthlessly. A short list of real items lands far better than a reprint of the entire inspection report
• Lead with safety, systems, and anything affecting insurability, because those are the items a seller knows the next buyer will also find
• Attach the relevant pages of the report rather than describing the problem in your own words
• Be specific about what you are asking for, including the dollar figure if you are asking for a credit
• Skip the cosmetic and the obvious. Asking about worn carpet you saw before you made the offer reads as a second bite at the price
• Leave the seller a way to say yes to part of it, since partial agreement is the most common outcome

A seller who receives a focused list with documentation tends to respond to it. A seller who receives a forty item wish list tends to conclude the buyer is trying to renegotiate the price and dig in. Same inspection, same house, very different outcome.

What tends to actually move a seller

The items with the most negotiating force share a quality: the seller knows they will not disappear if this deal dies.

A roof at the end of its life that a carrier will not insure, an open permit sitting on the county record, an active leak, an electrical hazard, a failed system. Those follow the house. The seller can refuse you and then meet the same problem with the next buyer, having lost a month.

Cosmetic wear, deferred maintenance you could see from the driveway, and anything reflected in the price you already agreed to have much less force, because the seller correctly reads those as a renegotiation rather than a discovery.

That distinction is worth applying to your own list before you send it. If an item would not trouble the next buyer, it probably will not move this seller.

Verify at the walk-through

If the seller agrees to repairs, the final walk-through before closing is where you confirm they were actually done, and done properly.

Ask for receipts and any permits pulled for the work. On anything meaningful, consider having your inspector return to re-check rather than relying on your own look. Repairs agreed to in week two and inspected only by eye in week five is how people end up owning a problem they thought was solved.

Raise anything incomplete before closing rather than after. Once the transaction closes, a promise to repair becomes considerably harder to enforce.

A short checklist

• Put the inspection deadline on a calendar the day the contract is executed
• Book the inspector immediately, and add specialists early if the home has a pool, a seawall, or an aging roof
• Get contractor estimates on significant items while the period is still running
• Decide whether each item is better as a repair or a credit before you ask
• Ask your lender what credit your loan actually permits
• Send a short, documented, prioritized request with time left to negotiate
• Deliver any cancellation notice in writing and early in the day, never at the deadline
• Re-verify agreed repairs at the walk-through, with receipts

About to open an inspection period?

Most of what determines how this goes is decided before the inspector ever arrives: how fast you scheduled, whether you know what your loan allows, and whether you understand that the deadline is the leverage. The as-is form is not the obstacle people assume. It is a contract that gives buyers an unusually clean right to walk, and that right is worth a great deal if you use it while you still have it.

If you are buying in Sarasota, Manatee County, or anywhere nearby and want help deciding what is worth asking for on a specific inspection report, send it over and I will tell you honestly which items I would push on and which I would let go.

Nothing here is legal advice. Contract forms are revised and the terms of your particular agreement control your situation. Read your own contract and confirm anything that matters with your closing agent or a Florida real estate attorney.