Florida Short-Term Rental Laws: State Rules and Local Checks
Share on:
Florida sets the baseline rules for short-term rentals at the state level. Local rules can still matter, because the state law has a cutoff date. This page explains the state requirements first, then helps you check your own city or county.
The starting point is a state law that limits what local governments can do.
“A local law, ordinance, or regulation may not prohibit vacation rentals or regulate the duration or frequency of rental of vacation rentals. This paragraph does not apply to any local law, ordinance, or regulation adopted on or before June 1, 2011.”
What this means for you: The quoted paragraph limits local governments. It says they may not ban vacation rentals. It also says they may not control how long guests stay or how often you rent. But this limit has an exception. It does not apply to a local rule adopted on or before June 1, 2011. So a local rule from that date or earlier is not covered by this limit. Check your own area before you rent.
Next, the state requires a license for lodging establishments.
“Each public lodging establishment and public food service establishment shall obtain a license from the division.”
What this means for you: If your property counts as a public lodging establishment, it must obtain a license from the state’s licensing division. That division is part of DBPR. Check the license requirement with DBPR for your property.
The state also charges a sales tax on short stays.
“For the exercise of such taxable privilege, a tax is hereby levied in an amount equal to 6 percent of and on the total rental charged for such living quarters or sleeping or housekeeping accommodations by the person charging or collecting the rental.”
What this means for you: Florida charges a 6% tax on the total rent charged for qualifying stays. This is the state portion only. We cover other taxes below.
A host reviews and signs paperwork for their rental property.
What the State Requires
Florida law defines what counts as a vacation rental.
“A vacation rental is any unit or group of units in a condominium or cooperative or any individually or collectively owned single-family, two-family, three-family, or four-family house or dwelling unit that is also a transient public lodging establishment but that is not a timeshare project.”
What this means for you: A vacation rental is a unit in a condominium or cooperative. It can also be a one-, two-, three-, or four-family house or dwelling unit. It must also be a transient public lodging establishment. And it must not be a timeshare project. Not every rental arrangement fits this definition. Check whether your property fits before you rely on it.
The license rule and the 6% state tax quoted at the top of this page apply here too.
Local taxes sit on top of the state tax.
“The local tax imposed is in addition to the 6% state sales tax and any applicable discretionary sales surtax.”
What this means for you: The 6% state tax is not the whole story. Your county may charge a local transient rental tax plus a discretionary sales surtax. So the total tax on a booking can be higher than 6%.
If your platform collects the state tax for you, that helps, but each platform’s scope is its own.
On Airbnb, the platform collects the state tax for qualifying stays.
“Guests who book Airbnb listings that are located in the State of Florida will pay the following taxes as part of their reservation: Florida Transient Rental Tax: 6% of the listing price including any cleaning fee for reservations 182 nights and shorter.”
What this means for you: Airbnb adds the 6% Florida Transient Rental Tax to guest bookings of 182 nights and shorter, based on the listing price including the cleaning fee. This quote describes Airbnb’s stated scope only. It does not mean Airbnb handles every tax you may owe.
On Vrbo, the platform also collects state-level taxes for qualifying stays.
“State Transient Rentals Tax, Discretionary County Surtax Note: Discretionary County Surtax is state tax surcharges required by various counties that Vrbo will also be collecting and remitting. These rates vary between 0.5-2%. The state of Florida under 184 nights December 1, 2018”
What this means for you: Vrbo collects the State Transient Rentals Tax and the Discretionary County Surtax for stays under 184 nights, per its stated policy. Note the two platforms state different stay limits: Airbnb says 182 nights and shorter, Vrbo says under 184 nights. This quote describes Vrbo’s stated scope only. It does not mean Vrbo handles every tax you may owe.
For county-collected taxes, the state gives simple advice.
“If the local option transient rental tax is collected by the county, contact that county to verify the tax rate.”
What this means for you: If your county collects the local option transient rental tax itself, contact that county to confirm the rate. Do not assume the platform covers it.
Why Rules Differ by City
The 2011 cutoff in the state law quoted at the top of this page is why rules differ from place to place.
There is also a separate exception in the same statute.
“Paragraph (b) does not apply to any local law, ordinance, or regulation exclusively relating to property valuation as a criterion for vacation rental if the local law, ordinance, or regulation is required to be approved by the state land planning agency pursuant to an area of critical state concern designation.”
What this means for you: This is a narrow exception. It concerns local rules that use property value as a criterion for vacation rentals. It covers only the kind of rule described in the quote. The quote lists the full legal conditions. Ask your city or county if this exception applies to your property.
The practical step is simple: ask your city or county about your exact property before you rent. Preemption is not address approval.
Our scan labels each jurisdiction with one of five statuses. These are editorial labels from our scan, not legal categories, and not approval for your address.
Allowed: the scan found a local route for short-term rentals, subject to the rules for the property.
Restricted: the scan found limits on short-term rentals; the owner must check how they apply to the address.
Banned: the scan found a prohibition within the scope of the cited local rule; this does not mean every property or form of rental is banned.
No local rules found: the scan did not find a specific local short-term rental rule; this is not proof that no rule applies.
Not verified: the scan did not establish a verified status; ask the city or county before relying on it.
Florida Cities and Counties
Find your city or county in the table below and read its status. The tax figures come from the current state sources.
“Discretionary Sales Surtax Information for Calendar Year 2026”
What this means for you: The surtax figures in the table come from a Florida Department of Revenue sheet for calendar year 2026. The tourist-tax figures come from the current Department of Revenue tourist-tax sheet, checked in October 2026. These are two different documents. Rates can change, so confirm with your county before you rely on them. Not every property in a county pays the headline rate. Some counties have geographic exceptions, and the table shows them.
A guest relaxes on the sofa while browsing her phone.
If Your Address Qualifies: What BnBGenius Does
BnBGenius answers guest messages on Airbnb and Vrbo 24/7. It requests a review from the guest and publishes the host’s review. It creates cleaning and repair tasks after checkout. It sells gap nights, early check-in and late checkout. It answers guest calls with a voice AI agent (Voice Concierge, an add-on). It is run from Telegram. It installs as a Chrome extension in about 5 minutes, without API keys, without password sharing, no PMS required. The first 500 messages are free, with all features and no card.
BnBGenius is not a PMS, channel manager, calendar sync, direct-booking, pricing or accounting tool. It does not establish legal eligibility for your address, and it does not know local rules.
Kent Morgan, BnBGenius co-founder, reported this on guest reviews:
“We went from reviewing 40% of stays to 100% overnight. The AI even thanked guests for things we fixed mid-stay. Our review-to-review rate jumped immediately.”
Kent Morgan, BnBGenius co-founder, reported this on task handling:
“We used to find out about issues in post-stay reviews. Now BnBGenius flags them mid-stay, creates the task, and our cleaners respond in under 15 minutes.”
These are his reports from his own properties, not a promise of results for yours.
How to Start
You have two paths. Check your address first, then pick the one that fits how you want to work.
Do it yourself with BnBGenius
BnBGenius answers guest messages on Airbnb and Vrbo 24/7 and answers guest calls with a voice AI agent (Voice Concierge, an add-on). It creates cleaning and repair tasks after checkout and is run from Telegram. It installs as a Chrome extension in about 5 minutes, without API keys, without password sharing, no PMS required. The first 500 messages are free, with all features and no card.
Kent Morgan is a co-founder of BnBGenius, software built for hosts who self-manage their own Airbnb and Vrbo listings. He's also the founder and president of One Fine BnB, a short-term rental management company running hundreds of properties from Austin. Since founding his first management company in New York in 2011, he's worked closely with the major OTAs and STR platforms as an early tester and development partner. BnBGenius exists to hand hosts with one to five listings the pricing and operations systems that a portfolio that size runs on.
