Bill would change regulations for vacation rentals

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (FLV) – A bill filed would revise regulations for vacation rentals in Florida.

It would allow local government to require vacation rentals to be registered. The registration fee may not exceed $50 for an individual or $100 for a collective vacation rental registration.

The bill, filed by Sen. Nick DiCeglie, R-St. Petersburg, passed in the Senate Committee on Regulated Industries March 14.

It would allow local government to impose a fine for failure to register a vacation rental.

DiCeglie said the $50 registration fee was “just kind of an initial number” that he and other lawmakers “threw out there,” but he is “open to a reasonable fee.”

“What I am concerned with is if we allow local governments to charge whatever they want, then that could open up a situation where, you know, you can have $100,000 registration fee, and then ultimately, that’s going to, you know, put the brakes on on this type of activity,” DiCeglie said.

The bill would require “grandfathered” local laws, ordinances, or regulations put in place on or before June 1, 2011 be changed to be less restrictive or to comply with local registration requirements. 

“And the goal here, I want to make this very clear, is that, you know, local governments will tell all of us that they want full control of vacation rentals. And that is extremely problematic,” DiCeglie said.

Vacation rentals are licensed by the Division of Hotels and Restaurants within the Department of Business and Professional Regulation.

“My goal here is to strike a balance,” DiCeglie said. “We have local governments, we have the platforms, and then we have hotel and lodging. And those are the stakeholders that I’ve obviously already had conversations with. It’s important for me to continue those conversations.”

The bill establishes limits for a local government registration program, including requiring a vacation rental owner to obtain any required tax registrations, pay all recorded municipal or county code liens, and designate a responsible person who is available 24/7 to respond to complaints, according to the bill analysis.

The bill prevents the regulation of advertising platforms to the state.

It would require the owner or operator of a vacation rental offered for short term occupancy through an advertising platform to include the property’s vacation rental license number issued by the department.

It would also require the owner or operator to include current, valid and accurate local registration numbers on the vacation rental’s advertisement, and require them to display this tax and licensure information inside the vacation rental property.

Under the bill, the owner or operator must display the vacation rental license number and the local registration number of each property that advertises on its platform.

The advertising platform must remove from public view any advertisement or listing that fails to display a valid vacation rental license number.

The bill allows platforms to exclude service fees from the taxable amount if the platforms do not own, operate, or manage the vacation rental. It allows the division to take enforcement action for noncompliance.

Sen. Tracie Davis, D-Jacksonville, opposed the bill because she said “there’s more work to do.”

She explained during the committee that she heard things like, “we think this is great steps forward, there just is more work to do.” She said that leaves her “optimistic” to get to a point where “stakeholders are in the middle,” but voted no on the bill.

“So I’m going to be a no today, but I know there’s work to be done and I know you’re willing to do it,” Davis said.