How many short-term rentals are there in Melbourne Beach?

The short answer is, nobody knows for sure.

When a short-term rental (STR) is registered with the Town for the first time or is renewed annually thereafter, a vacation rental certificate is generated and tracked. A vacation rental certificate is valid for one year. If a vacation rental certificate is not renewed, its status transitions from Issued to Expired.

The Town’s list of 29 Vacation Rentals with an Issued certificate as of 1/10/2025

The Town’s list of 10 Vacation Rentals with a certificate on Hold as of 1/10/2025

Two STRs whose registration is on Hold are currently advertising (387 River View Lane and 510 Banyan Way).

Unregistered STRs

Preserve the Town of Melbourne Beach Inc. compiled the following list of unregistered STRs by:

  • Reviewing AirDNA data to identify STRs operating in Town,

  • Reviewing active Airbnb and VRBO STR listings,

  • Matching identified STRs to properties in Town using the Brevard Property Appraisers website search capability (STR listings don’t include the property address, although it can sometimes be inferred from the location map in the listing),

  • Reviewing identified STRs against the Town’s vacation rental certificate list,

  • Reviewing identified STRs against recent Melbourne Beach property sales information, and

  • Talking with residents who live nearby or have knowledge of identified STRs and recent property sales.

As of 1/14/2025, Preserve the Town of Melbourne Beach Inc. has identified 16 unregistered STRs operating in the Town of Melbourne Beach. Each of the buttons below identifies the address of an unregistered STR and links to a current listing for that STR.

There are 4 additional unregistered STRs that are not included as they appear to be a guest room/suite in an owner-occupied home and thus may qualify as owner-occupied exempt (the Town currently exempts owner-occupied STRs from having to comply with the Town’s Chapter 74 Vacation Rental ordinances, although the owners of such STRs are supposed to annually submit an affidavit to the Town to be granted a Vacation Rental certificate to operate).

Four properties were removed from our list as the Town does not consider them STRs given that their advertised minimum rental is 30 days despite being in single-family zoned districts. There is no evident basis in the Town’s Chapter 74 Vacation Rental ordinances for this “not an STR if rental duration is at least 30 days” determination for STRs in single-family zoned districts.

One property was removed from our list as the Town does not consider it to be a STR given its current occupancy by the owners despite it being advertised as a STR with availability beginning on 3/31/2025.

Two STRs in our list are in the Town’s list of Vacation Rentals whose certificate status is on hold.