A brief history of Florida’s vacation rental legislation
2011 House Bill (HB) 883 was a bi-partisan effort to rewrite public lodging law. This bill:
Amended laws relating to public lodging establishments and public food service establishments, regulated by the Division of Hotels and Restaurants of the Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR).
Reclassified resort condominiums and resort dwellings as “vacation rentals,” a newly defined class combining the two previous classes.
Preempted new local regulations of vacation rentals based solely on classification, use or occupancy. Regulations adopted prior to June 1, 2011 were grandfathered.
The key language was in a new Paragraph B of Subsection 7 of Florida Statute 509.032:
(b) A local law, ordinance, or regulation may not restrict the use of vacation rentals, prohibit vacation rentals, or regulate vacation rentals solely based on their classification, use, or occupancy. This paragraph does not apply to any local law, ordinance, or regulation on or before June 1, 2011.
And in the changes made to Paragraph C of Subsection 1 of Florida Statute 509.242:
(c) Vacation Rental Resort Condominium. A vacation rental resort condominium is any unit or group of units in a condominium, cooperative, or timeshare plan or any individually owned or collectively owned single-family, two-family, or four-family house or dwelling unit that is also a transient public lodging establishment which is rented more than three times in a calendar year for periods of less than 30 days or 1 calendar month, whichever is less, or which is advertised or held out to the public as a place regularly rented for periods of less than 30 calendar days or 1 calendar month, whichever is less.
For more insight on 2011 HB 883 see https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2011/883/?Tab=BillHistory
2014 Senate Bill (SB) 356 started out on the right track by deleting Paragraph B of Subsection 7 of Florida Statute 509.032 added by 2011 HB 883. However, by the time the final bill was voted on, it was instead edited as follows:
(b) A local law, ordinance, or regulation may not restrict the use of vacation rentals, prohibit vacation rentals, or regulate the duration or frequency of rental of vacation rentals solely based on their classification, use, or occupancy. This paragraph does not apply to any local law, ordinance, or regulation on or before June 1, 2011.
Still, this was a significant victory for local governments as it allowed them to enact new vacation rental regulations and to make these regulations specific to vacation rentals.
For more insight on 2014 SB 356 see https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2014/0356/?Tab=BillHistory
2024 SB 280 would have made it much harder for local governments to regulate vacation rentals while at the same time imposing additional burdens on vacation rental owners. Nobody liked this bill, which barely passed the House, and was ultimately vetoed by the Governor.
For more insight on 2024 SB 280 see https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2024/280/?Tab=BillHistory