STR Defined
The city of Fort Lauderdale defines a short-term (Airbnb) rental (referred to as vacation rental) as 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 rented to Transient Occupants more than three (3) times in a calendar year for periods of less than thirty (30) days or one (1) calendar month, whichever is less, or which is advertised or held out to the public as a place regularly rented to Transient Occupants, but that is not a timeshare project.
The primary document for Fort Lauderdale STR Regulations
Licensing Requirements & Fees
The Vacation Rental Registration Program, and the Community Enhancement, and Compliance Division ensure that vacation rental operators are current with their State/local licenses and tax requirements.
- Short-term (Airbnb) rentals in Fort Lauderdale must be registered with the city’s program on an annual basis. The registration fee is $350 and is outlined below.
- In addition, renewals for owner-occupied vacation rentals are $80 or $160 for non-owner-occupied vacation rentals.
- A Vacation Rental must be registered annually on or before September 30th of each year.
The fee schedule for the program can be found in Vacation Rental Fee Resolution 17-81, and is as follows:
| Vacation Rental Fee Schedule | |
| Vacation Rental Registration Fee (Up to 4 units under the same roof. This fee includes the first 2 inspections) | $350.00 |
| Non-Owner Occupied Vacation Rental Renewal Registration Fee | $160.00 |
| Owner Occupied Vacation Rental Renewal Registration Fee | $80.00 |
| Safety Inspection, Re-Inspection and No-Show Inspection (Assessed for each additional inspection) | $75.00 |
| Late Registration Payment Fee | $75.00 |
| Transfer Rental Agent Fee (Responsible party only) | $35.00 |
| Business Tax License Fee (Prorated: October 1st – March 31st) | $157.50 |
| Business Tax License Fee (Prorated: April 1st – June 30th) | $78.75 |
| Business Tax License Fee (Prorated: July 1st – September 30th) | $236.25 |
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It is unlawful for any person to allow another person to occupy any residential property (that is a single-family, two-family, three-family, or four-family house or dwelling unit) as a Vacation Rental within the City of Fort Lauderdale, or offer such property for rent unless the owner of the property in fee simple title or their authorized representative has registered the property as a Vacation Rental property with the City of Fort Lauderdale and the property has been issued a certificate of compliance in accordance with the provisions in Article X – Vacation Rental, of the Code of Ordinances of the City of Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
A separate application for registration of a Vacation Rental must be made to the City Manager or their designee for each building, proposed for use as a Vacation Rental. This must include:
- The legal description of the property offered for rental (address, lot, block, and subdivision name)
- Name, address, e-mail, and phone number of the owner of the property
- Name, address, e-mail, and emergency contact number of the responsible party for the property (outlined below).
- Acknowledgment by the owner of the following:
- All of the vehicles associated with the Vacation Rental must be parked within the subject property in compliance with the Code of Ordinances of the City of Fort Lauderdale
- It is unlawful to allow or make any noise that exceeds the limits outlined in Chapter 17, Noise Control of the Code of Ordinances of the City of Fort Lauderdale, Florida
- The owner shall comply with all applicable city, county, state, and federal laws, rules, regulations, ordinances, and statutes
- No solid waste container will be located at the curb for pickup before 6 pm of the day before pick up and waste containers will be removed before midnight of the day of pickup
- Whoever enters or remains on the property, if asked or warned by the owner or lessee to depart the property and refuses to do so, commits the offense of trespass in a structure or conveyance
- Other properties are not jointly shared commodities and should not be considered available for use by transient occupants of the property
- Proof of the owner’s current ownership of the property
- Proof of registration with the Florida Department of Revenue for sales tax collection and Broward County for Tourist Development Tax
- Proof of licensure with the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation for a transient public lodging establishment
- Proof of compliance with Subsection 15-275
- Authorization letter if the application is being submitted on behalf of the owner of the property by their authorized representative
An application to modify a current Vacation Rental registration is required when any of these changes apply:
- A change in the gross square footage
- A change in the number of bedrooms
- A change in the maximum occupancy
- A change in the number of parking spaces, or a change in the location of parking spaces
If any of the changes above take place, the owner must notify the city within 10 days of the completion of these changes.
The Certificate of Compliance shall be posted on the back of or next to the interior of the main entrance door and shall include at a minimum the name, address, and phone telephone number of the Responsible party, the maximum occupancy of the Vacation Rental, and a statement stating “it is unlawful for a sexual offender or sexual predator to occupy this residence” if so determined pursuant to subsection 15-278(8) of this code.
LLC Ownership Allowed
- Broward County, FL (Fort Lauderdale) does allow for entities to be the party that is issued the Certificate of Compliance, which shows they have complied with the provisions of Article X – Vacation Rental, of the Code of Ordinances of the City of Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Owning multiple short-term (Airbnb) rental properties (including within the same property)
Any owner of more than one short-term rental property shall be required to complete a separate application for registration of each short-term rental property.
Taxes
- Hosting platforms may have existing agreements with the county to collect and pay taxes/fees directly to the county.
- See this article: Airbnb occupancy tax collection and remittance in Broward County, Florida
- A Broward County Tourist Development Tax of 6% of the listing price is charged for any reservations under 182 nights.
- Florida Transient Rental Tax of 6% of the listing price is charged on reservations under 182 nights.
- Florida Discretionary Sales Surtax of 0.5%-1.5% of the listing price may occur and varies by county. For detailed information, visit the Florida Dept. of Revenue website.
- County Tourist Development Taxes collected by the state in the amount of 2-5% of the listing price of a reservation under 182 nights will also be applied in the following counties:
- Bradford, Citrus, Columbia, Desoto, Dixie, Franklin, Gadsden, Gilchrist, Glades, Hamilton, Hardee, Hendry, Highlands, Holmes, Jackson, Jefferson, Levy, Madison, Okaloosa, Okeechobee, Pasco, Sumter, Wakulla, and Washington.
Occupancy Limits
The maximum number of transient occupants authorized to stay overnight at any Vacation Rental is limited to 2 persons per sleeping room.
The maximum number of persons allowed to gather at or occupy a Vacation Rental shall not exceed one and a half times the maximum number of occupants authorized to stay overnight at that site, as shown on the Certificate of Compliance. In no event shall a gathering exceeding 20 people occur.
- The 1.5 times the maximum number of occupants authorized to stay overnight shall not apply when the property owner is physically present on-site during the gathering.
Up to 4 children under the age of 13 are exempt from and do not count towards the occupancy limits set above.
Responsible Agent
- A responsible party must be appointed by the owner of the property. The responsible party must be available with authority to address and coordinate solutions to problems with the rental property 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. They must be situated close enough to the property to be able to respond in one hour of being notified by a Vacation Rental occupant, law enforcement, emergency personnel, or the City of Fort Lauderdale.
- They must keep a register of all guests which shall be open to inspection by authorized personnel of the City of Fort Lauderdale at all times.
- They must maintain the entire property free of garbage and litter.
- They must conduct on-site inspection of the Vacation Rental at the end of each rental period to ensure continued compliance with the requirements listed above.
- They must provide all guests, prior to their stay, of all applicable City of Fort Lauderdale ordinances and the possible citations if they do not follow these ordinances.
- The name and telephone number of each responsible party shall be conspicuously posted with the short term rental property unit.
Any violation of the ordinances listed above allows any person to file a written complaint. Such a complaint, which states the causes and basis of the complaint, will be filed with the city manager or their designee. The city manager must promptly record the complaint, investigate, and take action in accordance with Article X – Vacation Rental and Chapter 11 of the Code of Ordinances of the City of Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Zoning
- The city of Fort Lauderdale is part of incorporated Broward County, FL
- Browse addresses in Broward County, FL using this county zoning atlas.
Florida State Regulations
- The state of Florida prevents any city from creating new short term rental or vacation rental regulations.
STR Management Considerations
Minimum life/safety requirements:
- Swimming pool, spa and hot tub safety. A swimming pool, spa or hot tub shall comply with the current standards of the Residential Swimming Pool Safety Act, F.S. ch. 515.
- Dwelling units. All dwelling units shall meet the minimum requirements of article VI, Minimum Housing Code, chapter 9, Buildings and Construction of this Code.
- Smoke and carbon monoxide (CO) detection and notification system. A smoke and carbon monoxide (CO) detection and notification system within the vacation rental unit shall be interconnected, hard-wired, and receive primary power from the building wiring. The smoke and carbon monoxide (CO) detection and notification system shall be installed and continually maintained consistent with the requirements of Section R314, Smoke Alarms, and Section R315, Carbon Monoxide Alarms, of the Florida Building Code—Residential.
- Fire extinguisher. A portable, multi-purpose dry chemical 2A:10B:C fire extinguisher shall be installed, inspected and maintained in accordance with NFPA 10 on each floor/level of the unit. The extinguisher(s) shall be installed on the wall in an open common area or in an enclosed space with appropriate markings visibly showing the location.
- That all vehicles associated with the vacation rental must be parked within a driveway located on the subject property and in compliance with this Code.
- Local telephone service. At least one (1) landline telephone with the ability to call 911 shall be available in the main level common area of the vacation rental.
Data Methodology
For this guide, we analyzed everything from public data sources, assessor records, recently sold homes, data from the Bureau of Labor and Statistics, Airbnb data, and more. Chalet ran this data through machine learning models to derive the forecast models with the most accurate predictions.
Glossary
– ADR: Average Daily Rate
– Gross Yield = Median Revenue/Median Home Price
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