Proposed vacation rental legislation fails

The city of Anna Maria led statewide opposition to the proposed vacation rental legislation.

BY JOE HENDRICKS SUN CORRESPONDENT | jhendricks@amisun.com

TALLAHASSEE – The Florida Legislature has failed in its efforts to preempt the regulation of short-term vacation rentals to the state. During the 60-day legislative session that concluded on May 5, the Florida Senate and House of Representatives both proposed preempting the regulation of short-term vacation rentals (also known as transient public lodging establishments) to the Florida Department of Professional and Business Regulation (DBPR). Doing so would have severely limited city and county governments’ ability to regulate and inspect short-term vacation rentals at the local level. The proposed legislation would have prohibited city and county governments from imposing and enforcing occupancy limits and would have also ended their ability to regulate and enforce short-term vacation rental advertising by online platforms such as Airbnb and Vrbo.

SEE RENTALS, PAGE 28