Florida’s vibrant real estate market and thriving tourism industry make it an attractive destination for property investors and landlords. However, with the allure of sandy beaches and sunny days comes a unique set of challenges for those in the rental business. From unpredictable weather to evolving legal regulations, Florida landlords must be well-prepared to handle a range of issues to ensure a smooth and successful rental experience. This article will focus on four challenges that confront landlords and guidance to manage them.
Continue Reading Navigating the Sunshine State’s Rental Landscape: Tips for Florida Landlords
Can Your Local Government Ban Short Term Vacation Rentals?
Southwest Florida is a prime location for people to bring their family and friends to vacation. Whether it’s the golf, beaches, or just the beautiful weather, Southwest Florida has solidified itself as a great destination for vacations. This has made tourism a major industry, and one of the biggest areas of tourism is hotels and rentals for families staying in the area.
However, in recent years families have been more inclined to try to rent a home for a short period rather than booking a hotel room. According to Section 509.013(4)(a)(1.) of Florida Statutes, a short-term rental is defined as a residence rented for less than thirty days and rented out more than three times a year.
With the rise of the vacation rental industry, local governments and their residents have seen the impacts they have on the community. This led to two major questions – how can local governments regulate these short-term rentals or how can they prohibit them?
History of Short-Term Rentals
Vacation rentals have always been popular but were not always readily available or easy to find. A revolution occurred in the early 2000s with the rise of the internet and along with that came online rental platforms. Now there are many different platforms, such as Airbnb and VRBO, which made short-term rentals much more available. Further, this led to an overall increase in the number of rentals available.
This increase in rentals led to issues amongst local governments and their citizens because of the impacts short-term rentals had on the community, both positive and negative. Local governments began to ban or create regulations around these short-term rentals. Because of the divide and lack of consistency in regulation by local governments, the Florida legislature created a law that prohibited any local government from banning short-term rentals and limited how they may be regulated.
Effect of the New Legislation
Continue Reading Can Your Local Government Ban Short Term Vacation Rentals?
New laws prompt HOAs to examine – and quickly change – rental restrictions in advance of July 1, 2021 effective date
Condominiums, cooperatives, and homeowners associations will see many changes to their operations following the new laws borne from Florida’s 2021 legislative session. Among these changes are new laws governing rental restrictions in homeowners associations in Senate Bill 630. The bill, which passed both the House and Senate, is anticipated to be signed into law by Governor DeSantis and will have an effective date of July 1, 2021.
The new law reflects the homeowners association’s corollary to rental restrictions which have been in Chapter 718 (the “Condominium Act”) since 2004. In summary, the new law will implement that following changes affecting how and against whom rental restrictions may be enforced in homeowners associations:
Continue Reading New laws prompt HOAs to examine – and quickly change – rental restrictions in advance of July 1, 2021 effective date
Vacation Rentals: Are You Prepared?
We all understand the value of preparing for hurricane season, but what about tourist season?
In the last post, we talked about the need for a license if you intend to rent your property out on short term intervals.
Now that you know whether you need a license to rent out your second home or condo, have you considered the benefits of using a written rental agreement?
Sure, it’s convenient and friendly to allow a stranger on VRBO to rent your property and only require that he or she pay a modest security deposit up front. In a perfect world, the renter would pay rent, not damage the property, follow all of the rules, and this arrangement would work out wonderfully every time.