Short-term rentals in Bonita Springs, explained properly.

Sec. 12-108(a)(3) conditions the permit on a mandatory inspection, every three years, by code enforcement or a city-outsourced qualified inspector before the permit is issued or renewed. The city manager or designee may waive the inspection for good cause where the same owner has not been in violation of the article for that rental unit during the three-year period. The City's Rental Permits page says the unit is inspected by a Code Enforcement Officer for minimum living standards under the International Property Maintenance Code (the City says it adopted the 2015 edition), with the owner or manager present, and that all violations of any City ordinance or the Code must be corrected before the permit is issued. Under Sec. 12-109(f), by applying the owner agrees to allow inspection of the interior and exterior of the rental unit for public-nuisance conditions and for violations of the listed ordinances at reasonable times (normal business hours, Monday through Friday); an occupied unit may be inspected only with the consent of an occupant or an administrative search warrant.

Sec. 12-109(b): no permit is issued or renewed until the applicant or permit holder provides the name and phone number of a natural person 18 years of age or older who can be contacted 24 hours a day, seven days a week about the rental unit. That person may be the owner, the owner's agent, or anyone other than a resident of the rental unit who agrees to be the contact. Sec. 12-109(a): an owner who lives outside the Twentieth Judicial District (Charlotte, Lee, Collier, Glades and Hendry Counties), full-time or seasonally, must appoint an agent who resides or maintains an office in Lee or Collier County to receive City notices about the permit, and must give the City the agent's name, address and telephone number in writing. Failure to provide a local agent subjects the owner to citation and hearing examiner proceedings; if no agent is named and the owner lives outside the district, the owner is presumed to accept constructive notice of a violation by publication posted at city hall.

Sec. 12-109(c): the permittee and any appointed agent must keep a list of the names of the tenants in each dwelling unit, available to the City for inspection on reasonable notice. Sec. 12-109(d): the City provides pamphlets about living in a residential neighborhood, and the permittee or agent must give a pamphlet to at least one tenant of each dwelling unit before executing a lease for the unit.

Sec. 12-108(b): if the city manager or designee has reasonable cause to believe a dwelling unit is being leased, subleased, rented or occupied without a permit, the owner is given notice that a permit is required and that an application must be filed within 30 days of the notice. Failure to apply or to provide evidence that a permit is not required subjects the owner to enforcement for violation of the article and proceedings before the hearing examiner.

Sec. 12-109(e) makes repeated violations that affect neighbours' quiet enjoyment a public nuisance: a finding of guilt or a no-contest plea (including payment of a fine) for a violation of the noise, animal control, solid waste, property maintenance, minimum housing or parking ordinances, or the Land Development Code provisions on habitation by more than one family, at the rental unit is grounds to start revocation proceedings. Under Sec. 12-111, the first violation brings a written warning; a second occurrence within one year of the warning is a violation of the section and may subject the owner to revocation; failing to respond to code enforcement citations or attend proceedings may also lead to revocation. The hearing examiner may revoke a permit for a period not to exceed six months and award the City costs of prosecution not to exceed $500.00 (Sec. 12-111(l)). Sec. 12-112 also allows the city manager or designee to deny or revoke a permit for material misrepresentation about the property, occupancy above that of a single family as defined in the Land Development Code, or any other violation of the article; revocation takes effect 30 days after the notice unless the grounds are remedied, the holder may ask for a hearing within 30 days, and after a revocation the owner cannot get a permit for any premises for six months. The city manager or designee may waive revocation where the owner has tried in good faith to comply.

Sec. 12-110: a rental unit found not in compliance with the article is subject to reinspection until compliance is achieved, at $50.00 for each reinspection. Code enforcement is not required to keep reinspecting when compliance can be better achieved through a code enforcement hearing. The section was adopted by Ord. No. 16-14 (August 17, 2016).

Sec. 12-109(g) declares certain exterior conditions at a rental unit a public nuisance that the landlord and tenant must correct immediately: no residential parking area may be leased, rented or otherwise provided for consideration to someone not residing on the property; driveway parking must be reached from an approved or existing legal driveway connection; unpaved parking areas must be graveled or covered with erosion-preventing material and bordered; and, unless exempted under Sec. 34-171, the maximum width of the driveway parking area is 18 feet where the driveway enters the street, or no more than 30 percent of the total front yard area, whichever is greater, keeping at least 70 percent of the front yard unpaved open greenspace (unless the 18-foot entrance creates less open space). Circular driveway parking areas may be no more than 40 percent of the front yard open space, provided the driveway connections are allowed and the circular drive extends to the right-of-way. Greenspace may not be used to park vehicles.

Florida Statutes § 509.032(7)(b) says a local law, ordinance or regulation may not prohibit vacation rentals or regulate how long or how often they are rented. Local rules adopted on or before June 1, 2011 are exempt from this limit, so some older local rules on rental length can still apply. Section 509.032(7)(a) also reserves the regulation of public lodging establishments (sanitation, inspections and similar matters) to the state, while local governments keep building-code and fire-code inspections. Local governments can still require registration and set other rules that do not ban rentals or limit their length or frequency.

The Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR), Division of Hotels and Restaurants, licenses vacation rentals. A license is needed when an entire unit is rented more than three times in a calendar year for periods of less than 30 days or one calendar month, whichever is less, or when the unit is advertised or held out to the public as a place regularly rented to guests. Houses, townhouses and buildings of up to four units take a Vacation Rental – Dwelling license; condominium and cooperative units take a Vacation Rental – Condominium license. Renting single rooms rather than the whole unit does not need a DBPR license, though local rules may still apply. Current licenses must be displayed in a conspicuous place on the premises.

New DBPR vacation rental applications pay a $50 application fee, a $10 Hospitality Education Program fee and a license fee. For a single rental unit the full-year license fee is $170 (half-year $90); group licenses for 2 to 25 units are $180 (half-year $95), with higher tiers for more units. Renewals pay the $10 education fee plus the full-year license fee. Renewal and half-year dates depend on the county's DBPR district.

Anyone who rents, leases, lets or grants a license to use transient accommodations must register with the Florida Department of Revenue to collect, report and remit sales tax.

Florida's 6% state sales tax, plus any applicable county discretionary sales surtax, applies to rent paid for living, sleeping or housekeeping accommodations rented for six months or less.

Counties (and certain cities) may add a local option transient rental tax, such as a tourist development tax, on rentals of six months or less, on top of the 6% state sales tax and any surtax. The Department of Revenue's rate table lists each county's rate and who collects it. Most counties administer the tax themselves, and in those counties it is reported and paid directly to the county rather than to the state.