Short-term rentals in Fort Myers Beach, explained properly.

Sec. 10-198(7) lets condominium associations opt out and self-perform an enforcement program for code of conduct violations under LDC Sec. 34-2393, using methods and procedures like those in Sec. 34-2394, by applying to the town manager or designee and paying the required fee for each building for which exemption is sought. An opted-out association that fails to comply with the Sec. 34-2394 requirements immediately loses the option. The Town's page lists the documents for condominium opt-outs: a check that the condominium is on the opt-out list, a fire inspection, a condo opt-out letter and a certification of condominium and HOA bylaws, and states a $600 renewal fee for approved opt-out properties (see the fee rule). The opt-out covers code-of-conduct enforcement; the registration fee for opt-out properties is listed on the Town page.

Sec. 34-2392 lets the owner of a dwelling unit that was lawfully used for weekly rentals in the 12 months before January 1, 2003 be placed on a registry of pre-existing weekly rentals, which allows rentals to a single-family for one week or longer without the once-per-month maximum. The right runs with the land and is not affected by transfer of the property to subsequent owners. If weekly rentals of that unit end for any 12-month period, weekly rentals may not be reinstated in that unit. Registered units must renew every year and submit the evidence listed in the section. This registry is separate from the Sec. 10-198 short-term rental registration, whose number cannot be transferred (see the next rule).

Sec. 10-198(5) says no registration number may be transferred, assigned or used by any person, owner or agent of the owner other than the person to whom it was issued, or at any location other than the one for which it was issued, and that registration creates no vested rights. The Town's form repeats this. The form also says a registration that is not renewed and paid is automatically voided, after which no short-term rental activity may occur and the property may not be advertised; the holder must then register as a new registration and pay the new fee. A new owner of a property should therefore ask the Town how to register in their own name. The pre-existing weekly rental registry follows different rules (see the previous rule).

Sec. 10-198(6) requires registrations to be renewed annually. The Town's page states the 2027 registration and renewal period is November 15, 2026 to December 15, 2026, with all required documentation and fees submitted in that period and any outstanding requirements from the previous fiscal year addressed first. The Town's earlier registration form (expiring December 31, 2024) listed a renewal window of October 1 to December 31. Properties that did not properly complete the 2026 registration will not be eligible for the opt-out or grandfathered fee exceptions in the 2027 cycle, per the Town's page.

Sec. 10-198(3) requires each application to give the name, address and phone number of the owner, authorized representative or other responsible party who is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and who must have authority to take affirmative action within one hour of notice from the Town to correct code of conduct violations. Sec. 34-2393(c) separately requires operators to give the Town a current local telephone number answered 24 hours a day, kept as a public record. The registration form lets the owner choose manager, agent, caretaker or owner as the contact and allows three contact changes a year at no charge.

The 2024 registration form, which lists conditions the registrant agrees to, includes an annual inspection from the Fort Myers Beach Fire Control District. The Town's current page asks condominiums on the opt-out list to schedule a fire inspection through the Fire Control District website. The form we read expired December 31, 2024, and the current form was not available as saved text, so confirm the current inspection requirement with Community Development before relying on it.

Sec. 34-2393 sets a code of conduct that applies to operators and guests of all short-term rental units, including registry units and rentals between one week and one month permitted by right under Table 34-2. Occupancy must be consistent with the Town's definition of family, under which a group of five or more adults who are not related by blood, marriage or adoption is not a family. Refuse containers may not be moved to the street more than 24 hours before scheduled collection or remain more than 24 hours after. Guests observe quiet hours between 10:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m., and the Town's Ordinance 96-24 sets noise limits. Guests must comply with mandatory hurricane and tropical storm evacuations. Operators must give each guest the code of conduct, obtain the guest's signed agreement, and post the code at the primary entrance and exit to each unit; the Town provides the printed code and standard agreement.

Sec. 10-198 says the unique registration number shall be included in all forms of public advertising of the unit. The Town's registration form adds that the number must appear on all forms of rental unit advertising, including yard signs and internet advertisements, and on the home page of the advertisement.

Sec. 10-199 and Sec. 34-2394 authorize the Town to use any of the enforcement mechanisms in its code (LDC Sec. 1-5 and the Chapter 2 code enforcement provisions), and name property owners, operators, rental agents, guests and any other person using the structure as people who may be charged. For properties on the pre-existing weekly rental registry, repeated violations carry cumulative penalties: $250 for the first violation, $500 for the second, a six-month suspension of registration for the third and a two-year suspension for the fourth, with the count restarting after three years without fines or findings. The Town's page says operating without a valid registration may result in code enforcement action. The general penalty provisions the code points to (LDC Sec. 1-5 and Chapter 2) were not read.

Applies to: Lee County levy; collected by the County

Lee County Ordinance 16-18, adopted October 18, 2016, amends the County ordinance that levied a five percent (5%) tourist development tax throughout Lee County under Section 125.0104, Florida Statutes. The Town's 2024 registration form tells registrants to keep receipts of payment of Lee County's 5% tourist development tax. The ordinance we read is an amendment about trust fund reserves, not the current rate schedule, and we did not read Lee County's current tax pages, so the rate is marked for review. We add no combined lodging-tax total; the state sales tax is on the state layer of this page.

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.