Short-term rentals in Hollywood, explained properly.

Under § 119.10 of the City Code, a property owner may not operate or advertise a vacation rental until the city has issued a vacation rental license, and each vacation rental needs its own license. This includes an owner who lives on the property and rents out any part of it. The code defines a vacation rental as a dwelling unit for one family that is rented to guests more than three times a calendar year for periods of less than 30 days or one calendar month (whichever is less), or is advertised or held out as regularly rented to guests; advertising a unit for such stays more than three times a year is treated as direct evidence of operating a vacation rental. The city's FAQ says renting a room in your home, or a guest house or in-law quarters, also needs a license, at a lower rate.

Section 119.11 lists what a complete application must include: the owner, address and the vacation rental representative's phone number; the fees; the unit's Florida DBPR transient public lodging license (owner-occupied rentals are exempt from this item); a Florida Department of Revenue certificate of registration; an active Broward County Tax Collector account for tourist development tax, or a written statement that taxes are remitted through the booking platform; active City of Hollywood and Broward County local business tax receipts for the rental; floor and site sketches with interior and exterior photos; the maximum number of occupants overnight and at other times; a certificate of liability insurance (unless a platform provides it); the platforms used; whether the whole property or only rooms will be rented; and how often it was rented the previous year. Applications are sworn under penalty of perjury. The city says applications are submitted online only, with a notarized owner certification form.

Section 119.15(A) requires an inspection of the vacation rental before the license is first issued and before each renewal, using criteria set by the City Manager to protect occupants' health, safety and welfare. Anything found out of compliance must be fixed and re-inspected before the license is issued. The application must also acknowledge that each bedroom, each hallway leading to a bedroom and the kitchen has an approved single-station smoke detector meeting NFPA requirements.

A Hollywood vacation rental license expires each September 30 and can be renewed each year only if the property complies with Chapter 119 and the renewal fee is paid; renewal is subject to an annual inspection. The license cannot be transferred, and the representative must tell the city in writing within 30 days if the property stops operating as a vacation rental.

The city's schedule of fees sets the vacation rental license application at $850 for a property that is not owner-occupied and $100 for an owner-occupied one, and renewal at $600 (not owner-occupied) or $45 (owner-occupied). The initial inspection is $400 for up to 1,500 square feet plus $0.15 for each additional square foot; annual renewal inspections are $150 for owner-occupied properties and condominium units and $300 per unit for all others; re-inspections are $150 (initial) or $300. Penalties include $350 for operating without a city license, $250 for operating without a DBPR license, and a daily fine of up to $5,000 for operating without a license. The fiscal year 2027 schedule adopted by the City Commission in September 2026 keeps the same amounts.

Section 119.11(F) bars a vacation rental license for any condominium, co-operative or apartment unit in a building with one or more open violations, and allows the city to refuse a license where the building has not conducted and passed the inspections required under the Broward County Building Safety Inspection Program. A license is also not issued to an owner with an open building or code violation on the property.

Section 119.34 limits a vacation rental to two people per bedroom overnight and three people per bedroom at other times, and never more than the property's maximum occupant load under the Florida Building Code, whichever is stricter. A bedroom must have at least 70 square feet, and 50 square feet per occupant when more than one person sleeps in it, plus a closet.

Applicants must acknowledge that the vacation rental has one or more noise level detection devices that alert the owner or representative and the occupants to noise from the rental, that the data is kept for 180 days and given to the city on request, and that an exterior device is placed in the main outdoor gathering areas such as patios and pools.

Under § 119.37, every advertisement for the vacation rental must show the Florida DBPR transient lodging license number and the City of Hollywood vacation rental license number, and must state at least the maximum occupancy permitted. Advertising is treated as evidence that the property is used as a vacation rental, and the owner must take ads down after rentals stop.

When the vacation rental is within 1,000 feet of a school, designated public school bus stop, day care center, park, playground or other place where children regularly gather, a background check of all occupants is required (as described in § 119.39), with proof provided to the city on request.

Broward County's tourist development tax is 6% of the total rent for living quarters or accommodations, including single-family homes, condominiums and apartments, rented for six months or less. Hosts register with the county's Tourist Development Tax Section, which assigns a monthly, quarterly, semi-annual or annual filing frequency; returns are due on the first of the month after collection and are late if not postmarked by the 20th. The Department of Revenue's rate table also lists Broward's 6% tax as collected by the county. Hollywood's code accepts a written statement instead of a county account when the booking platform remits the tax.

Broward County's discretionary sales surtax is 1%, applied on top of the 6% state sales tax. The Department of Revenue lists it as effective January 1, 2019 and expiring December 31, 2048.

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.