Short-term rental rules · Miami Beach, Florida
Short-term rentals in Miami Beach, explained properly.
Miami Beach bans short-term rentals (leases under six months and a day) in single-family homes and in most multifamily zones, but a pre-2011 city ordinance — grandfathered under Florida's statewide preemption law — lets it keep enforcing this patchwork. Roughly 434 specific apartment buildings across a mix of commercial, mixed-use, and some residential zoning districts are authorized to operate as vacation rentals, verifiable through the city's own zoning map and address-lookup tool. Legal operators need a Business Tax Receipt and Resort Tax registration, both of which must be displayed in listings; operating without authorization risks eviction of guests and fines against the owner.
At a glance
What you need to know before you buy or list
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Regulated under a pre-2011 grandfathered ordinance | Florida law (F.S. 509.032(7)) generally preempts local governments from banning vacation rentals or regulating stay length, but exempts ordinances already in place by June 1, 2011 — Miami Beach's short-term rental restrictions predate that cutoff, so the city can keep enforcing its zoning-based ban and stay-length rules [1] [2] |
| Banned in single-family homes and most residential multifamily zones | Short-term rentals of less than six months and one day are prohibited in single-family homes and in multifamily residential buildings located in many of the city's residential zoning districts [3] |
| ~434 specific apartment buildings authorized citywide | The city maintains a list of roughly 434 apartment buildings authorized for short-term rentals, spanning zoning districts including CD-2/CD-3 commercial, CPS-1/CPS-2/CPS-4 commercial-pedestrian, MXE/MR mixed-use, RM-1/RM-2/RM-3 residential multifamily, RPS-3/RPS-4, RS-3/RS-4 residential single-family overlays, TC-1/TC-3/TC-C tourism-commercial, and GU/SPE general-use/special districts — eligibility must be checked building-by-building using the city's zoning map, not assumed from the district name alone [3]Confirming |
| Business Tax Receipt and Resort Tax registration required | Authorized operators must obtain a City of Miami Beach Business Tax Receipt through the Citizen Access Portal and register for a Resort Tax certificate; both the Business Tax Receipt number and Resort Tax certificate number must be conspicuously displayed in every advertisement or listing per Miami Beach Code Section 102-386 [3] |
| Florida DBPR vacation rental license also required | Beyond city licensing, operators must hold a Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR) vacation rental license (a Dwelling or Condominium license) and display it on-site; 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, or is advertised as regularly rented to guests [4] [2] |
| 4% Miami Beach Resort Tax on rental income | The city collects a 4% Resort Tax on all transient rentals of six months or less, filed directly with the city (monthly filers by the 20th of the following month), on top of Miami-Dade County's 3% Convention Development Tax, Florida's 6% state sales tax and Miami-Dade's 1% discretionary sales surtax — about 14% in total; the county's 2% Tourist Development Tax and 1% Professional Sports Franchise Facilities Tax do not apply in Miami Beach [5] [6] [7] |
| Fines up to $1,000/day (first violation), $5,000/day (repeat) | Under Florida Chapter 162 code-enforcement law, operating an unauthorized short-term rental can draw fines of up to $1,000 per day for a first violation and up to $5,000 per day for repeat violations, with up to $15,000 per violation possible where irreversible harm is found; the city's earlier flat penalties ($20,000 for a first offense rising to $100,000) were held to exceed state limits by Florida's Third District Court of Appeal in 2020, after which the city commission adopted a $1,000-a-day first-offense and $5,000-a-day repeat structure (per news reports; the current code text has not been confirmed), so current enforcement should be confirmed directly with Miami Beach Code Compliance [7] [6] [8]Confirming |
| Guests/tenants can be evicted from illegal rentals | If a rental is found to be operating illegally, the city states that tenants and visitors will be evicted from the property and fines will be assessed against the owner [9] |
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Detailed rules
The full picture, section by section
Where STRs are and aren't allowed
| Eligibility varies block by block; must be checked by address | Because authorization is tied to specific buildings and parcels rather than a simple zoning-district rule, the city provides a 'Practice Safe Renting' online tool and zoning map so owners, renters, and buyers can verify whether a specific address is authorized for short-term rental before listing, booking, or purchasing [9] |
|---|
Licensing & registration
| "Check Your Renter" tool for prior STR violations | The city operates a 'Check Your Renter' tool that lets property owners verify whether a prospective tenant has prior short-term rental violations on record [3] |
|---|
Taxes
| Combined tax on stays is about 14% | Guests pay Florida's 6% state sales tax, Miami-Dade's 1% discretionary sales surtax, the county's 3% Convention Development Tax and the city's 4% Resort Tax, about 14% in total. Miami Beach is exempt from the county's 2% Tourist Development Tax and 1% Professional Sports Franchise Facilities Tax, which is why the Florida Department of Revenue lists Miami Beach's local transient rental taxes at 7% (versus 6% in most of the county) [10] [11] [12] [5] [7] |
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Florida statewide framework
| Florida generally bars local STR bans and stay-length rules, except pre-2011 ordinances | Florida Statutes 509.032(7) generally prevents cities and counties from prohibiting vacation rentals or regulating the duration or frequency of stays. Local governments whose ordinances predate June 1, 2011 are exempt from that preemption and may keep enforcing their existing rules, which is why Miami Beach's ban and zoning restrictions remain in force. A 2024 bill (SB 280 / HB 1537) that would have further centralized state authority over vacation rentals passed the legislature but was vetoed by Governor DeSantis on June 27, 2024. In the 2026 session, SB 608 (vacation rental pool safety) was folded into CS/CS/SB 658 (water safety equipment for rentals), which died in House messages on March 13, 2026; neither bill touched local STR regulation, so the 2011 preemption framework and local patchwork continue to govern in 2026 [1] [13] [14] [2] |
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Changes
Recent and pending changes
We re-checked the City of Miami Beach 'Vacation/Short-Term Rentals' page (still lists 434 authorized apartment buildings), the 'Practice Safe Renting' lookup page, the city's Resort Tax filing page (4% on transient rentals of six months or less), Miami-Dade County's tourist tax page, Florida DOR rate tables (DR-15TDT, DR-15DSS), DBPR's vacation rental licensing guide, Florida Statutes 509.032(7) (2026 text) and Florida Senate bill pages. Florida SB 280 (2024) was vetoed on June 27, 2024; in the 2026 session SB 608 was folded into CS/CS/SB 658 (water safety equipment), which died in House messages on March 13, 2026, and neither bill touched local STR regulation. No Miami Beach commission action on short-term rentals from the last six months was found. Not confirmed automatically: the authorized-buildings list and zoning map PDFs and the Municode text of Sec. 142-1111 (which carries the current fine schedule) could not be fetched, so the zoning-district list and fine amounts still rest on secondary sources. Because Miami Beach's authority rests on the pre-June 1, 2011 grandfather clause, any future state law narrowing it would be an extremely high-impact change for this market.
Sources
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This page is general information compiled from public sources, not legal or tax advice. HOA rules, deed restrictions and zoning for a specific property can be stricter. Confirm with the local permitting office and a qualified professional before buying or listing a property.