Short-term rentals in Pensacola, explained properly.

Pensacola's Land Development Code defines a bed and breakfast facility as an accessory use in which no more than four rooms or lodging units, with breakfast service only, are provided to guests for stays from one night to seasonal, by the owner of the principal structure living on site. Under § 12-3-84, a bed and breakfast is permitted only where the principal building is owner-occupied, and no more than four rooms or lodging units may be provided on a building site (in the main building, a detached garage or an accessory building). One off-street parking space is required for each sleeping room, exterior changes that alter the building's residential character are not allowed, and signage is limited to a non-illuminated nameplate of up to two square feet.

Section 12-3-84(a) bars bed and breakfast facilities from the R-1AAAAA, R-1AAAA, R-1AAA, PR-1AAA and R-ZL zoning districts, allows them as a conditional use in the R-1AA and R-1A districts (subject to the conditional use process in § 12-3-120), and allows them as a permitted use in all other zoning districts.

Escambia County's tourist development tax is 5% of the total payment received for renting living quarters or accommodations for six months or less, including single-family homes, condominiums, apartments and multiple-unit structures. All collections in Escambia County are remitted to the Escambia County Clerk of the Circuit Court and Comptroller, not to the state; the Department of Revenue's rate table also lists Escambia's 5% tax as collected by the county. The rate rose to 5% on April 1, 2021 (Escambia County Code § 90-65).

To file tourist development tax returns, owners send the Clerk's registration form to [email protected] to have an account created, then file returns online through the Clerk's Excise Online Tourist Development Tax System. The Clerk also publishes a TDT property registration form and a form for adding or removing a property manager.

Escambia County's total discretionary sales surtax is 1.5%, applied on top of the 6% state sales tax: a 1% local government infrastructure surtax (effective June 1, 1992, expiring December 31, 2028) and a 0.5% school capital outlay surtax that the Department of Revenue lists as extended through December 31, 2037.

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.