Florida
State of Florida — vacation rental licensing short-term rental rules
Overview
Florida licenses vacation rentals at the state level through the Department of Business and Professional Regulation, in addition to any county or city registration. Sales tax and transient rental tax obligations run through the Department of Revenue, while county tourist development tax is often administered locally. These are three separate obligations, and holding one does not satisfy the others.
Areas covered: All Florida vacation rentals, statewide · Last verified
Not legal advice
VacoHost is not a law firm and does not verify compliance on an owner’s behalf. This page describes the categories of requirement a short-term rental owner should confirm, and links the official sources where the current figures live. Rules change between our reviews — verify directly with the jurisdiction before acting.
What to verify for this jurisdiction
- State license
- A state vacation rental license is issued per licensed unit or grouping. Confirm the correct license type and unit count for your property with DBPR.
- State sales and transient rental tax
- The Florida Department of Revenue administers state-level transient rental tax. Confirm whether your booking platform remits on your behalf and what you must still file.
- County tourist development tax
- Tourist development tax is generally administered by the county. Registration and remittance rules differ by county — see the county entries in this library.
- Local registration
- Cities and counties may require separate short-term rental registration, inspection, and posted information. Verify with the local jurisdiction.
Confirm these directly — we could not verify them
We publish gaps rather than guesses. The following were not confirmable from a current official source at our last review.
- Correct DBPR license classification for your unit
- Whether your platform remits state and county taxes on your bookings
- Whether your county requires separate tourist development tax registration
Official sources
Government sources only. If a link has moved, go to the jurisdiction’s main site and search for short-term or vacation rentals.
Change log
- — Entry published. Official sources verified.
Operating a rental here?
Compliance is the owner’s responsibility in every model, including ours. What a co-host can do is keep the listing, messaging, and pricing consistent with the rules you confirm.
Nearby jurisdictions
Found a change in State of Florida — vacation rental licensing?
Send the official link and we'll re-verify this entry. We'd rather correct it than leave a stale requirement up.
go@vacohost.com