The Florida Senate
BILL ANALYSIS AND FISCAL IMPACT STATEMENT
(This document is based on the provisions contained in the legislation as of the latest date listed below.)
Prepared By: The Professional Staff of the Committee on Rules
BILL: CS/CS/SB 522
INTRODUCER: Appropriations Committee; Regulated Industries Committee; and Senator Diaz
SUBJECT: Vacation Rentals
DATE: April 12, 2021 REVISED:
ANALYST STAFF DIRECTOR REFERENCE ACTION
1. Oxamendi Imhof RI Fav/CS
2. Davis Sadberry AP Fav/CS
3. Oxamendi Phelps RC Pre-meeting
Please see Section IX. for Additional Information:
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE - Substantial Changes
I. Summary:
CS/CS/SB 522 revises the regulation of vacation rentals. A vacation rental is a unit in a
condominium or cooperative, or a single, two, three, or four family house that is rented to guests
more than three times a year for periods of less than 30 days or one calendar month, whichever is
shorter, or held out as regularly rented to guests. Vacation rentals are licensed by the Division of
Hotels and Restaurants (division) within the Department of Business and Professional
Regulation (DBPR). Current law prohibits local laws, ordinances, or regulations that prohibit
vacation rentals or regulate the duration or frequency of rental of vacation rentals. However, this
prohibition does not apply to any local law, ordinance, or regulation adopted on or before June 1,
2011.
The bill permits “grandfathered” local laws, ordinances, or regulations adopted on or before June
1, 2011, to be amended to be less restrictive.
The bill preempts the regulation of advertising platforms to the state. An advertising platform is a
person who electronically advertises a vacation rental to rent for transient occupancy, maintains a
marketplace, and a reservation or payment system.
The bill requires the owner or operator of a vacation rental offered for transient occupancy
through an advertising platform to include the property’s vacation rental license number and the
applicable Florida sales tax registration and tourist development tax account numbers on the
vacation rental’s advertisement, and attest that, to the best of their knowledge, those numbers are
BILL: CS/CS/SB 522 Page 2
current, valid, and accurate. The vacation rental property owner or operator must display this tax
and licensure information inside the vacation rental property.
The bill requires an advertising platform to display the vacation rental license number and the
Florida sales tax registration and tourist development tax account numbers of each property that
advertises on its platform. The advertising platform must verify the validity of the vacation
rental’s license number before it publishes the advertisement and must perform ongoing checks
every calendar quarter thereafter. To facilitate this verification, the division must maintain
vacation rental license information in a readily accessible electronic format. The advertising
platform must remove from public view any advertisement or listing that fails to display a valid
vacation rental license number.
Under the bill, advertising platforms must provide to the division on a quarterly basis
information that assists the division with identification and verification of the vacation rental
property’s compliance with the bill’s requirements.
Advertising platforms are required by the bill to collect and remit any taxes imposed under
chapters 125, 205, and 212, Florida Statutes, that result from payment for the rental of a vacation
rental property on its platform. The bill allows platforms to exclude service fees from the taxable
basis if the platforms do not own, operate, or manage the vacation rental. It allows the division to
take enforcement action for noncompliance.
Additionally, the bill:
Requires advertising platforms to adopt anti-discrimination policies and to inform users of
the public lodging discrimination prohibition found in section 509.092, Florida Statutes;
Allows Department of Revenue to adopt emergency rules for six months which may be
renewed until permanent rules are adopted;
Provides that its terms do not supersede any current or future declaration or covenant for
condominium, cooperative, or homeowners’ associations; and
Requires a sexual offender or predator to register at the local sheriff’s office no later than
5:00 p.m., 24 hours after establishing a temporary residence in a vacation rental.
The bill provides appropriations and positions for the DBPR and the Florida Department of Law
Enforcement to implement the provisions of the bill.
There may be an increase in local tourist development taxes relating to the additional projected
licenses. The Revenue Estimating Conference determined that the provisions in the bill that
require advertising platforms to collect and remit state and local sales taxes have no fiscal
impact.
The bill takes effect upon becoming a law. However, the provisions relating to the regulation of
advertising platforms take effect January 1, 2022.
II. Present Situation:
The Division of Hotels and Restaurants (division) within the Department of Business and
Professional Regulation is the state agency charged with enforcing the provisions of
BILL: CS/CS/SB 522 Page 3
ch. 509, F.S., relating to the regulation of public lodging establishments and public food service
establishments for the purpose of protecting the public health, safety, and welfare.
The term “public lodging establishments” includes transient and nontransient public lodging
establishments.1 The principal differences between transient and nontransient public lodging
establishments are the number of times that the establishments are rented in a calendar year and
the duration of the rentals.
A “transient public lodging establishment” is defined in s. 509.013(4)(a)1., F.S., as:
…any unit, group of units, dwelling, building, or group of buildings within
a single complex of buildings which is rented to guests more than three
times in a calendar year for periods of less than 30 days or 1 calendar
month, whichever is less, or which is advertised or held out to the public
as a place regularly rented to guests.
A “nontransient public lodging establishment” is defined in s. 509.013(4)(a)2., F.S., as:
…any unit, group of units, dwelling, building, or group of buildings within
a single complex of buildings which is rented to guests for periods of at
least 30 days or 1 calendar month, whichever is less, or which is advertised
or held out to the public as a place regularly rented to guests for periods of
at least 30 days or 1 calendar month.
Section 509.013(4)(b), F.S., exempts the following types of establishments from the definition of
“public lodging establishment”:
1. Any dormitory or other living or sleeping facility maintained by a
public or private school, college, or university for the use of students,
faculty, or visitors;
2. Any facility certified or licensed and regulated by the Agency for
Health Care Administration or the Department of Children and Families or
other similar place regulated under s. 381.0072, F.S.;
3. Any place renting four rental units or less, unless the rental units are
advertised or held out to the public to be places that are regularly rented to
transients;
4. Any unit or group of units in a condominium, cooperative, or
timeshare plan and any individually or collectively owned one-family,
two-family, three-family, or four-family dwelling house or dwelling unit
that is rented for periods of at least 30 days or one calendar month,
whichever is less, and that is not advertised or held out to the public as a
place regularly rented for periods of less than one calendar month,
provided that no more than four rental units within a single complex of
buildings are available for rent;
1
Section 509.013(4)(a), F.S.
BILL: CS/CS/SB 522 Page 4
5. Any migrant labor camp or residential migrant housing permitted by
the Department of Health under ss. 381.008-381.00895, F.S.;
6. Any establishment inspected by the Department of Health and
regulated by ch. 513 F.S.;
7. Any nonprofit organization that operates a facility providing housing
only to patients, patients’ families, and patients’ caregivers and not to the
general public;
8. Any apartment building inspected by the United States Department of
Housing and Urban Development or other entity acting on the
department’s behalf that is designated primarily as housing for persons at
least 62 years of age. The division may require the operator of the
apartment building to attest in writing that such building meets the criteria
provided in this subparagraph. The division may adopt rules to implement
this requirement; and
9. Any roominghouse, boardinghouse, or other living or sleeping facility
that may not be classified as a hotel, motel, timeshare project, vacation
rental, nontransient apartment, bed and breakfast inn, or transient
apartment under s. 509.242, F.S.
A public lodging establishment is classified as a hotel, motel, vacation rental, nontransient
apartment, transient apartment, bed and breakfast inn, or timeshare project.2
A “vacation rental” is defined in s. 509.242(1)(c), F.S., as:
…any unit or group of units in a condominium, cooperative, or timeshare
plan or any individually or collectively owned single-family, two-family,
three-family, or four-family house or dwelling unit that is also a transient
public lodging establishment but is not a timeshare project.
The DBPR licenses vacation rentals as condominiums, dwellings, or timeshare projects.3 The
division may issue a vacation rental license for “a single-family house, a townhouse, or a unit or
group of units in a duplex, triplex, quadruplex, or other dwelling unit that has four or less units
collectively.”4 The division does not license or regulate the rental of individual rooms within a
dwelling unit based on the roominghouse and boardinghouse exclusion from the definition of
public lodging establishment in s. 509.013(4)(b)9., F.S.5
2
Section 509.242(1), F.S.
3
Fla. Admin. Code R. 61C-1.002(4)(a)1.
4
The division further classifies a vacation rental license as a single, group, or collective license. See Fla. Admin. Code
R. 61C-1.002(4)(a)1. A single license may include one single-family house or townhouse, or a unit or group of units within a
single building that are owned and operated by the same individual person or entity. A group license is a license issued by the
division to a licensed agent to cover all units within a building or group of buildings in a single complex. A collective license
is a license issued by the division to a licensed agent who represents a collective group of houses or units found on separate
locations not to exceed 75 houses or units per license.
5
Department of Business and Professional Regulation, 2021 Agency Legislative Bill Analysis for SB 522, at 2 (Feb. 8, 2021)
(on file with the Senate Committee on Regulated Industries).
BILL: CS/CS/SB 522 Page 5
The 48,226 public lodging establishments licensed by the division are distributed as follows:6
Hotels – 2,191 licenses;
Motels – 2,497 licenses;
Nontransient apartments – 18,571 licenses;
Transient apartments – 942 licenses;
Bed and Breakfast Inns – 269 licenses;
Vacation rental condominiums – 9,031 licenses;
Vacation rental dwellings – 17,934 licenses; and
Vacation rental timeshare projects – 27 licenses.
Inspections of Vacation Rentals
The division must inspect each licensed public lodging establishment at least biannually, but
must inspect transient and nontransient apartments at least annually. However, the division is not
required to inspect vacation rentals, but vacation rentals must be available for inspection upon a
request to the division.7 The division conducts inspections of vacation rentals in response to a
consumer complaint. In Fiscal Year 2019-2020, the division received 1,391 consumer complaints
regarding vacation rentals. In response to the complaints, the division’s inspection confirmed a
violation for 38 of the complaints.8
The division’s inspection of vacation rentals includes matters of safety (for example, fire
hazards, smoke detectors, and boiler safety), sanitation (for example, safe water sources,
bedding, and vermin control), consumer protection (for example, unethical business practices,
compliance with the Florida Clean Air Act, and maintenance of a guest register), and other
general safety and regulatory matters.9 The division must notify the local fire safety authority or
the State Fire Marshal of any readily observable violation of a rule adopted under ch. 633, F.S.,10
which relates to a public lodging establishment.11
Additionally, an applicant for a vacation rental license is required to submit with the license
application a signed certificate evidencing the inspection of all balconies, platforms, stairways,
railings, and railways, from a person competent to conduct such inspections.12
6
Department of Business and Professional Regulation, HR400A-Sum Public Food and Lodging Statewide Account Summary,
(Oct. 1, 2020) available at http://www.myfloridalicense.com/dbpr/hr/reports/statistics/documents/licensecount1.pdf (last
visited Feb. 5, 2021).
7
Section 509.032(2)(a), F.S.
8
Department of Business and Professional Regulation, Division of Hotels and Restaurants Annual Report for FY 2019-2020
at page 21, available at http://www.myfloridalicense.com/dbpr/hr/reports/annualreports/documents/ar2019_20.pdf (last
visited Feb. 5, 2021).
9
See ss. 509.211 and 509.221, F.S., for the safety and sanitary regulations, respectively. See also Fla. Admin. Code R. 61C-
1.002; Lodging Inspection Report, DBPR Form HR 5022-014, which details the safety and sanitation matters addressed in the
course of an inspection. A copy of the Lodging Inspection Report is available at:
https://www.flrules.org/Gateway/reference.asp?No=Ref-07062 (last visited Feb. 5, 2021).
10
Chapter 633, F.S., relates to fire prevention and control, including the duties of the State Fire Marshal and the adoption of
the Florida Fire Prevention Code.
11
Section 509.032(2)(d), F.S.
12
See ss. 509.211(3) and 509.2112, F.S., and form DBPR HR-7020, Division of Hotels and Restaurants Certificate of
Balcony Inspection, available at
http://www.myfloridalicense.com/dbpr/hr/forms/documents/application_packet_for_vacation_rental_license.pdf (last visited
Feb. 5, 2021).
BILL: CS/CS/SB 522 Page 6
Preemption
Section 509.032(7)(a), F.S., provides that “the regulation of public lodging establishments and
public food service establishments, including, but not limited to, sanitation standards,
inspections, training and testing of personnel, and matters related to the nutritional content and
marketing of foods offered in such establishments, is preempted to the state.”
Current law does not preempt the authority of a local government or local enforcement district to
conduct inspections of public lodging establishments for compliance with the Florida Building
Code and the Florida Fire Prevention Code, pursuant to ss. 553.80 and 633.206, F.S.13
Section 509.032(7)(b), F.S., prohibits local laws, ordinances, or regulations that prohibit vacation
rentals or regulate the duration or frequency of rental of vacation rentals. However, this
prohibition does not apply to any local law, ordinance, or regulation adopted on or before June 1,
2011.
Section 509.032(7)(c), F.S., provides that the prohibition in s. 509.032(7)(b), F.S., does not apply
to local laws, ordinances, or regulations exclusively relating to property valuation as a criterion
for vacation rental if the