Local governments
wouldn’t be allowed to pass new laws clamping down on Airbnb-like vacation rentals under a bill passed by the House.
TALLAHASSEE — Local governments wouldn’t be allowed to pass new laws clamping down on short-term vacation rentals, which have become a popular option for homeowners using online companies such as Airbnb and Homeaway, under a bill the House passed Friday.
Such companies connect vacationers with homeowners offering their homes for lodging for days or weeks at a time. But residents in cities across the state have complained of partiers on spring break and noise nuisances, prompting some local governments to pass laws restricting vacation rentals. The city of Miami Beach has sued Airbnb over the issue.
The issue split Republicans in charge of the House, with many decrying the state preempting local governments and others arguing the issue was about private property rights and being able to offer a home for rent.
The bill, HB 427, passed with just seven votes to spare, 63-56, and now heads to the Senate. “Is it possible to have too much freedom? And is this a referendum on that freedom? If it is, I’m OK with that,” said Rep. Mike LaRosa, RKissimmee, the bill’s sponsor.
But some Republicans warned that large, out-of-state investors or firms can buy residential properties and rent them out for days at a time without concern for the local neighborhoods. “This is big government without a clue trying to superimpose itself in an area in which it does not belong,” said Rep. Bill Hager, R-Boca Raton.
The bill bars local governments from passing ordinances on vacation rentals, but cities with laws on the books before 2011 are grandfathered in.
The online platforms have become widely popular for casual visitors as well as those with vacation homes looking for renters.
Kim Manghisi has two vacation homes in St. Petersburg and uses the Homeaway platform to rent them out. A New York resident, she originally bought one house as a vacation home, but it didn’t get much use. Online rentals are just the wave of the future, she said, and municipalities and neighborhoods are going to have to come to terms with it.