With the popularity
Commissioners may establish regulations on heels of Orlando
of homesharing sites such as Airbnb, Seminole County commissioners today will consider regulations on shortterm vacation rentals after complaints by some residents.
With the soaring popularity of home-sharing sites, such as Airbnb, Seminole County commissioners today will consider regulations on short-term vacation rentals after complaints by residents that homes in their neighborhoods have turned into mini-hotels with cars parked on streets and parties running into the early morning hours.
If approved, Seminole’s proposed rules would come on the heels of similar regulations enacted by Orlando in February that go into effect Sunday.
State law prevents local governments from prohibiting vacation rentals. However, counties and municipalities can regulate noise, parking and a registration process.
Under Seminole’s proposed ordinance, a property owner wanting to rent a home in unincorporated areas for less than a month would have to apply for and receive a “certificate of compliance” from the county at a one-time charge of $150.
Each short-term vacation rental home would be limited to two people per bedroom — or sleeping room — and have no more than four children under 13. The number of visitors to the home would not be able to exceed double than the number of people renting out the home.
Loud noise would be forbidden from 11 p.m.-7 a.m. And each house would need enough parking spaces on the property for at least two cars, plus an additional parking space for every bedroom beyond two, according to the ordinance. Guests could not park on sidewalks, bike paths or trails.
Short-term vacation rentals also would have to be registered with the state Department of Revenue and collect Seminole’s 5-percent tourist development tax.
Assistant County Attorney Paul Chipok said Seminole is trying to “provide a degree of safe-guard” to residents in neighborhoods with short-term vacation rentals, and also to the short-term renters.
George Sellery, a safety committee member for the Lake Forest Homeowners Association, a gated community off State Road 46, just west of Interstate 4, called it “a very important ordinance because vacation rentals have become a booming phenomenon in recent years.”
However, the ordinance doesn’t say that a homeowners association can prohibit short-