Florida lawmakers want to regulate short-term rentals

For years the Florida Legislature has gone back and forth on how to regulate short-term rentals, like Airbnbs, leaving local governments in charge of creating rules and ordinances to deal with shortterm rentals in their respective communities.

But in the legislative session that comes to a close on March 8, lawmakers have been looking to seize control of the issue.

Earlier this month, the Florida Senate passed Senate Bill 280, which establishes local registration programs for short-term rentals, limits the number of guests in rental properties and puts in place penalties for rentals that violate local ordinances.

The sponsor of the bill, Pinellas County Republican Nick DiCeglie, has said he believes that the legislation takes a “fair and balanced” approach to appeasing rental property owners and the residents living next to shortterm rentals.

“What I don’t want to see is what we currently have in some of these local ordinances through registration programs, where these local governments are using those ordinances as a weapon to stop vacation rentals from operating at all. I have a fundamental problem with that,” said DiCeglie.

But critics of the bill say the legislation is not restrictive enough to appease constituents dealing with unruly tourists, and that local governments are better equipped to deal with the issue, especially in places that have more restrictive rules than what the legislation lays out.

For example, the bill gives the owner of a short-term rental 15 days to rectify a problem. Those who opposed the bill said that’s too long of a window of time given