Floridians, Help Protect and Defend Property Rights
OPINION – by Gia Arvin
Saying no is often hard to do, but it’s the right thing to do in the case of Senate Bill 280, passed by Florida lawmakers at the end of the 2024 legislative session. While well-intended, Florida’s Realtors and many others believe SB 280 threatens the rights of property owners and the health of vacation rental and tourism industries. It doesn’t strike the needed, fair balance between the rights of private property owners to rent their property on a short-term basis and the ability of local governments to regulate these rentals in their communities.
Short-term rentals should be regulated, but SB 280 isn’t the right way to do so. If signed by Gov. DeSantis, regulation under this bill would:
Basically, “tax” short-term rental owners through unlimited fees. The bill allows local governments to charge a “reasonable” fee for processing registration applications, yearly renewals, and inspections, but fails to provide a defined limit on those fees – what “reasonable” means.
Suspend or revoke vacation rental registrations for “material” violations of local law, ordinance or regulation that don’t solely apply to vacation rentals. However, the bill doesn’t clearly define what “material” violations are – that makes it difficult to provide uniform regulation and risks possible bias or arbitrary actions.
Allow local governments to revoke or refuse to renew vacation rental registrations under certain conditions, but there are no requirements to inform renters. That fails to protect consumers’ rights since not notifying current or future renters that a rental has been suspended or revoked may lead to potential rental agreement violations.
Force short-term rental owners to appeal any disciplinary actions through the court system within 30 days – and the court is authorized to award attorney fees and damages to the winning party. This process takes time and resources, adding stress and financial risk that could inhibit vacation rental owners from entering the industry or going through the appeals process.
Arbitrarily limit occupancy levels, imposing a maximum overnight persons’ limit, which will cause large groups to reconsider vacationing in Florida and could also hinder families from finding suitable and affordable accommodations.
SB 280 is flawed, and its potential consequences shouldn’t be ignored.
Therefore, Florida’s Realtors are asking Gov. DeSantis to veto SB 280 so lawmakers, local government officials, vacation rental owners, and other stakeholders can work together to achieve a better balance between private property rights and local government regulation of short-term rentals.
We encourage Florida residents to join us in defending property rights by calling for the governor to veto SB 280.
