The Orlando City Council, by a vote of 6-1, passed new rules legalizing home-sharing — the likes of Airbnb, VRBO, HomeAway and others — in Orlando’s residential neighborhoods, under certain conditions.
Under the new rules, homeowners can rent out a room, sofa or mother-in-law suite for stays fewer than 30 days. They cannot rent out entire houses or apartments, and they must reside at the property they rent out. There is also a fee the city will collect from property owners doing short-term rentals.
Previously, even rentals of fewer than 30 days were considered code violations by the city. The new ordinance will come into effect on July 1, by which time the city will create an online registration system.
The change does not supersede neighborhood or homeowners association rules that ban rentals, the Orlando Sentinel reports.
Airbnb Florida was in favor of the changes, and issued a statement after the vote lauding the city for the move. The company pointed out that it collected and remitted about $45.7M in taxes from its hosts to state and local governments in 2017, up from $20M in 2016.
The change by Orlando may be moot in any case, since there are bills pending in the Florida legislature to bring regulation of short-term residential rentals within the purview of the state.
