Two Florida legislators seek to regulate vacation home rentals

[TexasTowelie]

Lori Killinger wielded about 600 pages of rules and regulations when she stood before a panel of state senators recently.

The Florida Vacation Rental Management Association lobbyist brought the stack of documents — 38 separate ordinances passed by cities and counties since 2014 — to a Senate committee meeting called to address short term home rentals.

Killinger got her turn to speak after listening to two hours of testimony from local government and lodging lobbyists, as well as academics and local government officials.

“You can blame the Internet for where we are,” Killinger said as she sought to rebut the locals' testimony.

Read more: http://www.tallahassee.com/story/news/2017/11/24/florida-legislators-seek-regulate-vacation-home-rentals/890126001/

[Ineeda]

1. A big problem in my town

that we've been trying to combat for years. There is a reasonable ordinance in place (no rentals less than 30 days and not more than three times a year in single-family residential zones.) The primary problem is that we live in a rules-don't-apply-to-me society and there is very little effort from the chamber of commerce driven city government to enforce the ordinance. An additional problem is that most of these short-term rentals are "under the table" so not only don't pay the appropriate fees and/taxes but also cheat via the Homestead tax exemption that prohibits renting the property for any duration. Many renters are instructed by the property owners or managers to say they're cousins or friends using the property if challenged, so the property owners are "double- or triple-dipping" thereby cheating us honest tax payers. Ain't that always the way.