St Petersburg FL - Are 30+ Day Stays a Realistic Expectation?

[Jeremy-and-Keiko0]

Hello.  Budding hosts here.  My wife and I are purchasing a place in St Pete where the rules are pretty strict on transient (less than 30 days stays). Essentially, this means for a sustainable business the host needs to make 30+ day stays work if he/she wants to keep everything above board (which of course we do).

Are 30 days stays realistic in this area?  

[Sarah977]

@Jeremy-and-Keiko0 I have no idea what the landlord/tenant laws are there, but that's one of the main reasons hosts tend to shy away from long term bookings and someting you need to research. In many jurisdictions a guest acquires tenant rights after 30 days. If they prove to be objectionable in some way, it can then be a real hassle to evict them.

Also on a long term booking, Airbnb only guarantees the first month's payment. So if the guest reneges on future payments and won't leave, and they have acquired tenant rights, you face the same scenario when it comes to eviction.

And Airbnb's so-called security deposit is a joke- it isn't charged or held when a guest books, it's only a warning that it could be charged, and if there are damages, you have to request the guest to pay, which the majority of disrespectful guests will refuse.

Airbnb really doesn't provide the safeguards that one would rely on for long term rentals, which is why it's preferable to rent long term in a way where you have full control of everything.

[Jeremy-and-Keiko0]

@Sarah977  - thank you for your response.

I am in the process of trying to find the answer to the "if a guest stays longer than 30 days are they considered a 'tenant'" question.   That's a very good point and a potential horror story in the making.

May end up going the traditional renting route.  I'm not going to skirt the laws an play the "I hope I don't get fined" game.  

[Brenda328]

@Jeremy-and-Keiko0 ,

You will get some 30 day+ stays due to snowbirds, but they are often at a much lower rate than you could get for 4-7 day stays.   Those stays are also more often in the winter months.   If you can't offer shorter stays summer months (which are more family-oriented stays) are more difficult to fill. 

The HOA rules often are one of the primary factors in property prices down there.  A condo with an HOA offering week-long stays may be 10-25% more expensive than one that restricts stays to 1-3 months or longer, depending on the price point you are looking at.

[Jeremy-and-Keiko0]

Thank you @Brenda328 .  Great to know.  Leaning more and more toward a 6 or 9 month lease. Seems St Pete isn't quite committed to AirBNB just yet.

[Anonymous]

@Jeremy-and-Keiko0  There are legitimate reasons that people would choose a fixed-term stay of 30+ days, but at this point you're not a "host" but rather a landlord for furnished residential housing. 

I don't know at what length of stay renter in Florida acquires the right of tenancy, but that is absolutely something you need to know before taking on that responsibility. There's nothing Airbnb can do to help you if you wind up with squatters that you can't legally evict.

Even if you do choose to go the route of offering long-term stays, I can't recommend Airbnb as the listing service for this for all the reasons @Sarah977 outlined above. Airbnb can get a lot of eyes on your listing, but it does not have a useful package of services for landlords to justify the exorbitant amount of fees they collect on a long booking. 

[Daniel8089]

Is there no way to legally get shorter than 30 day stays in St. Petes right now?  

[Tommy254]

Are there any updates for the short term rental laws in St Petes for 2021/2022?

[Helen3]

Any STR restrictions should show on the local government website for St Petersburg @Tommy254 . Have you checked there?

[Jennifer3245]

Also wondering if anyone has had success doing 30+ day renting in St Pete through Airbnb

[Miguel-and-Kara0]

Joining this conversation late, but honestly trying to figure out everything.

Posting the St. Pete code here which is still confusing to me in many ways because FL state's pre-emptive clause https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2014/356/BillText/Filed/HTML about regulations being preempted to FL state so local municipalities still can't regulate duration of short term rentals unless grandfathered in before 2011? But then in other places it says 2014? I can't even find the date of when the city code below was adopted. 

"Transient means a person having the right to occupy a hotel, motel or other transient accommodation unit for a term less than monthly.

Transient accommodation unit means a room or rooms, or other living quarters, within a transient accommodations use which is designed to be occupied as a single unit by one or more persons.

Transient accommodation uses means a building containing one or more transient accommodation units, one or more of which is occupied by one or more persons, or offered or advertised as being available for such occupancy, when the right of occupancy is for a term less than monthly, such right of occupancy being available more than three times in any consecutive 365-day period. The determination that a property is being used as a transient accommodation use is made without regard to the form of ownership of the property or unit, or whether the occupant has a direct or an indirect ownership interest in the property or unit; and without regard to whether the right of occupancy arises from a rental agreement, other agreement, or the payment of consideration. The term "transient accommodation uses" includes but is not limited to hotels, motels, recreational vehicle parks, tourist lodging facilities, resort condominiums, resort dwellings, vacation resorts, and dwelling units occupied or available for occupancy on an interval ownership or "time share" basis, when any of the above are made available for occupancy more than three times in any consecutive 365-day period and the right of occupancy is for a term less than monthly.

The term "transient accommodation uses" does not include any of the following uses if such use otherwise complies with the applicable requirements of the City and is licensed by the State of Florida, if such licensing is required by law: bed and breakfast homes, community residential homes, nursing homes, rehabilitation facilities for persons with drug, alcohol, or physical impairments, respite care facilities for persons with terminal illnesses and their families, short-term/emergency housing or long term housing where allowed by this chapter, and child foster homes. The term "transient accommodation uses" does not include a guest house dwelling, when one or both of the sleeping rooms are located as a permitted accessory use within and incidental to the primary residential structure and the primary residential structure is owned by a natural person and occupied by the owner. A use which is otherwise a residential use is not considered a "transient accommodations use" solely because it is occupied by members of the owner's family, a housekeeper or caretaker, or guests who reside on the premises without paying rent or other consideration for such occupancy. The term "transient accommodation uses" does not prohibit the owner of a residential dwelling unit from occupying the dwelling unit as infrequently as the owner may desire."

This document has also been helpful but still leaves the question of when the City code was adopted which I can't find: https://s13026.realeverest.com/uploads/sites/3172/2019/12/Short-Term-Rentals-HANDOUT.pdf

Honestly, there seems to be a lot of conflicting information. Last year we went to St Pete zoning and asked questions and they said "technically not allowed, but only enforced by complaint". 

We want to be above the law and yet have many of the same reservations of people above in comments regarding tenancy laws. Anybody have experience with 30+day rentals and know where I can be more informed about tenancy laws? 

[Kristen517]

Did you find anything more about the st Pete code versus state enforcement?? 
@Miguel-and-Kara0 ?

it is so confusing! 

Thanks for posting that and the info you have provided. 

We also just purchased a property in St. Pete’s and are going through the same headaches and wondering how to actually make this work! 

[Miguel-and-Kara0]

@Kristen517 It IS confusing! We got a letter from the city because a neighbor way down the street complained-not about parties (because the never occured), noise, parking, etc. They just complained that we were renting our place more than 3x per year I guess because they saw people in and out. The letter contained more details on the city code of St. Pete and made it pretty clear to us that they had the grandfathered rule of 3x per year in place before the FL state law. Due to that clarification,  we felt we could not continue short term stays with a clear conscience. We successfully had a couple bookings that were 30 days, but we made it clear that they would have to agree to sign a furnished housing lease agreement when they arrived and the payment would simply go through Airbnb. We just did not want to risk a guest being uncooperative and getting tenancy rights. 30 day rentals through airbnb are definitely more difficult,  but not impossible with the amount of medical schools and hospitals and business opportunities around. You just have to be ok with going weeks or maybe even a month between sometimes if you're exclusively on Airbnb. There's a market for midterm rentals, but they can just be harder to find. Just keep in mind that if you do any rental less than 6 months and NOT through the airbnb platform, you have to collect tourist taxes for Pinellas and State of FL set up accounts with them. Airbnb will do it for you if it's through them however.

Best to you and your business!

[Avery64]

Has anyone had luck in getting a zoning overlay approved?

[Sierra11]

Hi there, 

I am a Realtor in St Pete and very familiar with Pinellas counties short term rental rules. I can provide more information if anyone needs it. 

One of my close friends and colleagues Airbnb's out her house near the Grand Central District with a 30 day min and it's always booked. That said, I also have a lot of clients who opt to short term rent with no minimum. The written rule in the City of St Pete is 30 day min with three stays less than 30 days permitted per year. The only time I see this being enforced is if a neighbor complains. 

Sierra Kluson

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