Miami Short Term Rental Laws: Licenses, Approvals, and Taxes

To run a short-term rental legally in Miami, you need four approvals before a guest arrives: a state vacation rental license from the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation, a local business tax receipt, a Certificate of Use from the city or county, and tax registration with the Florida Department of Revenue. Miami’s short term rental laws then layer operational rules on top of those permits, covering who answers the phone at 2 a.m., how many people can sleep in the house, how loud the pool deck can get, and what you owe in taxes on every booking. Skip any step and the fines escalate quickly.

What Counts as a Short-Term Rental

Both the City of Miami and Miami-Dade County define a short-term rental as any dwelling rented for fewer than 30 days or one calendar month, whichever is shorter.¹ If every one of your stays is 30 days or longer, you fall outside this framework. Everything below assumes you’re renting for less.

Where You Can Legally Operate

Your property has to sit in a zoning district that allows transient lodging. In the City of Miami, short-term rentals are permitted in specific zoning categories, and the planning department checks each Certificate of Use application against the zoning map. In unincorporated Miami-Dade County, Section 33-28 of the county code governs vacation rentals across residential areas and adds a significant catch: the responsible party has to live at the property for more than six months of the calendar year.² That residency rule effectively limits most unincorporated-county rentals to a primary home rather than a pure investment property.

Zoning approval doesn’t override private restrictions. HOAs and condo associations can prohibit short-term rentals regardless of what the county allows, and the county ordinance requires the responsible party to notify the HOA or condo board that the property will operate as a vacation rental and to follow whatever rules the association sets.² Pull the governing documents before you spend money on applications.

The Four Approvals You Need Before Listing

DBPR Vacation Rental License

Chapter 509 of the Florida Statutes classifies vacation rentals as transient public lodging establishments and requires every one to hold a license from the Division of Hotels and Restaurants within the Department of Business and Professional Regulation.³ The DBPR issues the license as either a Vacation Rental–Condominium (for a unit in a condo or cooperative) or a Vacation Rental–Dwelling (for a single-family house, townhouse, or unit in a building with four or fewer units).⁴ Once licensed, the property is subject to periodic inspections for safety and sanitation.

Local Business Tax Receipt

Miami-Dade County requires a business tax receipt for each business location and each tax classification at that location.⁵ If your property sits inside an incorporated municipality like the City of Miami, you need a separate city BTR as well; the city requires every person or entity doing business within city limits to obtain one before starting operations.⁶ Fees vary by location and classification.

Certificate of Use

The Certificate of Use is the permit that actually authorizes short-term rental activity at your address. The City of Miami application asks for:

Proof of ownership (a recorded deed, property tax statement from the Miami-Dade County Property Appraiser, or a valid lease if you’re a tenant)⁷
A floor plan or sketch showing rooms, exits, fire extinguishers, and smoke alarms
Your DBPR license number
Your Florida Department of Revenue sales tax registration ID
A 24-hour contact number for the responsible party
The property’s folio number

The city’s lodging CU fee starts at $313 for the first 12 units, with $25 per unit beyond that.⁸ Applications go through the electronic permitting portal, zoning and building departments review for compliance, and a fire marshal or code enforcement officer may inspect the property. Plan for several weeks of processing.

Florida Department of Revenue Registration

You must register with the Florida Department of Revenue to collect and remit state and county taxes on your bookings.⁹ The CU application asks for the registration ID, so complete this step before you file.

Rules You Have to Follow Once You’re Operating

Responsible Party on Call

You must designate a responsible party available 24 hours a day, seven days a week who can reach the property within two hours of being notified of a problem.¹ Under the county code that person also has to give guests written notice of noise and parking rules before arrival, notify the HOA or condo board, report violations to the county or law enforcement, and keep a guest register with names and dates of stay that the county can inspect.²

Occupancy Limits

Overnight occupancy is capped at two people per bedroom plus two more for the property, with a hard ceiling of 12. Children under three don’t count. “Overnight” runs from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. During the day you can have four additional people, up to a maximum of 16.² The City of Miami applies the same overnight formula.¹

Noise

Miami-Dade Code Section 21-28 prohibits unreasonably loud or excessive noise. Between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m. Sunday through Thursday, and midnight to 7 a.m. Friday and Saturday, sound from radios, televisions, or speakers that is audible 100 feet from the building is prima facie evidence of a violation.¹⁰ Put these hours in the written notice to guests.

Posting and Safety Equipment

The Certificate of Use and the Vacation Rental Notice must be posted in a visible spot inside the property, usually near the main entrance, with contact information for the responsible party and the county complaint line.¹ Working smoke alarms belong in every sleeping area and on every level. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission recommends interconnected carbon monoxide alarms on each level and outside sleeping areas, with battery backup.¹¹ Fire extinguishers should be accessible and should match the locations you marked on the floor plan.

Service Animals

If the rental qualifies as a place of public accommodation under Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act, you must allow service animals regardless of any no-pet policy, you can ask only whether the dog is required because of a disability and what task it performs, and you cannot ask for documentation or charge a pet fee. Airbnb and Vrbo enforce their own parallel policies, so refusing a service or assistance animal can also get a listing removed.

Taxes on Every Booking

Florida imposes a 6% state sales tax on all transient rental accommodations, meaning any rental of six months or less.¹² Miami-Dade County adds a convention development tax on short-term rentals on top of that.

Some platforms collect and remit certain Florida taxes for you, but coverage is uneven. Airbnb and similar sites may handle state sales tax but not the county tax, or the reverse. You are ultimately liable for anything the state is owed regardless of what the platform does.¹³ Check your platform’s current Miami-Dade coverage and register with the Department of Revenue either way.

Federal income tax applies to the earnings. There is one narrow exception: if you use the property as your personal residence and rent it fewer than 15 days in the year, you don’t have to report the rental income, and you also can’t deduct rental expenses for those days.¹⁴ The IRS requires third-party payment processors to issue Form 1099-K when gross payments exceed $20,000 and total transactions exceed 200 in a calendar year, but income under that threshold is still taxable.¹⁵

What It Costs to Get Caught Without a Certificate of Use

Miami-Dade County penalties for operating without a Certificate of Use escalate fast:

First offense: $100
Second offense within 24 months: $1,000
Third and later offenses within 24 months: $2,500

On top of the citation, the county charges a violation fee of $231.90 plus double the normal Certificate of Use cost when you eventually apply for the permit.¹⁶ These numbers apply to unincorporated Miami-Dade County. Incorporated cities set their own schedules, and some are more aggressive, so confirm penalties with your municipality’s code enforcement office.

Two Things to Settle Before You List

Most residential mortgages contain a due-on-sale clause that lets the lender call the loan if the property’s use changes without permission. Short rentals don’t transfer ownership, but a lender who finds the property operating as a commercial lodging business rather than a residence could argue the terms have changed. The Garn-St. Germain Act generally protects leases of three years or less from triggering the clause. Notify your lender before you list.

Standard homeowner’s insurance typically excludes commercial activity, so a guest injury during a stay could leave you uncovered. Look at a short-term rental policy or a commercial endorsement on your existing one. Platform host-protection programs have gaps and shouldn’t be your only coverage.

1
City of Miami. Short-Term Rental/Lodging Procedures
2
Miami-Dade County. Miami-Dade Code Sec. 33-28 – Vacation Rentals
3
Florida Senate. Florida Statutes Chapter 509 – Lodging and Food Service Establishments
4
Florida DBPR. Guide to Vacation Rentals and Timeshare Projects
5
Miami-Dade County Tax Collector. Local Business Tax Receipt
6
City of Miami. Get a Business Tax Receipt BTR
7
City of Miami. Get a Certificate of Use (CU)
8
City of Miami. Certificate of Use and Accessory Use – Application and Inspection Fees
9
Florida Department of Revenue. Account Management and Registration
10
Miami-Dade County. Miami-Dade Code Section 21-28 – Noise
11
U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. Carbon Monoxide
12
Florida Department of Revenue. Local Option Transient Rental Tax Rates
13
Florida Department of Revenue. Application for Collective Registration of Living or Sleeping Accommodations
14
Internal Revenue Service. Renting Residential and Vacation Property
15
Internal Revenue Service. IRS Issues FAQs on Form 1099-K Threshold
16
Miami-Dade County. Short-Term Vacation Rentals