Any Ponce Inlet residential property owner who rents out their dwelling unit for any period of time is first required to obtain a Rental Permit from the Town’s Planning and Development Department, pursuant to Ordinance No. 2003-03, as amended, and codified under Section 3.18 of the Town of Ponce Inlet Land Use and Development Code (LUDC). Please see the Rental Properties page for allowable locations.
 
 Application

A completed rental permit application must be submitted and approved by the Department before the dwelling unit is rented. The information required with the permit application is listed under LUDC Section 10.1.10.
 
 An application fee of $400 is required with the permit application for all rentals, along with $100 for the rental property maintenance inspection.  An additional $50 fire inspection fee is required for short-term rentals. These fees are assessed annually.

 Renewals

All rental permits expire on September 30^th of each year and must be renewed by October 1^st each year thereafter. It is the property owner’s responsibility to renew their rental permit on time or inform the Department they are no longer renting out their dwelling. As a reminder, the Department will send a courtesy renewal notice to all permit holders in August. Permit renewals received after October 1^st of year shall be assessed an additional $100 late fee and may be subject to Code Enforcement action as an unpermitted rental. To avoid any penalties, property owners should:

1. Make sure the Department has their current mailing address so that they are able to receive the annual permit renewal notice; and
2. Contact the Department directly if the renewal notice is not received by mid-September. 

 Reporting

By February 1 of each year, all rental property owners or their representatives/agents must submit an annual report to the Department of all tenant activity, including the length of each rental period per tenant and other information required under LUDC Section 3.18.7.
 

State Requirements

Renting one’s dwelling unit is considered a business under Florida law that may be subject to state tax and license requirements. 

 For short-term rentals and long-term rentals of 6 months or less, a Sales Tax Number issued by the Florida Department of Revenue is required, per Chapter 212, Florida Statutes, which must be provided to the Town with the rental permit application.
 
The rental property is also considered a “Public Lodging Establishment” if it is rented more than 3 times in a calendar year for periods of less than 30 days or 1 calendar month, whichever is less, or if it is advertised or held out to the public as a place regularly rented to guests. In such cases, a valid and current license is required from the Division of Hotels and Restaurants, Department of Business and Professional Regulation. For more information, see Florida Statutes Section 509.241 and Chapter 509, Part I.
 
Contact
Please contact Travis Mincey, Rental Housing Inspector at 386-267-6676 or email tmincey@ponce-inlet.org.