Today’s entry - I am all for Airbnb if done properly. If one owns the home, they're more likely to do the search on the guests. Here's what's happening in my neighborhood. Our neighbors moved and had to rent their home. The "renters" are scamming out the house on a site. (& are doing this with other properties at the same time) - They apparently don't care who stays there.
Last night their guests were in a full-blown argument that started around 3 A.M. and went on for 30 mins. in the street. In the beginning, they stayed just long enough to get the lease I assume. They've been scamming it since. Spring breakers, bike week, etc. What does a neighborhood do to stop this scamming?
Bottom Line: This circumstance is an example of the negative impact vacation rentals have on neighbors. As the state continues to weigh the next regulatory steps, one thing seems somewhat certain. There are a lot of people that continue to be negatively impacted by vacation rental services like Airbnb. The current regulations in Florida state that vacation rentals are defined as rentals of 30 days or less. They also say that local governments that had structured regulations prior to June of 2011 have been allowed to locally regulate independently of the state. Local governments are currently allowed ordinances aimed at rentals that address noise, parking, trash, and life-safety issues.However, local governments aren’t allowed to ban short-term rental services or determine mandatory minimum rental lengths. Lastly, all vacation rentals must be registered through Florida’s Department of Business & Professional Regulation.
It seems like, based on your specific issues cited, you could make an appeal to your municipal government. As mentioned, they do have the ability to address the issues you’re describing and that’s kind of the point. We can have all of the laws and regulation we want at the state or local level but without enforcement what’s the point?
What we do know is that this is a huge industry in Florida. Using only Airbnb information, more than 40,000 Floridians operate Airbnb properties and around 3 million visitors used those properties last year. That tells you that an average of 75 different people occupied the average Airbnb property last year. That’s a lot of people coming through your neighborhood if you’re next to rentals. The question is where we go from here? I’ll keep you posted about what does or doesn’t happen with these rentals in the state session.
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