Is short-term rental legal in Miami Beach, FL?
Miami Beach's STR bans survive Florida's preemption law because they were adopted before June 1, 2011 — the grandfather trap in § 509.032(7). In most residential districts, rentals under 6 months and 1 day are simply prohibited.
Rules checked October 2026
Run the Miami Beach verdict on your facts
| What counts as a short-term rental | Miami Beach's STR bans survive Florida's preemption law because they were adopted before June 1, 2011 — the grandfather trap in § 509.032(7). In most residential districts, rentals under 6 months and 1 day are simply prohibited. |
|---|---|
| Permit / license | Resort Tax registration + Business Tax Receipt — only where the zone allows STR at all — issued by City of Miami Beach |
| Fee | Registration costs are minor next to the fines; the business tax receipt is a few hundred dollars |
| Renewal | Annual |
| Primary-residence rule | No primary-residence path around the zone bans — in a prohibited district, residency does not cure it. |
| Whole-home rental | In most residential zones, whole-home AND hosted rentals under 6 months + 1 day are prohibited outright. STR survives only in specific hotel/mixed-use districts with registration. |
| Night cap | — |
| Guests / occupancy | — |
| Minimum stay | effectively 6 months + 1 day in prohibited residential zones |
| Zoning | Zone is destiny: RM-1/RM-2 and most residential districts are closed; specified commercial/hotel districts allow registered STR. |
| Density / scarcity | No density cap found in the current rules |
| Fines | The most feared schedule in American STR: $20,000 for a first violation, escalating through $30,000 / $40,000 / $60,000 to $100,000 for repeat violations |
| Taxes | Resort tax registration applies where STR is lawful at all; the state DBPR license also applies. |
| Platform duties | The city actively scrapes listings and issues six-figure cumulative fines; platforms are its data source. |
| State layer | § 509.032(7), Fla. Stat.: a local law may not prohibit vacation rentals or regulate their duration or frequency — EXCEPT ordinances adopted on or before June 1, 2011, which survive in full. That grandfather clause is why Miami Beach-style bans persist a few miles from cities that cannot ban at all. A state DBPR vacation-rental license and local business tax receipt / registration still apply on top. |
What trips hosts in Miami Beach
- A few miles away, Miami-Dade cities cannot ban STRs at all (state preemption). Miami Beach can — because its ban is older than the preemption. The date on the ordinance is the whole case.
The private layer still applies
These are the city's rules. Your HOA, condo board, lease or mortgage can say no on top of them — that layer is printed as a warning in the checker, never merged into the city's verdict.
Sources: Fla. Stat. § 509.032(7) (pre-2011 grandfather) · Miami Beach City Code § 142-905 et seq.. Rules checked October 2026.