Night Caps: St. Petersburg vs Tarpon Springs

Florida Statute 509.032 preempts St. Petersburg from limiting the number of nights a property can be rented short-term or setting minimum stay requirements. Cities cannot regulate the duration or frequency of vacation rentals.

Tarpon Springs does not impose an annual night cap or a per-stay minimum night requirement on short-term rentals. Florida Statute 509.032(7)(b) preempts any local ordinance enacted on or after June 1, 2011 from prohibiting vacation rentals or regulating their duration or frequency. The city's Tourist Home standards in the Land Development Code and the Seasonal/Short Term Rental rules in the SmartCode define qualifying rentals as those for periods of six weeks or less, but this is a definitional threshold rather than an annual usage cap. Pinellas County's 6% Tourist Development Tax plus Florida's 7% state transient rental tax (approximately 13% total) apply to every booking regardless of frequency.