Tampa, FL Parking Rules: RV & Boat Parking (2026)

11(a) of the zoning code lets any homeowner keep a recreation vehicle or private pleasure craft on residential property, but seven numbered conditions apply. The vehicle or craft can never be used for living, sleeping, or housekeeping purposes, so it can't function as a guest house or overflow bedroom, and it can never be hooked up to water, sewer, or electric utility service while parked. Loading and unloading is allowed anywhere on the lot, but only for twenty-four hours at a time; beyond that, the RV or boat has to move to one of its approved long-term locations.

A waterfront yard is off-limits for storage entirely, except for a boat being launched directly into the water from where it sits. For long-term storage outside an enclosed garage, subsection (5) confines the vehicle to the rear, side, or corner yard, capping how far it can project past the home's front facade, and if it must go in the front yard instead, because a tree or existing structure blocks the side/rear option, it has to sit ten feet back from the front property line, on an existing driveway, without blocking sightlines at the corner.

5 also sets a hard ten-foot height limit and twenty-six-foot length limit for anything stored outside a garage. Boats stored outside a garage must sit on a trailer with tires, and RVs must be on wheels, nothing can be set permanently on blocks. Every recreation vehicle, craft, and trailer kept on residential property must carry current Florida licensing; an unlicensed unit is not allowed to sit on the property at all.