Pasco County, FL Rental Property Rules: Rental Registration (2026)

Article X of chapter 18, adopted by Ordinance No. 20-03 in 2020, created Pasco County's Rental/Vacant Property Registration System. Section 18-162 requires every owner of "rental property," defined as any improved structure or portion of one used for residential occupancy by someone other than the owner, to register with the county before permitting occupancy; property already rented when the article took effect had to register by April 1, 2020. Section 18-163 spells out what the registration must contain: the owner's name, mailing address, contact name, phone number, and email, plus the same information for a property manager if the owner lives outside the county, and the property manager must hold a current, active Florida real estate license under the definitions in section 18-160.

If the owner is not a natural person, the registration must also identify a responsible individual by name, date of birth, sex, and race, and that information must be produced to the county or the sheriff's office on demand. Owners can opt into a "Trespass Agreement" authorizing the sheriff's office to issue trespass warnings to unauthorized occupants, and can opt to receive copies of citations issued to their tenants by email. Registering does not excuse the owner from any license, permit, or inspection otherwise required by law.

Certain property is exempt under section 18-165, including federally or state-subsidized housing, condominiums or apartment complexes with more than four rental units that are not held out to transients, and lawfully-existing vacation rentals the county is preempted from regulating. A sale transfers the registration duty to the new owner, who must update it within 30 days, though the prior owner still owes any fines that accrued before the sale.