Margate, FL Rental Property Rules: Rental Registration (2026)

Article V of chapter 9, the residential rental unit inspection program, is Margate's rental registration law. Section 9-43(a) requires every owner to file with the city rental coordinator a rental inspection application form for each rental unit in a building or structure. The form collects the owner's name, address, telephone number, email and emergency contact; the entity name, registered agent and state of incorporation if the owner is a company; the legal address, legal description and Broward County Property Appraiser folio number; the complex or association name; every recorded mortgage holder; the exact number of sleeping rooms and sleeping accommodations, backed by a floor plan; the number of buildings and dwelling units; and whether the owner has ever been cited under any required codes.

An owner who lives more than thirty miles from the rental must designate a property manager or agent who is the first point of contact, who has authority to make emergency decisions and repairs, and who can be found at a physical address during business hours. Long-term rental owners must also keep a tenant list, give tenants the city's guidelines pamphlet, and certify that tenants were screened against article XII, the sexual offender and predator provisions of city Code. Vacation rentals carry added duties in section 9-43(a)(13).

Registration is annual. Section 9-43(b) requires an amended application within ten days after any change in the information filed. Section 9-43(d) requires an annual renewal, and renewal applications not received within thirty days of the required date pay a late fee set by city commission resolution. If a property is sold during the certificate year, section 9-41(e) lets the certificate pass to the new owner only if an amended application with the new owner's contact information reaches the building department within thirty calendar days. Otherwise a new application is required. Section 9-37(n) treats a two-unit building with an owner-occupied side as needing registration of the second unit, and treats any unit not occupied by the owner as a rental even when no rent is charged.

Section 9-37(n) excludes units owned by federal, state or local housing programs or HUD, hotels, motels, licensed public lodging establishments and state-licensed community residential facilities.