Fort Lauderdale, FL Short-Term Rentals: Extended Home Share (2026)
Key Facts
- Vacation rental threshold
- stays under 30 days
- Frequency trigger
- more than 3 short rentals/year
- 30+ day lease
- outside vacation rental article
- Certificate needed
- not required for exempt leases
- Advertising risk
- short-stay ads = unregistered evidence
Summary
Fort Lauderdale's vacation rental ordinance only reaches homes rented to transient occupants for stretches under 30 days, and only when that happens more than three times a year. Rent a single-family, duplex, triplex or fourplex home for 30 days or longer, or short-term four times or fewer annually, and the property falls outside the vacation rental article entirely.
Sec. 15-271: Vacation rental shall mean any unit or group of units in a condominium or cooperative or any individually or collectively owned single-family, two-family, three-family, or four-family house or dwelling unit that is rented to transient occupants more than three (3) times in a calendar year for periods of less than thirty (30) days or one (1) calendar month, whichever is less, or which is advertised or held out to the public as a place regularly rented to transient occupants, and also a transient public lodging establishment as defined in F.S. § 509.013, but that is not a timeshare project.
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: Code of Ordinances: Supplement 67 Update 1 | Unified Land Development Code: Supplement 58 Update 2).
Full Breakdown
Sec. 15-271 defines 'vacation rental' as any unit in a condominium, cooperative, or single-family through four-family house that is rented to transient occupants more than three times in a calendar year for periods of less than thirty days or one calendar month, whichever is less, or that is advertised or held out as regularly rented to transient occupants. A rental that clears the thirty-day mark, or that rents short-term three times or fewer in a year and is not advertised as a regular transient rental, does not meet this definition and is not subject to chapter 15, article X: no registration, no certificate of compliance under Sec.
15-272, no annual inspection under Sec. 15-279, and none of the occupancy caps, noise-monitor or parking rules in Sec. 15-278. Sec. 15-270 explains the underlying policy: the city built the registration scheme to address 'transitory uses of residential property' that affect neighborhood character, a concern that does not attach to a genuine extended lease. An owner offering an extended-stay home instead operates under ordinary Florida residential landlord-tenant law and the city's general property maintenance and business tax rules, the same as any long-term rental house, rather than the transient lodging licensing scheme that applies to weekend or weeklong rentals.
Violations & Fines
There is no vacation-rental violation exposure for a genuine 30-day-or-longer lease, since Sec. 15-271 places it outside the article's definition entirely. The risk runs the other way: advertising a listing as available for stays under 30 days, or actually renting it short-term more than three times in a year without registering, is direct evidence of operating an unregistered vacation rental in violation of Sec. 15-272(a), enforceable even if the owner labels the listing an 'extended stay.'
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need a vacation rental certificate to rent my house for two months?
What law covers a 60-day furnished rental instead?
Can I rent short-term a few times a year without registering?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Fort Lauderdale
Florida rules heatmap·Compare Fort Lauderdale to another location·View the Florida short-term rentals overview
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