Fort Myers, FL Short-Term Rentals: Occupancy Limits (2026)

The 2011 vintage FS § 509.032(7)(b) preemption was tightened in 2014 to clarify that local governments could not regulate the duration or frequency of vacation rentals, but the 2023 Florida legislative session (CS/CS/HB 1537 elements that were enacted separately and SB 280 elements that were partially preserved before the 2024 SB 280 veto) amended the preemption to allow local governments to impose maximum occupancy limits on vacation rentals. Under the post-2023 framework, a local government may by ordinance limit occupancy to the lesser of (a) two persons per bedroom, plus an additional two persons in one common area, or (b) more than two persons per bedroom, plus an additional two persons in one common area, if the property meets certain square footage criteria. The City of Fort Myers has not enacted such an occupancy ordinance, so no city-specific cap applies inside Fort Myers city limits as of mid-2025. Occupancy at a Fort Myers STR is therefore governed by three generally-applicable layers. Layer one: the Florida Building Code's bedroom/egress standards (each room used for sleeping must be original construction or properly permitted, must have a smoke detector, must have an emergency egress window or door meeting minimum dimensional requirements, and must meet ceiling-height and floor-area minimums). Layer two: the Florida Fire Prevention Code occupant-load calculations for the structure type (single-family dwellings are R-3 occupancy with low occupant-load density; sleeping rooms in transient-occupancy dwellings have specific occupant-load formulas based on net floor area). Layer three: the DBPR Vacation Rental Dwelling license application requires the operator to state the maximum occupancy (commonly calculated as two per bedroom plus two additional in common area) and DBPR may verify the occupancy figure against the property's bedroom count and square footage. Operators commonly self-impose 'two per bedroom plus two' as a platform best practice (Airbnb and VRBO surface this figure on listings), which mirrors the post-2023 statutory framework even though Fort Myers has not enacted a city-specific cap. Operators should not list a Fort Myers STR with occupancy that exceeds the building's life-safety capacity even though no city-specific cap is on the books.