Walton County, FL Short-Term Rentals: Occupancy Limits (2026)

03(D) of the Walton County Land Development Code sets the maximum occupancy for a single-family attached or detached short-term vacation rental at 150 square feet of gross floor area per person, or a lower figure the owner agrees to when the county issues the property's short-term vacation rental certificate. That 150-square-foot ratio does double duty in the Code: the same figure sets the parking standard in subsection (B), which requires one off-street parking space for every six transient occupants (equivalent to one space per 900 square feet of gross floor area), so an owner cannot claim a higher occupancy than the parking on site supports.

Subsection (C) layers on a second, independent ceiling for any rental that relies on an on-site sewage treatment and disposal system (OSTDS) rather than central sewer: the maximum number of occupants is restricted to whatever the property's OSTDS permit and the assumed occupancy or conditions that permit was issued under allow, as determined by the Walton County Health Department. In practice this means a large home on a septic system can be capped below the 150-square-foot formula if its drain field was permitted for fewer people.

The Code applies these standards to every certificated short-term vacation rental in the unincorporated area, which covers the bulk of the 30A corridor from Santa Rosa Beach through Inlet Beach, and existing rentals that predate the current formula must still cap occupancy at one person per 150 square feet under subsection (B)(5).