Is short-term rental legal in City of Miami, FL?
Miami sits under Florida preemption for duration/frequency — but registration, the state DBPR license, and zoning character still apply, and the city enforces registration aggressively in residential districts.
Rules checked October 2026
Run the City of Miami verdict on your facts
| What counts as a short-term rental | Miami sits under Florida preemption for duration/frequency — but registration, the state DBPR license, and zoning character still apply, and the city enforces registration aggressively in residential districts. |
|---|---|
| Permit / license | STR Registration / Certificate of Use + Business Tax Receipt + state DBPR license — issued by City of Miami + Florida DBPR |
| Fee | City and state fees together run a few hundred dollars |
| Renewal | Annual renewals |
| Primary-residence rule | No citywide primary-residence rule (preemption bars duration/frequency rules adopted after June 1, 2011). |
| Whole-home rental | Whole-home rentals are lawful where zoning allows the use and the registrations are in place; some residential districts restrict by zoning character rather than duration. |
| Night cap | — |
| Guests / occupancy | Per zoning district |
| Minimum stay | None the city may impose post-2011 |
| Zoning | The fight in Miami is zoning character (is transient use allowed on this lot at all), not nights or frequency. |
| Density / scarcity | No density cap found in the current rules |
| Fines | Code-enforcement fines under the city schedule, per day per violation, plus state license penalties |
| Taxes | DBPR license + county tourist taxes + city business tax receipt — three separate accounts. |
| Platform duties | The city uses listing data for enforcement sweeps. |
| State layer | § 509.032(7), Fla. Stat.: a local law may not prohibit vacation rentals or regulate their duration or frequency — EXCEPT ordinances adopted on or before June 1, 2011, which survive in full. That grandfather clause is why Miami Beach-style bans persist a few miles from cities that cannot ban at all. A state DBPR vacation-rental license and local business tax receipt / registration still apply on top. |
What trips hosts in City of Miami
- Miami vs. Miami Beach is the grandfather clause made visible: one city registers, the other fines $20,000 — separated by a causeway.
The private layer still applies
These are the city's rules. Your HOA, condo board, lease or mortgage can say no on top of them — that layer is printed as a warning in the checker, never merged into the city's verdict.
Sources: Fla. Stat. § 509.032(7) · City of Miami STR registration program. Rules checked October 2026.