Colorado may increase prop taxes on short term rentals
 

There’s a bill in the Colorado assembly. If approved during the 2024 lawmaking session, the bill would classify any property used as a short-term rental for more than 90 days per year as a lodging property beginning in 2026.

That would nearly quadruple property taxes for an estimated 24,000 short-term rental properties in the state. The property tax assessment rate for lodging properties in 2023 is 27.9%. For residential properties, it was set at 6.765%.

Here’s an article on the bill
Colorado legislature will introduce bill hiking taxes for short-term rental properties | VailDaily.com

Could this be done in FLA at the county level?

Classifying STRs as lodging seems to be logical since the homes are not solely used for residential use. It clearly establishes STRS for what they are - a business!

Will it stop STRs? Probably not. There will always be some who find renting homes for a day or two in a resort area or near family is better than staying in a distant hotel/motel. They will be willing to pay extra for the convenience.

Probably not. Essentially, Florida law prohibits counties from treating STR's any differently than traditional residential homes.

That's a bit of an over simplification, but basically the situation in my opinion.

Sounds like a great idea, but the Florida legislature would never go for it. "Rentals" are what runs the Florida's economy.

Fla. No, Colorado out of control.

Interesting proposal. The Colorado bill defines short term as fewer than 30 days per rental period. And defines homes to be taxed at a higher rate as those with more than 90 days per year rented short term.

So if you only offer rental periods of 31 days or longer this would not impact you. And you could have up to 89 short term rental days as well.

Obviously this would be a compliance problem as Americans too often feel no obligation to not lie to tax authorities. There will be so many homes only rented 85 or 88 short term days if you believe the home owners' paperwork submitted.

Raising the property tax to discourage short term rentals seems like a very unenforceable and ineffective way to accomplish the goal. Why not just require these owners to buy a special business license, and be subject to state inspections. They would also be subject to the Florida license online complaint system, where they could be fined or lose their license for violating the license rules.

So if a home has 5 registered owners, could each rent for a period under the tax threshold period, and all avoid higher tax rate all together, over whole year of short term rental? :shrug:

I think I have a simpler solution that would apply only to The Villages. If you are the guest/family member of a resident NOT PAYING RENT, you can get a guest pass for any amount of time. If you are a renter/tenant/AirBnBer PAYING to stay, then you can only get a guest pass if you are staying 30 days or more. Without access to our amenities, short term rentals are much, much less attractive. The guest pass system is completely under the control of the developer, and I doubt any state laws regulate it. Could a coalition of Airbnb owners get together and file a lawsuit? Probably, but that would take them more time and money than they are probably willing to spend.

Good idea, but it’s not me that needs convincing.

What about Top Of The World in Ocala? Do they have restrictions on rentals?I have heard that they have no rentals under thirty days. If that is true then why can’t other developments pass similar rules? Are there other areas in Florida that restrict short term rentals?

Wow I just checked On Top of The World and I see no rentals under six months! For anyone who is inundated with short term rentals on their street you can always move up there. They even have advertised in the Daily Sun with an offer to stay and look the place over. Not for me personally as we are fortunate to not have many STR’s in our established neighborhood, plus I love all the activities I am in.

Don't know about Top Of The World or any other developments. Do know that Florida law prohibits municipalities from creating new laws to limit rental durations. It *might* be possible for the Developer to modify the deed restrictions to prohibit rentals but since he is in the process of selling houses, it is unlikely he would choose to alienate paying customers.

I agree 100%. Short term renters should not have access to our amenities. However, the developer offers LifeStyle Visits. I doubt that he would be interested in setting limitations.

No. The address of the home would be classified as lodging and taxed on that basis no matter how many owners.

Doesn't the Developer encourage short term rentals? Lifestyle visits?

Developers don’t have to follow the rules, they make them.

The Developer of On Top Of The World also does lifestyle visits for a short term, yet they still set their minimum rental to six months plus one week. You can do a two night, three day lifestyle visit to OTOTW for $199. You get a golf cart and a tour of the place included in your lifestyle rental.

Why would you be against STR’s? We stayed in a rental for two weeks in July and fell in love with the place and we’re going to move there soon. We will have to rent for awhile while we find our house and I should think that makes TV much more attractive.

Many owners have done the same, rented for a week or two, and buy a house.

But, many renters (both long term and short term) are not nice neighbors, they are loud, have too many people in the house, etc.
If you live on a street with a lot of rentals, it is not a good experience for you, the full time resident.

Hopefully…

That’s the sad part of the whole STR and AirBnB. People like yourself are welcome in my opinion you have a desire to live in TV. While other renters, not all, don’t care about the property, TV, and just feel this is their right at the expense of the people who live here to trash the place.

Residents
 

Residents deserve consistency and a sense of security with permanence. You will always deal with a variety of people day in and day out, but you should have the right to plop down in a place of stability to rest after your day. That place is your home. STRs disrupt that. They steal from you the respite required to live a balanced life with continuity and security.

Correct (HappyDayz) OToTW does not allow ABnB type short term rentals.

If a Business license is required by the Department of Professional Regulation to rent out entire property for less than 31 one days it is considered a short term rental and requires a FL a business license.

On Top of the World is protecting its homeowner's property and community investments. T V developers don't enforce their deed restrictions, in various districts, that state at no time can "ANY" business be run out of the property (at least in Villas, I have not read deed restrictions on homes) ie: Villas located in District 8 and District 6.

Well true as a joke but if one has enough money in the bank lawyering up would tilt the scales back toward holding the developer accountable at least based on old school law... not today's law practices.

My guess is 90% of most residents have rented on a lifestyle or private rental. Difference is the renters are on a mission to see if they want to spend a chunk of money, and spend what is left of their time in TV.

Then you have the multi month renters who come to escape the cold. Respect the property and usually come back to the same area or home for years.

The problem that has cropped up is the homes that are drive by rentals. Owner will rent to anyone who gives them $80, doesn’t worry about damages or residents who live near them.

We have owned investment property in TV, always ran a background check the first time. Didn’t have to repeat, because they returned for multiple times.

As for noise and party’s, one can’t really blame the rental issues. There are huge neighborhood parties weekly and those residents who just like really loud TVs and Music because their hearing is diminished or near deaf.

CDD Charge
 

CDDs could legally charge a surcharge tax for amenity usage per night per rental. $50 a night per unit would be fine. It would basically work like a hotel tax.

Why? And why speculate?

Wait until you buy and have 3-4 on your street with revolving doors, people coming at all times, noise, CHILDREN, etc. Many STR owners do NOT care who they rent to…they do NOT follow the rules…and neither do their tenants. That’s why we’re against them.

it does exist in places int he state but not at the county level. Also it doesn't work well.

I don’t believe that’s quite accurate. Cities and counties may adopt regulations on short term rental to fit their needs. The City of St Augustine is a good example. They’ve set limits for occupancy, minimum stay requirements, health requirements, safety requirements, and set registration fees. Here’s a link to the website.

Short Term Rentals | St. Augustine, FL

On the state level shortterm rentals are to have business licenses and pay sales tax on every dollar earned. Of course most don’t.

What specific rules are they breaking? Children are allowed here up to 30 days. People are allowed to make noise up until a certain time of the day. Do people not mow their lawn in your neighborhood? All you have to do is call law enforcement if they are violating the noise ordinance. Why do you care who rents out a house that doesn’t belong to you? They aren’t coming and going into your house. As the owner of my own home am I not allowed to come and go at all times as I please? If I need to leave my house at 4 a.m., who are you to tell me I can’t? Oh that’s right, nobody. It’s none of your business what anyone else does. Mind your own business

Great Article
 

As new owners, we are against these also. The problem got out of hand where we are from and our city had just started cracking down on it.

I was reading another article on St. Augustine. I saw another post about St. Augustine. They have come up some reasonable regulations. Here is another

Your browser is not supported | staugustine.com

They used the new state law to help them initiate a program. The only caveats the state has are:

You can’t ban vacation rentals
You can’t regulate the length or frequency of stays

That leaves the window open for so many ideas to bring the problems under control.

Absolutely
 

Absolutely, we 100% agree with the expectation.

Florida Regulation for STR
 

Florida does regulate STRs under the Division of Hotels and Restaurants. Here’s a link to a which explains the requirements. It’s pretty specific.

Now, I do not believe we will ever eliminate all STR in TV. I do believe we can chip away at them by ensuring that these businesses are at least complying with current State regulations. If there’s a STR that’s a problem in your Village you can look up the address on the County’s Property Tax site and see who owns it and how it’s titled. If it’s a business you can then go to the Department of Business & Professional Regulations to see if they are Licened. Now if they are run through a Propety Management Company, that will be tougher because the Propety Management company would handle all that for the owner.

It’s a place to start. The next step is to begin proposing to the counties to set regulations.

http://www.myfloridalicense.com/dbpr...s/5025_753.pdf

He has no “business.” He is a homeowner who lives in The Villages.The real estate investor who rents out his housing unit has the “business.”

We need something like this in The Villages. Higher taxes on property rented out with less than a three month rental lease.

Which CDD has the largest amount of STRs?
 

Within the villages, none of the CDDs have established rules for short-term rentals.

It's interesting to see that none of the deed restrictions have been modified over the years to prohibit STRs.

Is this problem more pervasive in newer sections of the villages where houses have been bought 100% for investment rental purposes?

In a deed restricted community there is an expectation of some uniformity and consistency. In a 55+ community, there is also an expectation of, well, Community.

STRenters have an expectation of a Resort Style Vacation and, frankly, that’s how they behave. Many know they are leaving and feel they are entitled to do whatever the hell they want without consequences.

The two expectations collide. We all welcome our neighbors’ children and grandchildren who come for a visit. It that’s very different from having a revolving door of young families and or young adults that are here to blow off steam and party.

So they aren’t breaking any rules. Got it. What proof do you have that they are “blowing off steam and partying”? I think it’s hilarious that you think TV is some hot party destination for young adults. It’s not. You are exaggerating. Most are here visiting family and the easy solution is to put them in a STR. I don’t understand why so many people care about what happens in another persons house. You must really have nothing better to do if you’re so worried about what your neighbors are doing.

there is no limit on how many days a renter can get a lifestyle ID. The application has arrival time and departure time. I had a friend of ours want to check out the villages and we were going on vacation for 15 days. He and a friend came down and for $25 and a filled out Lifestyle ID application, they got Lifestyle IDs and I turned in my IDs at LSL before I left town. Why should they not have access to the amenities. I exchanged my rights for them to have the same??? Seems like a pain for an STR to do the same and probably don’t… I doubt they do but getting them guest IDs, that can happen. I did a quick check on **** and none of the half dozen rentals listed golfing in TV as an amenity so I’m guessing guest IDs for pools and rec centers. Some did not even mention those as amenities. If they did list golf, they mentioned the courses outside the villages.