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?