Running a Short-Term Rental in Central Florida: A Host’s Guide

Running a good short-term rental has less in common with being a landlord than most new hosts expect. The legal relationship with a guest is fundamentally different from the one covered in becoming a landlord in Florida, and understanding that difference changes how you should actually handle problems when they come up.

Short version: Florida law treats short-term guests as “transient occupants” under a separate statute (Chapter 509) rather than tenants under the landlord-tenant act, which gives hosts a genuinely faster, simpler way to remove a non-paying or disruptive guest, not a formal court eviction. That changes if a stay runs 30 days or longer, or functions as someone’s only residence, at which point real tenant protections can kick in. Beyond the legal mechanics, the operational side matters more for actually running a good rental: clear house rules, honest pricing, and screening for the right guest do more for your business than simply maximizing bookings.

You’re not dealing with a tenant, and that’s mostly good news

For the licensing, tax, and insurance requirements covered in Airbnb and short-term rentals in Florida, the rules are the same regardless of this distinction. But when something goes wrong with a guest, it matters a lot. A genuine transient stay, generally under 30 days, with no written agreement establishing it as the guest’s sole residence, falls under Florida’s public lodging law (Chapter 509), not the Residential Landlord and Tenant Act. Under Chapter 509, you can remove a guest for nonpayment, intoxication, disturbing other guests, overstaying checkout, or generally being detrimental to the property, without the formal eviction process a long-term landlord has to follow. As of July 1, 2025, Florida’s “No Pay, No Stay” law (SB 606) further clarified and strengthened this, making clear that a genuine transient guest who won’t pay or won’t leave can be removed without a court eviction.

Where this stops applying

This is the part hosts get wrong most often. If a stay runs 30 days or longer, or if there’s any written agreement suggesting the unit is the guest’s only home, the relationship can convert into an actual tenancy under Chapter 83, the same law covered in renting in Florida from the tenant’s side. At that point, self-help removal becomes illegal, the same way it always is for a real tenant, and you’d need to go through formal eviction. If you ever host anything approaching a month-long stay, or a guest starts receiving mail at the property or paying utilities directly, treat that as a signal to get legal guidance before assuming you can remove them the same way you would a weekend guest.

What not to do

Don’t raise rates specifically because a hurricane is bearing down. Florida’s price gouging law (Section 501.160) explicitly covers lodging during a declared state of emergency, prohibiting prices that grossly exceed what you charged in the 30 days before the emergency was declared, violations carry civil penalties up to $25,000 for repeated offenses in a single day. Don’t install interior cameras or audio recording devices, exterior-only video, clearly disclosed in the listing, is standard practice, anything indoor or anything recording audio without consent raises real legal exposure. And don’t skip proper short-term rental insurance, a standard homeowners or landlord policy typically excludes short-term rental use entirely.

What guests actually want

Reliable air conditioning and fast, stable wifi matter more here than almost anywhere else, Florida’s heat makes a weak AC system a dealbreaker fast, and remote workers and families both expect internet that doesn’t lag. If there’s a pool, keep it visibly, consistently maintained, it’s one of the biggest draws and one of the fastest ways to tank a review if it’s neglected. Clear check-in instructions and a genuinely useful local guide, not a generic list pulled from a tourism website, go further than most amenities you could add.

Getting better guests, not just more of them

Underpricing a property relative to comparable listings tends to attract the wrong crowd, bargain-focused, larger groups looking to split costs, rather than the guests most likely to treat the property well. A minimum stay of two or three nights filters out a disproportionate share of one-night party bookings. State house rules clearly and specifically in the listing itself, not buried in a rental agreement no one reads before booking, occupancy limits, quiet hours, and parking rules included. Leave honest reviews of your own guests after every stay, guest review history is the single best screening signal available to you and to other hosts, and it only works if hosts actually use it honestly instead of defaulting to five stars for everyone.