Osceola County "Local Contact" requirement

[Kevin R Thompson]

Good morning, looking for some help with Osceola Counties requirement. We have a new STR in the Kissimmee area, and we have the State required licensing and sales tax registration. When it comes to Osceola County, they are requiring us to have a "local contact" that is licensed by them as well. Below is the email I received from them after asking some questions:

Thank you for your email. If an owner of a rental property does not reside locally (within 50 miles of the rental property), then they are required to have a local contact or property management company on file on both of their BTR and TDT accounts. A local contact's role is essentially just to be a keyholder of the rental property and to provide towels and other items/services for the guests in a timely manner (hence the 50 mile distance), however, this local contact must also be registered with our office in both Business and Tourist Development Tax to offer those services. The local contact/property management company would not be responsible for doing any bookings or reporting/remitting any taxes, that would be the owner's responsibility.

We have cleaners and a handyman available, but neither of them are registered with Osceola County to provide that service. We really don't need or want a PM company since we self manage and that will just add an additional cost for us.

Has anyone else dealt with this, or have any suggestions?

Thanks

[Andrew Steffens]

Pinellas County makes you have an emergency contact, but this is another level.  I'd take Shawn's advice first, but if not then see if any PM companies offer a limited service that checks this box.  I have seen first hand PM's in Orlando offering a myriad of ancillary services.