Short-term Rentals (Airbnb) in Jacksonville

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Short-term Rentals (Airbnb) in Jacksonville

Collin S.
Rental Property Investor · Jacksonville, FL · Member since 2017 · 56 posts · 13 votes

I see plenty of Airbnb listings in Jacksonville, but little information on short term rental regulations for the city. Are there regulations (hotel tax?) governing these short term rentals, or any special hoops to jump through when starting up?

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Kurt Stein
Investor · Jacksonville Beach, FL · Member since 2016 · 33 posts · 9 votes
9y

Hi all, I've lived all over Jax Beach, and currently live in Atlantic Beach. You guys are pretty close. All are separate jurisdictions. Jax Beach does not regulate short term rentals. Neptune Beach doesn't allow rentals under 30 or 35 days (I can't remember which one) and Atlantic Beach doesn't allow rentals under 90 days. 

I've heard several stories in Neptune Beach of home owners being notified or fined for attempting short term rentals, so the city is definitely keeping a look out. On one occasion, an investor actually bought a Neptune Beach property in order to rent out out short term on Airbnb, and actually didn't find out that it was regulated until after he closed. Heard he sold the house immediately for tens of thousands of dollars less than what it was purchased for. 

I'm going to be honest, it's tough finding a good cash-flowing deal out at the beaches. The only way anything makes any sense right now from a financial perspective is if you calculate appreciation into your equation, and that's never a guaranteed thing. 

Hope that helps!

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  • Attila M.
    Investor · Jacksonville, FL · Member since 2016 · 47 posts · 15 votes
    9y

    Curious on the answer for this question myself... anybody on BiggerPockets from Jacksonville and Beaches who is doing AirBnb already?

    This is what I know, quote from news: "A representative with Jacksonville Beach told First Coast News the city does not regulate short-term rentals and never has. An Atlantic Beach representative said they don’t allow rentals for under 90 days. "

    I also happen to know that Neptune Beach has a limitation similar to Atlantic Beach.

    0Reply
  • Collin S.
    OP
    Rental Property Investor · Jacksonville, FL · Member since 2017 · 56 posts · 13 votes
    9y

    @Attila M. 

    2 week follow up: From what I've gathered there is no regulation against AirBnb in Jacksonville ( JAX Beach, Neptune and ATL Beach are separate jurisdictions and may have different rules). It seems to be alright as long as you have proper state licenses and are paying the city/state proper taxes (occupancy tax).

    1Reply
  • Attila M.
    Investor · Jacksonville, FL · Member since 2016 · 47 posts · 15 votes
    9y

    Awesome! Thanks for the follow-up, appreciate it.

    Attila

    0Reply
  • Kurt Stein
    Investor · Jacksonville Beach, FL · Member since 2016 · 33 posts · 9 votes
    9y

    Hi all, I've lived all over Jax Beach, and currently live in Atlantic Beach. You guys are pretty close. All are separate jurisdictions. Jax Beach does not regulate short term rentals. Neptune Beach doesn't allow rentals under 30 or 35 days (I can't remember which one) and Atlantic Beach doesn't allow rentals under 90 days. 

    I've heard several stories in Neptune Beach of home owners being notified or fined for attempting short term rentals, so the city is definitely keeping a look out. On one occasion, an investor actually bought a Neptune Beach property in order to rent out out short term on Airbnb, and actually didn't find out that it was regulated until after he closed. Heard he sold the house immediately for tens of thousands of dollars less than what it was purchased for. 

    I'm going to be honest, it's tough finding a good cash-flowing deal out at the beaches. The only way anything makes any sense right now from a financial perspective is if you calculate appreciation into your equation, and that's never a guaranteed thing. 

    Hope that helps!

    4Reply
  • Kurt Stein
    Investor · Jacksonville Beach, FL · Member since 2016 · 33 posts · 9 votes
    9y

    But to Collin S's point, short term rentals are allowed in Atlantic and Neptune beach as long as you obtain the proper state licensing, but I'm pretty sure these folks have to pay a substantial hotel tax. 

    0Reply
  • Joey Hamaoui
    Real Estate Agent · Jacksonville, FL · Member since 2016 · 406 posts · 163 votes
    8y

    I know in Jacksonville you can do 6 month leases and air bnbs. I have a client who purchases 1-1 condos all over Jacksonville for Air BnBs.

    0Reply
  • Jennifer A.
    Rental Property Investor · Jacksonville, FL · Member since 2014 · 11 posts · 0 votes
    8y

    I can only comment to Jacksonville (not the beaches). There is nothing in writing either way, but the city policy is that it's allowed in historic overlay areas (i.e. Avondale and Springfield, not sure if there are others) and not allowed every where else. The city does receive the 'bed tax' that Airbnb collects, not sure how that contract is actually written - another topic is needed there. 

    A recent conducted made the city aware of how much tax they were missing out on currently...so watch out this may be brought up once again, very soon. Currently the only thing you can be penalized for is if you are claiming homestead exemption for your Duval county primary residence as well as making money with it through Airbnb, etc. This is a big no-no with hefty fines and loss of exemption.

    0Reply
  • Jack Bobeck
    Rental Property Investor · Jacksonville, FL · Member since 2008 · 784 posts · 528 votes
    8y

    I posted this in another AirBNB thread, the City of Jacksonville is looking harder at AirBNB with the new City Council President in office. 

    Looks like they will report their "findings" by April 2019, if not sooner. 

    3Reply
  • Kevin Mathew Galang
    Tampa, FL · Member since 2017 · 23 posts · 11 votes
    8y

    @Jack Bobeck, great find! How did you find that memo? Was it available on the Jacksonville City Council's website?

    0Reply
  • Jack Bobeck
    Rental Property Investor · Jacksonville, FL · Member since 2008 · 784 posts · 528 votes
    8y

    @Kevin Mathew Galang I am good friends with an assistant to a councilman, he sent it out to a group of us. 

    1Reply
  • Kevin Mathew Galang
    Tampa, FL · Member since 2017 · 23 posts · 11 votes
    8y

    Thanks @Jack Bobeck!

    0Reply
  • Jack Bobeck
    Rental Property Investor · Jacksonville, FL · Member since 2008 · 784 posts · 528 votes
    8y

    An update from the Jacksonville Business Journal, released today:

    The city of Jacksonville is moving toward collecting bed taxes from Airbnb hosts, with Duval County having the 17th highest revenue from the company in the state.

    Collecting taxes from Airbnb would make Duval the 40th of Florida's 63 counties to do so.

    The City Council auditor will begin determining how much the city should collect, following a vote by the Jacksonville Tourist Development Council earlier this month.

    The TDC also voted to begin a partnership with AirDNA Solutions, a subscription service company that provides advertised listings, room nights and other information to track. The service will cost $39.50 per month.

    "We remain ready and willing to collect Duval bed taxes on behalf of our hosts and deliver new revenue to the city," said Airbnb Florida policy director Tom Martinelli in a statement.

    Airbnb already releases how much hosts earn from county to county. In 2017, hosts in Florida earned $450 million and welcomed 2.7 million guests during the year, representing a 75 percent year-over-year growth.

    In 2017 in Duval County, 42,600 guests stayed with Airbnb hosts, and hosts earned a combined revenue of $6.1 million. Duval county was the 17th highest earning county in the state last year.

    On August 14, Airbnb announced that it collected and remitted more than $45.7 million in tax revenue to Florida state and local governments on behalf of hits hosts, up from $20 million in 2016.

    Airbnb also began a campaign in 2015 to pursue partnerships with Florida counties that allow Airbnb to collect and send in local bed taxes on behalf of its hosts. Those agreements now exist in 39 of the 63 Florida counties, delivering a combined $12.7 million in local bed tax revenue.

    2Reply
  • Collin S.
    OP
    Rental Property Investor · Jacksonville, FL · Member since 2017 · 56 posts · 13 votes
    8y

    Thanks Jack. Do they not collect those taxes already? Every listing I see automatically charges each guest an “occupancy tax”. Am I missing something?

    0Reply
  • Jennifer A.
    Rental Property Investor · Jacksonville, FL · Member since 2014 · 11 posts · 0 votes
    8y

    I was wrong, only federal tax is collected thru Airbnb currently. The city declined the Airbnb contract to collect and funnel in a "bed tax". I believe the sticking point was that the contract had language that said the city would not be able to seek back tax and I think there was some kind of "grandfather clause" as well. This is the original article http://www.jacksonville.com/news/metro/2016-04-10/story/should-jacksonville-accept-airbnbs-tax-money Looking back to find it I found this article (All this time, I thought they had renegotiated the contract). https://www.news4jax.com/money/how-much-money-coul...

    Thank you Jack for that memo. Nice to have facts and source instead of guessing.

    0Reply
  • Jack Bobeck
    Rental Property Investor · Jacksonville, FL · Member since 2008 · 784 posts · 528 votes
    8y

    This was held Monday Oct 22:

    The second Special Committee on Short-Term Vacation Rentals Meeting will be held, today, Monday, October 22nd, from 1:30pm to 4pm in the Lynwood Roberts Room. 

    These meetings are being held to discuss short-term / vacation rental property – their use, location, noise and disturbance issues, parking, etc. Short term rentals are becoming prevalent in the Riverside-Avondale, and Springfield Historic Districts as well as other parts of the city. 

    Approximately 19% of the local bookings last year in Duval County were short-term bookings and right now Duval County is collecting ZERO dollars, that will change. 

    If you send me an email, I can forward the notes and details of the city's data to you for you to review. 

    1Reply
  • Jack Bobeck
    Rental Property Investor · Jacksonville, FL · Member since 2008 · 784 posts · 528 votes
    7y

    Just released today from the Business Journal......one reason why the City of Jacksonville wants to find a solution to tax AirBnb, which are not taxes at all at the moment.

    Airbnb announced that the Jacksonville host community welcomed a record 1,600 guests and earned a combined $300,000 during the weekend of the Florida-Georgia game.

    The weekend's festivities pushed Jacksonville into one of its top 10 cities for the week, Airbnb reported.

    In the state of Florida, 40,000 hosts welcome nearly 3 million guests a year, earning about $6,700 annually.

    0Reply
  • Lesley Resnick
    Real Estate Agent · Jacksonville, FL · Member since 2015 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    7y

    I would wait for this to shake out.  Atlantic Beach and Neptune are never going to allow it, regardless of how the rest of the City goes.  Jax Beach may continue to allow it.  The beaches are more local than a tourist.  There are not many hotels considering how much coastline we have.   Ultimately, the citizens will have the last word, not the hotels, which could be good for Jax Beach AirBNB.    

    The larger problem at the beach is finding properties that will work.  The beaches have seen a huge run up in the past few years.

    0Reply
  • Jack Bobeck
    Rental Property Investor · Jacksonville, FL · Member since 2008 · 784 posts · 528 votes
    7y

    The agenda for the meeting held this past week on the AirBNB issue here in Jacksonville, FL:

    December 5, 2018

    5:00 p.m.

    AMENDED

    MEMORANDUM

    (Amended to Add Council President Aaron Bowman as a Member

    and Designate Council Member Jim Love as the Chair)

    TO: Honorable Members of the City Council

    FR: Council President Aaron L. Bowman, District 3

    RE: Special Committee on Short-Term Vacation Rentals

    In accordance with Council Rule 2.103(a) as President of the Jacksonville City Council, I hereby appoint a Special Committee on Short-Term Vacation Rentals.

    Charge:

  • Evaluate and make recommendations on the City’s zoning and other laws to determine whether there are limitations on the ability of short-term vacation rental uses to operate in the City and to ensure their compatibility with other adjacent or nearby uses if they were allowed.
  • Investigate the ability of the City to collect the appropriate taxes for such uses and suggest improvements to facilitate collection of all such amounts owed.
  • Evaluate and make recommendations on potential methods that owners and/or operators of short-term vacation rentals would be required to use to register with the City similar to other requirements for home occupation providers already in existence.
  • Investigate and address “leasing strategies” that are employed or may be employed to circumvent zoning regulations for long-term rentals including the ability to break a long-term lease with no penalty in order to appear to be long-term while facilitating a short-term rental.
  • Evaluate the City’s code enforcement capabilities and make recommendations regarding enforcement of any regulations imposed on short-term vacation rentals. 
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  • Brent Earl
    Investor · Jacksonville, FL · Member since 2016 · 3 posts · 1 vote
    7y

    For anyone still following the Short Term Rental legislation in the City of Jacksonville, FL, the COJ website has the most recent updates and audio of the committee meetings.  According to the December 6th, 2018 meeting, short term rentals in Jacksonville are currently illegal unless you are in a historic area and have jumped through the hoops to become a B&B.  They seem to currently be attempting to legalize it.

    For more info, check out the link to the meeting audio and notes below:
    http://www.coj.net/city-council/standing-committee...

    1Reply
  • Simon Collins
    Rental Property Investor · Saint Augustine, FL · Member since 2018 · 102 posts · 58 votes
    7y
    Originally posted by @Brent Earl:

    For anyone still following the Short Term Rental legislation in the City of Jacksonville, FL, the COJ website has the most recent updates and audio of the committee meetings.  According to the December 6th, 2018 meeting, short term rentals in Jacksonville are currently illegal unless you are in a historic area and have jumped through the hoops to become a B&B.  They seem to currently be attempting to legalize it.

    For more info, check out the link to the meeting audio and notes below:
    http://www.coj.net/city-council/standing-committee...

     Yup

    This is correct.

    I have attended several of the meetings and was awaiting the next one where they would disclose the first draft of the new laws they were planning.

    There were lots of regulation that was about to come into play but they terminated the committee instead due to the fact the state legislature was currently working on legislation.  As I start looking into/researching what the state has planned I can’t help but think this committee will form again in the future of laws aren’t put into place for the regulation of short term rentals in Jax.  They seemed pretty focused on limiting short term rentals and mirror the local laws or various other Cities like Asheville, Nashville and others.

    It wouldn’t be good for anyone that does short term rentals and doesn’t occupie the property, have it located in a certain zone, or other various rules they were planning on putting into action.

    I passed on a purchase of a few props back in December to see where the chips were going to land on this and I still need to dig some more.

    Either way regulation is coming so if a prop can’t cash flow on a 12 month lease as a backup plan I am not comfortable buying it for a short term rental.

    0Reply
  • Jack Bobeck
    Rental Property Investor · Jacksonville, FL · Member since 2008 · 784 posts · 528 votes
    7y

    An Update - 

    Jacksonville Council President Aaron Bowman terminated the Short Term Rental Committee, due to legislation being considered at the state (FL) level. There have been several bills filed and introduced, some of which may further restrict the ability for local governments to regulate short term rentals.  Concerned citizens should contact your FL house and FL senate representatives.

    Florida House District 15: Wyman Duggan

    Florida Senate District 6 : Audrey Gibson

    https://www.myfloridahouse.gov

    https://www.flsenate.gov

    0Reply
  • Jack Bobeck
    Rental Property Investor · Jacksonville, FL · Member since 2008 · 784 posts · 528 votes
    7y

    New meeting coming up for information on AirBnB in Jacksonville:

    Short-Term Vacation Rental Legislation Community Meeting Next Week
     District 14 Council Member Jim Love and Riverside Avondale Preservation will host a community meeting to discuss his proposed legislation concerning the regulation of short-term vacation rental (STVR) properties located in Jacksonville.

    The meeting will be held May 6, 2019, at 6:00 pm at the Riverside Presbyterian Church.

    Presently, there are over 1,000 AirBnB’s located in Jacksonville, and many additional short-term vacation rentals listed by other web-based platforms as well. Some are being operated legally, but many others are not.

    According to Council Member Love, the purpose of Bill 2019-238 is to provide reasonable rules, regulations and standards necessary to protect the general safety and welfare of its citizens and visitors. It also regulates short-term vacation rental use to ensure that such use will not unreasonably or negatively interfere, disrupt, or impact the use and enjoyment of other property owners – primarily residential - adjacent to, or near the structure hosting the short term vacation rental.

    The Bill will: 1) in residential or CRO zoning districts require the property owner, or an agent of the owner to live onsite; 2) limit the number of bedrooms that can be rented at any one short-term vacation rental location to three; 3) limit the number of adults in each bedroom to a maximum of two; 4) require parking by all short-term vacation rental tenants to be onsite; 5) require the owner of the short-term vacation rental property to attend a landlord training program; and, 6) require registration and payment of appropriate fees and taxes.

    Registration requirements include insurance coverage, inspection by the City’s Fire Prevention Division, notification of the Property Appraiser’s Office for notation on the property’s property record card, and issuance of a Certificate of Use for operation of a STVR and requires STVRs to comply with all applicable building, zoning, property safety and fire codes.

    Legislation 2019-238 may be found by using the following link at the City of Jacksonville website: http://cityclts.coj.net/coj/COJBillList.asp?Bill=2019-0238
    1Reply
  • Michael Duncan
    Real Estate Agent · Honolulu, Hawaii (HI) · Member since 2020 · 16 posts · 4 votes
    6y

    Any updates on this yet?

    0Reply
  • Andrew Pokrzywinski
    Rental Property Investor · Jacksonville, FL · Member since 2019 · 50 posts · 27 votes
    5y

    Hoping to bring this thread to back to life w/ any new updates. 

    1Reply
  • Dean C.
    Jacksonville, FL · Member since 2018 · 41 posts · 9 votes
    5y
    Originally posted by @Andrew Pokrzywinski:

    Hoping to bring this thread to back to life w/ any new updates. 

     I second this

    0Reply
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