LOFTY Brickell on the Miami River, marketed for short-term rental

How to check if a Miami condo allows Airbnb: five records, in order

A Miami condo can host nightly guests only when five records agree: the city's ordinance and its adoption date, the zoning of the parcel, the condominium declaration and rules, a Florida DBPR vacation rental licence, and the city's own registration where it has one. The MLS field that says "no restrictions" describes only the association, and a listing remark is the seller's claim. Below is the order we read them in, with what each one settles, and the eight cities we have read so far, two of them district by district.

Sources: Florida Statute 509.032(7)(b) (2025), each city's code as named below, read between 28 August and 19 October 2026. Nothing on this page certifies that a rental is legal at any address.

The five records

Read them in this order, and stop at the first no

#	Record	Where to read it	What it settles
1	The city's ordinance	The city code (Municode, American Legal); the adoption history is printed at the end of each section	Whether the city may say no. Under Florida Statute 509.032(7)(b) a city may not prohibit vacation rentals or set a minimum stay unless its rule was adopted on or before 1 June 2011
2	The zoning of the parcel	The County GIS or the city's zoning map, by folio	Whether this district allows lodging. In the City of Miami, Miami 21 (2009) allows no transient rental in the T3 transects nor in T4-R, T5-R and T6-R; in Miami Beach, stays under six months and a day are barred in every house and in eight apartment districts
3	The declaration and the rules	The recorded declaration (County), the current rules, the association's manager	The minimum stay, the number of rentals a year, registration and approval by the association. The MLS fields summarize these; "no restrictions" means no association rule, not city permission
4	The state licence	Florida DBPR, myfloridalicense.com	A vacation rental licence for the unit before it is rented by the night
5	The city's registration	The city's vacation rental programme, certificate of use or business tax receipt	Whether the unit may operate in the city's eyes; Hollywood, Fort Lauderdale, Hallandale Beach and Miami Lakes each run a programme with annual renewal, and the City of Miami asks a certificate of use per unit. Neither this nor the DBPR licence passes with the deed: a buyer applies in their own name and books nothing before both are issued, and a sale does not erase the seller's violations (Fort Lauderdale wrote it into its 2026 amendment)

The guest also pays transient rental taxes on top of the nightly rate and the cleaning fee, for any stay of 182 nights or less, collected and remitted by the host or the platform. In Miami-Dade outside Miami Beach, Surfside and Bal Harbour that is 13%: Florida sales tax 6%, county surtax 1%, tourist development 2%, professional sports facility 1%, convention development 3%. In Miami Beach the county's 2% and 1% give way to the city's 4% resort tax, 14% in all. Sources: Airbnb Help Center, article 2301 (Florida), and the City of Miami Beach resort tax page, read 19 October 2026. Airbnb lists the state and county taxes it remits; the Miami Beach resort tax is not on that list and is filed with the city.

What we have read

Eight cities, with their ordinance

City or district	May it prohibit short stays?	Ordinance	Read on
Hollywood	No, it licenses them	Ord. O-2015-24, 21 Oct 2015	28 Aug 2026
Fort Lauderdale	No, it licenses them	Ord. C-15-29, 18 Aug 2015; amended by C-26-39, 15 Sep 2026: $1,000 a day for renting without a valid certificate or with an expired one	19 Oct 2026
Hallandale Beach	No, it licenses them	Ord. 2016-02, 27 Feb 2016; 2023-003	15 Sep 2026
Miami Lakes	No, it licenses them	Ord. 22-302, 25 Jul 2022	28 Aug 2026
Dania Beach	Minimum stay of 5 days	Ord. 2011-017, 31 May 2011	19 Sep 2026
Coral Gables	Yes, not in single-family districts	Zoning Code § 4-101(A); City Attorney Opinion 2013-055	21 Sep 2026
City of Miami, T3, T4-R, T5-R and T6-R	Yes, no transient rental	Miami 21, Ord. 13114, 22 Oct 2009	19 Oct 2026
City of Miami, L and O transects	Allowed as a "Condo Hotel", under the building's conditions	T4, T5, T6 L and O and CI-HD, most of Brickell and Downtown. Miami 21 Table 3; Planning Determination 2019-01, 20 Mar 2019: one operator for the building, a front desk, a lobby, staff around the clock, a certificate of use per unit	19 Oct 2026
Miami Beach, houses and eight apartment districts	Yes, under six months and a day barred	RS-1 to RS-4, RM-1, RM-PRD, RM-PRD-2, RPS-1, RPS-2, CD-1, RO, TH. Resiliency Code 7.5.4.11 and 7.5.4.13, from Ord. 2010-3685, 9 Jun 2010; the city publishes the buildings that keep a right to rent	19 Oct 2026
Miami Beach, RM-3	Allowed, with a front desk and a lobby	Oceanfront Collins Avenue, outside the West Avenue corridor. Resiliency Code 7.2.6.2 uses table and 7.5.4.5; business tax receipt and resort tax number in every listing	19 Oct 2026

A city whose rule predates 1 June 2011 keeps the power to regulate duration: Dania Beach adopted its rule the day before, Miami 21 dates from 2009 and Miami Beach's from 2010. In Miami and Miami Beach the answer is read on the parcel's zoning district, from the county GIS. Miami Beach districts not named here (RM-2, CD-2, CD-3, MXE and others) are not read yet; nor is any city absent from this table, and we say so rather than guess.

The traps

Four ways a yes turns out to be a no

"No restrictions" on the MLS

The field describes the association's rules as the listing agent entered them. It says nothing about the city, the zoning or the licence.

A building that allows it, a city that acts

A city can order an association to stop rentals under 30 days when the building lacks the certificate of use or the life-safety approval for lodging, whatever the declaration says. We check the city's register, not only the association.

"Airbnb friendly" in a brochure

A preconstruction tower has no recorded declaration yet. Until it is recorded, the rental policy is the developer's promise, and we say which documents to get in the contract.

A 30-day minimum is not a dead end

Where nightly rental is closed, the same unit can rent by the month to travelling professionals: a different rate and occupancy, priced on its own numbers.

Questions we are asked

How do I know if a Miami condo allows Airbnb?

Read five records in order: the city's ordinance and its adoption date, the zoning of the parcel, the condominium declaration and rules, a Florida DBPR vacation rental licence, and the city's registration where it has one. The MLS "no restrictions" field covers only the association.

Can a Florida city ban Airbnb?

Only if its rule was adopted on or before 1 June 2011. Florida Statute 509.032(7)(b) bars later rules that prohibit vacation rentals or regulate how long or how often they are rented; registration, safety and occupancy rules remain allowed.

Which cities near Miami license short-term rentals?

Among the cities we have read, Hollywood, Fort Lauderdale, Hallandale Beach and Miami Lakes license them; Dania Beach requires a minimum stay of 5 consecutive days; Coral Gables bars them in single-family districts. The City of Miami and Miami Beach decide by zoning district: Miami allows a condo unit to rent nightly only as a Condo Hotel in its L and O transects, which take in most of Brickell and Downtown, and never in T3 or the R transects; Miami Beach bars stays under six months and a day in every house and in eight apartment districts.

One building read · 48h

Name the building, we read its five records

Send the address or the MLS number. Steve sends back within 48 hours what the ordinance, the zoning and the building's rules say, and which documents to ask for before you sign.