Key Takeaways
- St. Augustine has about 1,000 registered short-term rentals, or roughly one for every nine housing units
- Vacation rental code cases have increased sharply over the past four years, with noise, trash and parking among the most common complaints
- Owners will move to a new registration system in October, along with a rolling annual inspection schedule
Short-term rentals are booming in the oldest city in America.
The historic Florida city of St. Augustine now has about 1,000 registered vacation rentals, according to a city code enforcement officer who tracks the industry.
That works out to roughly one short-term rental for every nine housing units in the city, according to Census Bureau housing data.
As the number of STRs across St. Augustine has grown, so has the city’s enforcement workload.
Morganne Lanni, who has spent four years working on vacation rental compliance for St. Augustine, said the number of code cases tied to short-term rentals has increased dramatically during that time.
“It’s definitely tenfold,” Lanni told the St. Johns Citizen.
Four years ago, the city might bring two or three vacation rental cases before its special magistrate every other month.
Now, officials are logging at least 10 new violations a month.
Noise complaints tied to parties are among the biggest problems, followed by trash and parking issues.
St. Augustine is adding more STR enforcement
The city is responding by putting more resources behind vacation rental oversight.
St. Augustine plans to add another code enforcement officer dedicated to short-term rentals, which would give the city more capacity to investigate complaints and monitor compliance.
That matters in a market with roughly 1,000 registered rentals spread across the city.
Officials currently rely heavily on complaints from neighbors because one officer cannot routinely monitor every property.
The city has also stepped up enforcement of density rules that limit how frequently certain properties can operate as vacation rentals in some zoning districts.
Related: Fort Lauderdale hits unlicensed short-term rentals with $1,000-a-day fines
Short-term rental owners will also have a new registration process to learn this fall.
Beginning in October, St. Augustine plans to move vacation rental registrations out of its third-party Host Compliance system and into CityWorks, the same portal the city uses for building permits.
Owners who register through the new system will then have three months to complete a required property inspection.
Once that inspection is completed, the date becomes the property’s annual renewal deadline.
That means St. Augustine is moving away from a single October expiration date for everyone and toward a rolling 365-day schedule tied to each individual rental.
Related: Florida Panhandle beach authority moves toward short-term rental registry
Owners and buyers can already see where STRs are concentrated
St. Augustine also maintains an interactive map showing registered short-term rentals throughout the city.
The map is updated quarterly and gives residents, operators and prospective buyers a clearer picture of where vacation rentals are concentrated.
That can be especially useful for investors evaluating a property in a market where density rules and neighborhood complaints can affect how a rental operates.
The bigger picture is hard to miss.
MORE STR NEWS:
- Corpus Christi freezes new short-term rental permits until November vote
- Missouri tipline created for short-term rental complaints logs zero complaints
- Fort Lauderdale hits unlicensed short-term rentals with $1,000-a-day fines
- Airbnb’s nonprofit arm gears up for peak hurricane season with Florida housing partnerships
- Florida Panhandle beach authority moves toward short-term rental registry
