Miami Rental Permit Guide 2026: What You Need to Know About STR Rules in Miami Beach, City of Miami, and Miami-Dade County

Miami is one of the most complicated short-term rental markets in the United States, and the complication comes down to one thing: geography. Miami Beach, the City of Miami, Coral Gables, Hialeah, and unincorporated Miami-Dade County are all separate municipalities with separate, and very different, rules. An address that is perfectly legal for short-term rentals might be three blocks from an address where it is completely banned. You cannot understand Miami's STR rules without first knowing exactly which municipality your property sits in.

I have spent years navigating South Florida real estate. The Miami market attracts investors from all over the country and the world, and many of them learn the hard way that "Miami" is not a single rulebook. This guide will give you the framework you need to know what questions to ask and where to look them up.

Start Here: Which Miami Are You In?

Before anything else, identify which municipality your property is in. The Miami metro area contains dozens of independent cities and municipalities within Miami-Dade County. The major ones that matter for short-term rental purposes are Miami Beach, the City of Miami, Coral Gables, the City of North Miami, Aventura, Surfside, and unincorporated Miami-Dade County. Each has its own rules.

Do not rely on a mailing address or a colloquial neighborhood name. Use the Miami-Dade County property appraiser's website at miamidade.gov/pa to look up your exact parcel. The property record will tell you the municipality. Once you know the municipality, you look up that municipality's specific STR regulations.

Miami Beach: The Most Restrictive Market

Miami Beach is the strictest of the major South Florida municipalities when it comes to short-term rentals. In most of Miami Beach's residential zoning districts, short-term rentals of fewer than six months and one day are banned outright. This is not a registration hurdle. It is a flat prohibition that zoning does not allow in those areas.

Short-term rentals in Miami Beach are legally permitted only in specific hotel and tourist-oriented zoning districts, primarily CD-2, CD-3, RM-3, and certain South Beach mixed-use commercial corridors. If your Miami Beach property is not in one of these zones, you cannot obtain a permit to operate it as a short-term rental under any circumstances, regardless of how many licenses you hold at the state or county level.

Miami Beach actively enforces this. The city has a dedicated STR enforcement team and operates a hotline that residents can call to report suspected illegal rentals. Fines in Miami Beach for operating an illegal STR can reach $20,000 per day. The city has issued some of the largest STR fines in the country. This is not a market where you want to test the rules.

If you are buying in Miami Beach with the intention of operating a short-term rental, verify the zoning district before you close. Not after. Have the zoning confirmed in writing from the Miami Beach Planning Department.

City of Miami: Different Rules Than Miami Beach

The City of Miami has its own STR framework that is separate from and somewhat more permissive than Miami Beach. The City of Miami allows short-term rentals in eligible zoning districts with proper licensing, though restrictions were tightened in 2023 and 2024 as the city responded to resident concerns about neighborhood impacts.

In the City of Miami, short-term rentals require both a Florida DBPR vacation rental license and a City of Miami Business Tax Receipt. The city also requires a Certificate of Use that is specific to your property's use as a short-term rental. Zoning eligibility varies by neighborhood. Wynwood, Brickell, and Downtown Miami have different zoning configurations than the residential neighborhoods of Coconut Grove, Coral Way, or Little Havana.

Check your property's zoning using the City of Miami's Zoning Clearance portal before applying for any permits. Applying for a DBPR license before confirming local zoning eligibility is a common and expensive mistake.

The Florida State License: Required Everywhere

Regardless of which Miami-area municipality you are in, any property in Florida that is rented for periods of fewer than 30 days more than three times per year requires a state vacation rental license from the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation. This is a state-level requirement that sits on top of any local city requirements.

The DBPR issues Vacation Rental licenses in two categories: Dwelling Units, which covers single-family homes and condominiums, and Transient Public Lodging Establishments. Most residential Airbnb-style operators are in the Dwelling Unit category.

The application is through myfloridalicense.com. You will need to schedule and pass a state inspection covering fire safety, sanitation, and basic habitability requirements. The license must be renewed annually. Failure to renew results in license lapse and you must stop renting until it is reinstated.

Local Business Tax Receipts

Each municipality in the Miami area requires its own Business Tax Receipt (BTR) for operating a short-term rental business. In Miami Beach, a BTR for short-term rentals is only issued for properties in eligible zoning districts. In the City of Miami, the BTR application is handled through the Department of Finance and is separate from zoning clearance and the state DBPR license.

Do not confuse these. Having a state DBPR license does not satisfy the local BTR requirement. Having a local BTR does not satisfy the state DBPR requirement. You need both.

Taxes for Miami Area Short-Term Rental Hosts

Short-term rental income in the Miami area is subject to multiple overlapping taxes. Florida state sales tax is 6 percent and applies to all short-term rental income. Miami-Dade County Tourist Development Tax is 2 percent. Miami-Dade County Convention Development Tax is an additional 3 percent. Some municipalities add their own local rental taxes on top of these.

Airbnb and VRBO collect and remit Florida state sales tax and Miami-Dade county lodging taxes for platform bookings. For direct bookings outside of platforms, you are responsible for collecting and remitting these taxes yourself. You need to register with both the Florida Department of Revenue and Miami-Dade County to remit taxes on direct bookings.

Condominium Buildings: A Special Layer of Rules

Many properties in the Miami area are in condominium buildings, and condo association rules add another layer to the licensing picture. Even if city zoning allows short-term rentals and you have a valid DBPR license and BTR, your condo association's governing documents may prohibit them entirely. In buildings that allow short-term rentals, there may be minimum rental period requirements (sometimes 30 days), application fees for each rental, guest registration requirements, and restrictions on parking and common area use by renters.

Read your condo documents carefully and, if you are buying, get a legal review of the association documents with STR use specifically in mind. A city-legal short-term rental that violates condo rules is still a violation that the association can pursue aggressively.