Florida SB 824: Private Property Rights of Homeowners

Bill Text

824 
Private Property Rights of Homeowners 
2019-02-07T03:31:07Z 
Preempting the regulation of vacation rentals to the state; requiring each person applying for a vacation rental license to provide the Division of Hotels and Restaurants of the Department of Business and Professional Regulation with specified information, etc. 
Original Filed Version 
2019 
S 
2019-07-01T00:00:00Z 
GB 
General Bill 
__ 

 Florida Senate - 2019 SB 824 

 By Senator Diaz 

 36-00965A-19 2019824__ 
 1 A bill to be entitled 
 2 An act relating to private property rights of 
 3 homeowners; amending s. 509.032, F.S.; preempting the 
 4 regulation of vacation rentals to the state; providing 
 5 an exception; requiring a court of law to determine 
 6 compliance with specified provisions; amending s. 
 7 509.241, F.S.; requiring each person applying for a 
 8 vacation rental license to provide the Division of 
 9 Hotels and Restaurants of the Department of Business 
 10 and Professional Regulation with specified 
 11 information; requiring the division to make vacation 
 12 rental license information available to the public on 
 13 the division’s website; providing an effective date. 
 14 
 15 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 
 16 
 17 Section 1. Subsection (7) of section 509.032, Florida 
 18 Statutes, is amended to read: 
 19 509.032 Duties.— 
 20 (7) PREEMPTION AUTHORITY.— 
 21 (a) Public lodging establishments and public food service 
 22 establishments.—The regulation of public lodging establishments 
 23 and public food service establishments, including, but not 
 24 limited to, sanitation standards, inspections, training and 
 25 testing of personnel, and matters related to the nutritional 
 26 content and marketing of foods offered in such establishments, 
 27 is preempted to the state. This paragraph does not preempt the 
 28 authority of a local government or local enforcement district to 
 29 conduct inspections of public lodging and public food service 
 30 establishments for compliance with the Florida Building Code and 
 31 the Florida Fire Prevention Code, pursuant to ss. 553.80 and 
 32 633.206. 
 33 (b) Vacation rentals.— 
 34 1. The Legislature finds that: 
 35 a. Property owners who choose to use their property as a 
 36 vacation rental have constitutionally protected property rights 
 37 and other rights that must be protected, including the right to 
 38 use their residential property as a vacation rental; 
 39 b. Vacation rentals play a significant, unique, and 
 40 critical role in Florida’s tourism industry, and that role is 
 41 different from other types of public lodging establishments; 
 42 c. There are factors unique to the ownership and operation 
 43 of a vacation rental; and 
 44 d. Vacation rentals are residential in nature, a 
 45 residential use and thus permitted in residential neighborhoods. 
 46 2. Except as provided under this paragraph, the regulation 
 47 of vacation rentals, including, but not limited to, inspection, 
 48 licensing, and occupancy limits, is expressly preempted to the 
 49 state. 
 50 3. A local law, ordinance, or regulation may regulate 
 51 activities that arise when a property is used as a vacation 
 52 rental if the law, ordinance, or regulation applies uniformly to 
 53 all residential properties without regard to whether the 
 54 property is used as a vacation rental as defined in s. 509.242, 
 55 the property is used as a long-term rental subject to chapter 
 56 83, or the property owner chooses not to rent the property. 
 57 However, a local law, ordinance, or regulation may not prohibit 
 58 vacation rentals, impose occupancy limits, or regulate the 
 59 duration or frequency of rental of vacation rentals. 
 60 4. A local law, ordinance, or regulation may not allow or 
 61 require the inspection or licensing of vacation rentals. 
 62 5. A court of law shall determine if a local law, 
 63 ordinance, or regulation complies with this section without 
 64 regard to any assertion in the local law, ordinance, or 
 65 regulation that it complies. In all actions brought pursuant to 
 66 this section, the political subdivision that enacted the local 
 67 law, ordinance, or regulation shall establish by clear and 
 68 convincing evidence that the local law, ordinance, or regulation 
 69 complies with this section This paragraph does not apply to any 
 70 local law, ordinance, or regulation adopted on or before June 1, 
 71 2011. 
 72 6.(c) This paragraph (b) does not apply to any local law, 
 73 ordinance, or regulation exclusively relating to property 
 74 valuation as a criterion for vacation rental if the local law, 
 75 ordinance, or regulation is required to be approved by the state 
 76 land planning agency pursuant to an area of critical state 
 77 concern designation. 
 78 Section 2. Subsection (2) of section 509.241, Florida 
 79 Statutes, is amended to read: 
 80 509.241 Licenses required; exceptions.— 
 81 (2) APPLICATION FOR LICENSE.— 
 82 (