Short-Term Rental Laws in Orlando, Florida

Within Orlando city limits, only home-share-style STRs are permitted citywide: the host must reside on-site, must be present during the rental, only one booking party at a time is allowed, and no more than 50% of bedrooms may be rented. Whole-home, non-owner-occupied STRs are NOT permitted within the City of Orlando proper. The neighboring unincorporated Orange County and the cities of Kissimmee/Davenport (Osceola County) have very different, much more permissive frameworks — most "Orlando area" STR inventory listed publicly is actually in those adjacent jurisdictions.

City of Orlando requires Home-Share Permit + Business Tax Receipt + DBPR Vacation Rental Dwelling license. Allowed only in single-family detached residential and certain duplex zones with owner-occupancy. NOT permitted in townhomes, condominiums, or accessory dwelling units. The HOA layer is another gate — many HOAs in central Florida prohibit STRs by covenant even when zoning would allow them. Always check both city zoning AND HOA bylaws.

Operators must hold a short-term rental permit before listing. See the official permit portal.

STRs are limited to the operator's primary residence.

Orlando Code Enforcement investigates Airbnb/Vrbo listings against the Home-Share Permit registry. Operating without a permit = $1,000+ fines per violation, accumulating daily. The owner-occupancy and host-present requirements are verified during compliance checks — if Code Enforcement finds the property unoccupied during a booked stay, the permit is revoked.

Combined short-term lodging tax in Orlando is approximately 13.500% of gross nightly revenue (state sales + state TRT + local TRT + applicable resort/city options).

Florida State sales 6% + Orange County Tourist Development Tax 6% + city option 1.5% — combined ~13.5% on transient lodging

Verify the current combined rate via the Utah State Tax Commission before remitting — rates drift quarterly.