On Thursday the town of Fort Myers Beach announced it was moving to a new short-term rental software. The new software will help town staff monitor short-term rentals and identify renters not following the rules.
Nearly every house and condo on Fort Myers Beach is eligible to be rented either weekly or monthly. When this was all set up decades ago there didn’t seem to be much of a system to how it was done. In fact in some cases one side of a street could be monthly rentals while the other side weekly. Monthly rentals are only allowed to rent a minimum of one week or less per month. If someone only rents that monthly for 7 or 10 days, according to the rules, that unit would have to remain empty for the rest of the month. Weekly rentals are allowed to rent once per week. So if someone rents for only 3 days that unit is supposed to remain empty for the balance of the week. If those rules are not followed the property owner faces a code violation.
Previously the town had a staff member monitoring Airbnb and VRBO in addition to taking complaints from neighbors who witnessed property owners breaking the short-term rental rules and call it into a town hotline. The new software brings everything in-house.
The new software will flag properties that violate the rules and immediately notify town staff. And, it automatically sends out the violation to the property owner. It’s also a safety net for property owners so they can make sure that a vendor they are using to help rent their property is not renting without telling them.
The software is called Rentalscape and a town press release said the software, “will allow the town to easily keep track of our current and new rentals on the island.”
Coastal Vacation Properties Chief Operating Officer Brock Buchanan told Beach Talk Radio news the company welcomes the town’s implementation of Rentalscape. “As a step towards responsible growth on the island, we understand the importance of maintaining transparency and accountability. It’s efficient to know where each rental is located and who manages each rental. In the event of an emergency, the Town needs to know who to contact for each property. This improvement should help all of us collectively as we look to better serve our residents, vacation rental owners, and visitors.”
What we should be investigating and auditing is who and why they allowed the gigantic Margartaville to be constructed in our tiny island where we have had enormous traffic jams for so many years! I have lived here for over 30 years and now they want to dictate to the affected little people who own their homes and need to profit a bit to be able to survive! Also how many other giant constructions are in the making? We need to meet with the governor and clarify the law to make it illegal to interfere when and for how long you rent your property as long as it is not causing problems ! Hey people the suppression era is gone we are free people and Americans !
“Investigate Margaritaville”?? That’s funny!
Looks like you missed the ten years of revisions, negotiations, lawsuits by another hotel owner, and significant public benefits Margaritaville provided to the town and its residents in order to become a reality.
More government over reach with the little guy.
Island Realtor here- The rental rules are outdated for homes. They were made back in 2002 when the town decided what the rental restrictions were for houses on a street by street basis. It makes absolutely no sense how they decided it including making a couple streets with one side be monthly and other being weekly. The rules were made well before VRBO and AirBnB were even conceived. With exception to houses in neighborhoods with HOA’s and their own rental rules, property owners should have rights to rent on a weekly basis just like all the others that are allowed to rent weekly in non HOA ruled streets. If people want to live in monthly then they should have moved to Sanibel where all homes there are restricted to monthly. Clearly FMB is a tourist attracted island and people should be allowed to rent their property how they want.
It makes a difference in property values along with how quickly a property sells. Right now being a heavy buyers market, 24 month inventory for houses just on the island, weekly rental houses still sell quicker and for more money compared to monthly zoned homes.
It’s time to change these ridiculous rules and let all non HOA ruled homes be allowed to rent weekly. The available vacation rentals are still less than half available units compared to pre Ian times.
Do you live on the beach in a single family home?
Janet- Yes I do live on the beach full time and am a homeowner.
To clarify, yes I do live in a single family house on the beach full time.
As spoken by a realtor. I live on a monthly street and want to keep it that way. Rent to loud parties next door to your home.
The point of this article was to highlight the absurdity of a weekly rental house not being able to be rented by two groups over the course of a week. We basically have three hotels on the island. Imagine if they employed the same strategy. It makes zero sense and the island would suffer immensely economically. You are conflating issues with changing weekly to monthly. That cannot happen.
By default, this forces owners to put in at least 5+ day minimum stays. That means you will not get any long weekend guests. It’s archaic. Also, you cannot compare hotels to short-term rental rentals. A family of 6 cannot just go get a hotel room. Hence, they will just go to a different beach.
Good morning! Canadian here. We have rented in FMB for 40 years. We’ve come for 2 – 4 weeks and have already booked for November. Canadians are not booking for this year because of fear of the political climate. Friends who rent for the entire season in Cape Coral, came home early this year because neighbours yelled at them for being Canafian, and someone keyed their car. All of this is very sad. That being said, we’re still coming!
Your story sounds suspicious. Unless you have been under a rock, there is one party that riots, keys cars and screams at people and you just have to look at the Tesla dealerships to know who is it. We just said farwell to our Canadian friends that were here for 6 weeks and ironically they never mentioned all these political issues and attacks.
If a house is on a monthly street and someone rents it for June 28,29 and 30th and also July 1, then that house is not allowed to rent it again until August. If someone takes as little as 1 day in a month, the entire month is lost. This is an old, outdated rule that was put in place by people who probably don’t live here anymore or have passed away and yet we are living by what they wanted. The screamers must not realize that if an owner gets 3 complaints then they would lose their license to rent. Also, if you look around at the homes for sale, the monthly homes take longer and sell for less money. Ask any Realtor on the beach!
True. But why would anyone take a renal like that. That would just be stupid. Obviously you don’t live on the beach.
I’m not sure what you were trying to say in your comment but YES I do live on the beach. I am a full time resident and I am a home owner unlike many who post here.
Please explain, I see this comment often.
Why does one mention living on the beach? Doesn’t everyone who owns on FMB pay property tax and have chosen to own on FMB? This is so sad, that people would create a division between owners. If I’m interested in a property on FMB what message are you trying to convey?
3 complaints are NOT being fined or losing their license.
All of us who support monthly rentals didn’t leave or die. What an age discriminatory comment.
With all due respect, this decision was made 23+ yrs ago. How many of the people that wanted “monthly” streets have lost their homes in a hurricane, have passed away or just move away to get out of here. “Age discriminatory” ???? LOL
Those who are looking to push beyond the current laws and increase daily and weekly rentals in residential neighborhoods, obviously don’t LIVE on the island and only own properties for investment purposes. You do not understand what it’s like to live next to a property that is being exploited as a short term rental. To those who disregard our laws and only care about investment returns, I implore you to sell your property and go invest in Miami Beach or Hollywood Beach and let us enjoy OUR HOMES and the tranquility of our neighborhoods.
We live on a monthly street and this is one reason we chose to buy on this street and live here full-time. When you buy on this street you know it is a monthly rental so there should be no question as to the rules. Unfortunately there are rental agencies that break the rules and try to get away with whatever they can.
One other question that comes to mind is the fact that some properties are grandfathered to be weekly rentals. This is completely misleading because grandfather usually ends when a property changes hands.
I don’t think the town realizes what the term grandfathered means. It should be clarified.
Tbh our complex is only monthly, you always get those that flout the bylaws but normally they get caught.
The reason is (on our complex) and it makes sense! The more people you have In Your condo the more the waste pipes fill, the more the water bill increases. Wear n tear on the complex!
It seems like most of the comments are questioning the rules themselves, not the new tool for monitoring compliance. These rules have been in place for over a decade, that I know of. What would be the process for reviewing the rules, including the weekly/monthly map? With redevelopment underway, now is the time to decide whether the current rules still serve the community well.
All properties should be weekly! Especially after hurricane Ian! People are trying to save their homes by generating income by renting out their places weekly. Trying to find someone to rent for a month is not easy. Some streets have both monthly and weekly depending on the house. It’s not fair.
Many of us are full time residents and we live on a monthly street so we are not bothered by constantly changing, partying vacationers. The rules insure the voting residents can enjoy our homes in much the same way the vacationers enjoy their own homes.
This is nonsensical and an economy killer especially with the lack of hotels currently available. There has been a huge influx of visitors from Miami and other surrounding areas that come over for four day stays. If they came Monday-Thursday for that to then ruin the calendar for the rest of the week and eliminate the ability for someone to hypothetically rent the weekend makes absolutely no sense. The entire tourism industry suffers.
Maybe this is needed for houses, but condo associations monitor their own owner rentals. That fee the town charges is nothing but a money grab, condo associations do not benefit.
I can see non compliant rentals being a problem in the future, when the island has recovered, but come on… right now it’s dead. And I’m afraid, with the current economy and political situation, this summer is going to be a huge BUST and thus a financial problem for our small businesses and restaurants.
I don’t think June and July will be a bust based off our owners and visitor bookings at Seaside Condo’s we have strong occupancy. August and September are very quiet, almost like it was a decade ago.
It IS a bust so far. Season was good but after April, AirBnB rentals drop significantly. This summer so far is very slow for bookings. Typically people book in advance so you have something on the books by now for summer rentals. That’s not the case this year. L
Summer bookings, right now, suck. (Ocean front will ALWAYS be an exception since there aren’t that many left and thus a hot commodity) We are a weekly and due to the horrible rental bookings, we never even have to worry about renting outside the rules. We are lucky just to get the weekend. LOL (I laugh because that’s all I can do)
I don’t think it is only FMB, but this whole COVID – DeSantis – Florida – “freedom” bubble has busted. Quite a few of my co-workers who moved to Florida during the 2021-2023 hype are moving back/somewhere else or thinking about it. Cost of living became insane and vacationing in Florida versus living and especially working here are two completely different things.
If someone rents there property for four days and then has to let it set for three days, what does that accomplish. It’s less rents for the owner and less tourist for the Island. It seems counter productive.
Agree. The property owner should be allowed to make the most of thier property. Especially since most of the island is rentals.
Unless you live next door and you don’t want different groups coming and going every week or day. Condos set limits for a reason. Some perform background checks on renters also. Rules are made to be followed, and spelled out before someone purchases a condo.
Just like Seagate and Moss Marina and every other large development. No one wants it in their back yard.