Is That “Vacation Rental” Down The Street Giving You Trouble? Coral Springs Looks To Regulate Those Homes

CORAL SPRINGS, FL – That house down your street in Coral Springs – is it now a “vacation rental” with lots of people coming and going, cars parked all over the street, and trash cans sitting out for days?

Coral Springs officials are looking to regulate vacation rentals where visitors stay for days or weeks.

Among the issues officials are planning: registering vacation homes, inspecting them, and requiring them to obey parking, fire safety, and other regulations.

It’s an issue many South Florida cities have wrested with in recent years as more visitors have begun booking vacation rentals for their stays instead of hotels, and brought parking, noise, trash, and other problems to neighborhoods where single-family homes and condos have been converted to rentals, city officials wrote in a memo.

This also comes as travel experts predict a massive rebound in domestic travel this summer as more than half of U.S. adults are now vaccinated. Trip Advisor, for one, predicts more than 74 percent of Americans will take a domestic trip over the next few months – and potentially many will stay at vacation rentals.

Coral Springs city commissioners held last week the first of two required public hearings on updating the city’s land development code to reflect vacation rentals regulations.

At the meeting, Vice Mayor Joshua Simmons stressed the requirements are intended to “protect” neighbors.

“This isn’t about stopping people from making money. But this is about protecting the culture and integrity of our neighborhoods,” he said. “This is about making sure when you have these hedge funds and companies buying up properties throughout South Florida, because of our beautiful weather, (this is) making sure they answer to issues happening on these properties.”

Cities have attempted to ban vacation rentals in the past, but state laws were changed and the Florida Attorney General wrote opinions that local laws, ordinances, or regulations can’t prohibit or regulate the duration or frequency of vacation rentals, according to the Coral Springs memo.

But the laws do permit local governments to conduct inspections to comply with building and fire codes, the memo said.

Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood, Deerfield Beach, and Pompano Beach have already adopted regulations to ensure vacation rentals don’t have “negative impacts on the existing residential neighborhoods,” the memo said.

Now Coral Springs wants to do the same.

The commission is expected later this month to vote on enacting the regulations.