LOFTY Brickell on the Miami River, marketed for short-term rental

How to check if a Miami condo allows Airbnb: five records, in order

A Miami condo can host nightly guests only when five records agree: the city's ordinance and its adoption date, the zoning of the parcel, the condominium declaration and rules, a Florida DBPR vacation rental licence, and the city's own registration where it has one. The MLS field that says "no restrictions" describes only the association, and a listing remark is the seller's claim. Below is the order we read them in, with what each one settles, and the six cities and one zoning code we have read so far.

Sources: Florida Statute 509.032(7)(b) (2025), each city's code as named below, read between 28 August and 21 September 2026. Nothing on this page certifies that a rental is legal at any address.

The five records

Read them in this order, and stop at the first no

#	Record	Where to read it	What it settles
1	The city's ordinance	The city code (Municode, American Legal); the adoption history is printed at the end of each section	Whether the city may say no. Under Florida Statute 509.032(7)(b) a city may not prohibit vacation rentals or set a minimum stay unless its rule was adopted on or before 1 June 2011
2	The zoning of the parcel	The County GIS or the city's zoning map, by folio	Whether this district allows lodging. In the City of Miami, Miami 21 (2009) allows no transient rental in the T3 and T4-R residential transects
3	The declaration and the rules	The recorded declaration (County), the current rules, the association's manager	The minimum stay, the number of rentals a year, registration and approval by the association. The MLS fields summarize these; "no restrictions" means no association rule, not city permission
4	The state licence	Florida DBPR, myfloridalicense.com	A vacation rental licence for the unit before it is rented by the night
5	The city's registration	The city's vacation rental programme, certificate of use or business tax receipt	Whether the unit may operate in the city's eyes; Hollywood, Fort Lauderdale, Hallandale Beach and Miami Lakes each run a programme with annual renewal

The guest also pays transient rental taxes on top of the nightly rate (13% in most of Miami-Dade, more in Miami Beach), collected and remitted by the host or the platform.

What we have read

Six cities and one zoning code, with their ordinance

City or district	May it prohibit short stays?	Ordinance	Read on
Hollywood	No, it licenses them	Ord. O-2015-24, 21 Oct 2015	28 Aug 2026
Fort Lauderdale	No, it licenses them	Ord. C-15-29, 18 Aug 2015	28 Aug 2026
Hallandale Beach	No, it licenses them	Ord. 2016-02, 27 Feb 2016; 2023-003	15 Sep 2026
Miami Lakes	No, it licenses them	Ord. 22-302, 25 Jul 2022	28 Aug 2026
Dania Beach	Minimum stay of 5 days	Ord. 2011-017, 31 May 2011	19 Sep 2026
Coral Gables	Yes, not in single-family districts	Zoning Code § 4-101(A); City Attorney Opinion 2013-055	21 Sep 2026
City of Miami, T3 and T4-R	Yes, no transient rental	Miami 21, Ord. 13114, 22 Oct 2009	20 Sep 2026

A city whose rule predates 1 June 2011 (Dania Beach adopted its rule the day before) keeps the power to regulate duration. A city not in this table has not been read by us yet, and we say so rather than guess.

The traps

Four ways a yes turns out to be a no

"No restrictions" on the MLS

The field describes the association's rules as the listing agent entered them. It says nothing about the city, the zoning or the licence.

A building that allows it, a city that acts

A city can order an association to stop rentals under 30 days when the building lacks the certificate of use or the life-safety approval for lodging, whatever the declaration says. We check the city's register, not only the association.

"Airbnb friendly" in a brochure

A preconstruction tower has no recorded declaration yet. Until it is recorded, the rental policy is the developer's promise, and we say which documents to get in the contract.

A 30-day minimum is not a dead end

Where nightly rental is closed, the same unit can rent by the month to travelling professionals: a different rate and occupancy, priced on its own numbers.

Questions we are asked

How do I know if a Miami condo allows Airbnb?

Read five records in order: the city's ordinance and its adoption date, the zoning of the parcel, the condominium declaration and rules, a Florida DBPR vacation rental licence, and the city's registration where it has one. The MLS "no restrictions" field covers only the association.

Can a Florida city ban Airbnb?

Only if its rule was adopted on or before 1 June 2011. Florida Statute 509.032(7)(b) bars later rules that prohibit vacation rentals or regulate how long or how often they are rented; registration, safety and occupancy rules remain allowed.

Which cities near Miami license short-term rentals?

Among the cities we have read, Hollywood, Fort Lauderdale, Hallandale Beach and Miami Lakes license them; Dania Beach requires a minimum stay of 5 consecutive days; Coral Gables bars them in single-family districts; the City of Miami allows no transient rental in its T3 and T4-R transects.

One building read · 48h

Name the building, we read its five records

Send the address or the MLS number. Steve sends back within 48 hours what the ordinance, the zoning and the building's rules say, and which documents to ask for before you sign.