Short-Term Rental License Requirements on the Forgotten Coast | Port Realty Group

Do You Need a License to Rent Your Forgotten Coast Home Short-Term?

By Billy Joe Smiley | August 27, 2026

I get this question from almost every investment buyer I work with, and it usually comes up late, right after they have fallen in love with a house and started running the rental numbers in their head. The good news is that getting licensed to rent your Forgotten Coast property is a manageable, well-defined process. It just runs through three layers instead of one, and I would rather you know that before you write an offer than find out after closing.

Here on Cape San Blas, in Port St. Joe, on St. George Island, and in Mexico Beach, three different counties share this coastline, and each one handles short-term rental permitting a little differently. I walk buyers through this same conversation constantly, so let me lay it out the way I would if you and I were sitting down over a property listing right now.

The State License Every Short-Term Rental Needs

Every short-term rental in Florida starts with the same requirement, regardless of which county it is in. If you rent an entire home or unit for stays of less than 30 days, and you do that more than three times in a calendar year, or you advertise the property as available for stays like that, you need a vacation rental license from the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation, known as the DBPR.

The application happens online through a DBPR account, and you will choose one of three classifications: single (one unit), group (multiple units in the same building under one owner), or collective (up to 75 units). Most straightforward applications process in one to two business days once submitted.

A couple of exceptions are worth knowing. If you plan to live in the home while renting out a room, that hosted arrangement does not require the DBPR license. Renting a single room instead of the whole unit works the same way. I bring this up because I have had buyers considering an attached in-law suite or carriage house who assumed they needed the full license and did not.

Your County Adds Its Own Layer

This is where the Forgotten Coast gets a little more interesting than a lot of other Florida beach markets, because three counties touch this coastline and each one runs its own system. I think this is genuinely good news once you understand it, because none of these are complicated processes. They just need to be handled in the right order.

That last item on Mexico Beach properties catches people off guard, and I like to flag it early because it is easy to fix once you know about it. Gulf-front homes in Bay County need lighting that will not disorient nesting sea turtles, which usually means switching to amber or red-shielded fixtures on the beach side of the house. It is a small adjustment, not a dealbreaker, and it is exactly the kind of detail worth confirming before you close rather than after your first guest checks in.

One more thing I always check with buyers before we go further: zoning and any HOA covenants. A property being for sale does not automatically mean it is zoned or permitted for short-term use. This matters even more in a planned community, and it is exactly what I cover with buyers looking at non-homestead vacation home ownership costs on this coast, since rental eligibility and tax treatment often get discussed in the same conversation.

Taxes You'll Need to Register For

Licensing gets you legal to operate. Tax registration is the other half, and it is just as manageable once you know the steps. Florida charges a 6% state sales tax on stays of six months or less, and your county adds a Tourist Development Tax on top of that, typically running 1% to 6% depending on the county. Combined, most Forgotten Coast owners land somewhere in the 10% to 13% range on total tax obligation.

• Register with the Florida Department of Revenue for a sales tax certificate, even if you book primarily through Airbnb or VRBO.
• Register separately for your county's Tourist Development Tax, since platforms like Airbnb often collect and remit the state tax automatically but do not always cover the county-level tax for you.
• Keep your county STR license number, DBPR license number, and tax registration numbers together in one place. You will need all of them for renewals and for any booking platform that asks you to verify compliance.

None of this is unusual for a coastal rental market, and it is honestly one of the more straightforward parts of owning investment property here. What I want buyers to walk away with is confidence that this process is well-defined and doable, not a reason to hesitate on a property that otherwise fits what they are looking for.

Before You Make an Offer

If a rental income projection is part of why you are considering a property, I recommend confirming three things during your inspection period, before you release contingencies:

• The property's zoning designation actually permits short-term rental use.
• Any HOA or subdivision covenants do not restrict or cap rental activity beyond what the county allows.
• The specific county's licensing timeline fits your plans. Gulf and Bay County processing generally moves quickly, but I always build in a buffer for a first rental season.

This is the kind of confirmation I run for buyers before we ever put a contract together, and it pairs naturally with the due diligence I already walk people through around insurance costs on a coastal home and the current buyer's market conditions across the coast. With inventory sitting well above where it was a year or two ago, you have time to get this right before you write an offer, not just after.

Every parcel on this coast has its own story, and the licensing picture can shift depending on the exact address, the subdivision, and which side of a county line the property sits on. The only way to know your specific answer is to run it with someone who works these three counties every day.

Getting licensed to rent your Forgotten Coast property is a process with clear steps, not a guessing game, once you know which county you are dealing with and what it expects. If you are looking at a specific property and want to know exactly what applies to it, give me a call or shoot me a text. I will walk through the zoning, the licensing path, and the numbers with you before you ever write an offer.