Panama City Beach, FL short-term rental registration

What Panama City Beach asks of you

• Ordinance 1632 has required a valid Vacation Rental Certificate for every vacation rental in the city since February 1, 2024.^[6]

• The certificate is issued after a full life safety inspection, and the city invoices $75 for that inspection once your registration has been reviewed.^[6]

• You apply with proof of your DBPR licence, proof of registration with the Tourist Development Council, a valid city business tax receipt and, where there is a pool, a pool inspection.^[6]

• Signage visible from outside the house or unit must carry an emergency contact telephone list and the certificate number issued once the inspection passes.^[6]

• Registration is annual: returning owners re-register on the city portal and are re-inspected, for a $150 re-registration fee plus $75 if a re-inspection is needed.^[6]

What Florida asks wherever you host

These rules apply at this address whatever the city decides.

• Florida licenses vacation rentals itself. A house, townhouse or unit in a building of four units or fewer is licensed as a dwelling, a unit in a condominium or cooperative as a condominium, and the licence costs $150 plus $10 per rental unit plus a $10 hospitality education fee.^[2]

• A city cannot ban vacation rentals, nor regulate how long or how often you rent, unless its ordinance was already on the books on June 1, 2011. Ordinances adopted before that date survive untouched, which is why two neighbouring Florida towns can sit at opposite ends of the scale.^[1]

• State sales tax is due on every rental of six months or less. A bona fide written lease for more than six months of continuous residence is exempt, and so is the seventh month onward once a guest has stayed and paid for six.^[3]