Properties that will be rented for short periods must be located in zones
that allow for this type of business, within Miami Dade County, and they
must have the approval from the homeowner association to do this.
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Paseo 5350 in Downtown Doral |
In Miami, Biscayne Park is the most popular destination
in Florida; nevertheless, the city of Miami Beach prohibits rentals of less
than six months in many of its residential areas, but it allows them in
those sections of the city that have been zoned as “condo-hotel.” Another
thing to take into consideration is that the person renting must have a
commercial license and a certificate that they are registered to pay the
transient rental taxes.
AirBnB, the company that offers online vacation accommodations, also
provides some recommendations that must be taken into consideration before
you decide to offer your property as one of these accommodations. It is very
important that you understand the legislation in your city in order to avoid
any fines.
It is imperative to be informed about the permits required in the city where
your property is located. This can be as easy as contacting the Planning and
Zoning Department and the homeowner’s association directly. This way, you
will be able to learn which are the restrictions to rent your property and
if you need to pay for any tax for these rentals.
As a business, real estate experts state that investing in a property that
allows to be rented without restriction is an excellent investment because
it will, for sure, generate important cash flow. The only important fact to
take into consideration is that if you are going to buy a property for this
purpose, you must know that the regulations might change from time to time.
For example, in Boston, there is a regulation that was approved recently,
and that indicates that all the properties that are going to be rented for
short periods of time or for vacation purposes must have a special license,
be inspected by the city, must have all entrances and exits from the
dwelling duly marked, they must have fire extinguishers and clear access for
disabled people.
These laws can be extended to other cities, and even when they will not
eliminate this business model in its entirety, it will definitely make
owners of these properties incur additional expenses and permits. Many
claims that this interest in creating other regulations obeys the pressure
created by the hotel sector that sees AirBnB as a latent threat.
But, is AirBnB, in reality, a threat to the hotels? The hotel sector assures
that AirBnB represents unfair competition because they do not pay adequate
taxes, the accommodations do not follow the same normativity than what a
hotel must comply with and they operate in an informal way.
In the specific case of South Florida, this possible threat to the hotel
sector borders the absurd, because according to estimations from the tourist
sector, we are still at least ten years away from building all the necessary
hotels to be able to cover the demand for vacation accommodations for Miami.
Let’s remember that last year, the Port of Miami was considered the most
important port in the world, and one of the reasons for which in just the
second week of 2020, more than 42,000 people entered Miami by the Port of
Miami through cruise ships. This without mentioning the number of tourists
that come in by air and by land.
Another big opponent for short term rentals is the homeowner associations,
HOA, for short, that are in charge of the correct management of the
communities. The inability to verify the people that will be residing in the
community due to these rentals, plus the constant rotation of the residents,
is something that does not convince the HOA boards.
However, the users of AirBnB have seen in this platform a vacation
accommodation’s alternative that is more flexible and affordable; the
homeowners who want to rent their house or apartment for vacation purposes
believe that these extreme legislation borders the lack of respect to
private property.
Local and state real estate organizations have started defending this right
because renting your house is a fundamental right of the owners; for this
reason, they believe that these regulations, the licensing requirements, and
the restrictions to the guests violate this fundamental right importantly.
Given the legal framework that is involved, the recommendation is that if
you are interested in using your property to rent it for short periods, you
check the specific regulations in your city and homeowner association. If
you are going to buy a house or an apartment with this sole purpose, you
must first verify that there are no rental restrictions. Another good option
is to buy in condominium projects that are specifically designed for this
use, and that already have been built under the condo-hotel zoning.
In Downtown Miami there are two projects in pre-construction (Legacy and
Natiivo Miami); Natiivo Miami is a luxury tower with 51 floors. These are
planned to be finished by the year 2023, they allow for the rental without
restrictions which means that the owner will be able to live in the property
or rent it either yearly or for short periods of time.
IN DORAL
Rentals in Doral are governed by the Short -Term/Vacation Rental Ordinance;
this refers to rental agreements for no less than seven days (which are
forbidden) and not more than six months, which will be allowed given that
they comply with specific regulations.
For example, the City of Doral requires registration for each short-term
rental, and there cannot be more than three registries per property in a
period of 12 months. All these applications must be submitted to the City
Manager or his designated representative.
A current proof of the owner and written approval from the homeowner’s
association is also required. All the renters must comply with the
regulations of the community and with the ordinances of the city that refer
to the behavior of the residents.
The property that will be rented must be equipped with a fire sprinkler
system that is inspected and approved by the Miami Dade County Fire
Department, and there must be a fire extinguisher for every thousand square
feet at the interior of the home.
Fines imposed by the City of Doral for operating a short-term rental without
the proper approval go from $500 for the first violation up to $7,500 for
the fourth violation within the 12 prior months.
In Doral, there is one single project that will allow rentals for seven
days; it is expected to be completed in May of this year. It is Paseo 5350
in Downtown Doral. Given that this will be the only real estate project in
our city that will work under this scheme, it is expected to be occupied at
85%
While they started offering studio type apartments and one room apartments,
these have already been completely sold out. As of now, they only have
available 2- and 3-bedroom apartments, ranging in price from $611,000 to
$670,000. Rental estimations place the studio apartments in $140 per night,
one-bedroom in $200, and those with 2 and 3 bedrooms between $250 and $280
per night. These numbers duplicate the monthly income from that of the
regular annual rent.