Anna Maria, FL short-term rental rules
Whole-home vacation rentals are legal in Anna Maria's residential districts with an annual city registration and inspection, no minimum stay, and a hard cap of eight overnight occupants per house.
Does this apply to you?
Permits open · No cap on registrations; the city issues one per dwelling through its Citizenserve portal once fees are paid and the inspection is passed.
- allowed
Renting your primary residence
You live there and rent a room, or the whole home while you are away.
Yes. Chapter 108 applies to any home in the single-family or two-family districts that is rented more than three times a year for stays under 30 days, so an owner who rents part or all of their own home still needs the annual city Vacation Rental Registration, the DBPR license, and the Manatee tourist tax account. The eight-person occupancy cap does not apply while the owner's family is in residence.
Verified 2026-09-05 · City of Anna Maria Code Ch. 108 Vacation Rentals (Municode) · City of Anna Maria Code Ch. 108 Vacation Rentals (Municode)
What the source says
The maximum occupancy restriction as set forth above shall not apply when the property is owner occupied by the vacation rental owner.
— City of Anna Maria Code Ch. 108 Vacation Rentals (Municode)This chapter does not prohibit vacation rentals, or the duration or frequency of vacation rentals, nor is it the intention of the City of Anna Maria to do so, but rather this chapter is intended to address life safety and compatibility concerns in the interests of the health, peace, safety, and general welfare.
— City of Anna Maria Code Ch. 108 Vacation Rentals (Municode)
- allowed
Whole-home investment property
You do not live there; the unit is rented short-term full time.
Yes. An investor-owned house in the residential districts may be rented nightly with a city Vacation Rental Registration renewed every year after a city life-safety inspection, a DBPR license, a Florida DOR sales tax certificate, and a Manatee County tourist tax account; new registrations may not advertise or rent until the inspection is passed. Overnight occupancy is capped at the lesser of two per qualifying bedroom plus two, or eight people per house, and the owner or a designated agent must answer a phone 24/7 for emergency calls.
Verified 2026-09-05 · City of Anna Maria Code Ch. 108 Vacation Rentals (Municode) · City of Anna Maria Code Ch. 108 Vacation Rentals (Municode) · City of Anna Maria — Vacation Rentals (How Do I)
What the source says
A separate registration shall be required for each vacation rental. The operation of a vacation rental without registration after the date registration is required shall be a violation of this chapter, except in the instance of providing accommodations to fulfil a pre-existing contract as provided hereinafter.
— City of Anna Maria Code Ch. 108 Vacation Rentals (Municode)A total of eight occupants per vacation rental. In the event there is more than one building or dwelling on one platted lot, the maximum occupancy shall be capped at eight occupants per lot or structure, whichever is less.
— City of Anna Maria Code Ch. 108 Vacation Rentals (Municode)ATTENTION: For new registrations, you may not advertise or rent the property until you have passed inspection.
— City of Anna Maria — Vacation Rentals (How Do I)
- Not reviewed yet
Tenant subletting short-term
You rent the home and want to host guests with landlord consent.
We have not yet reviewed whether a tenant can operate a short-term rental in Anna Maria.
STR Law Map is a reference, not a law firm. Nothing here is legal advice. Rules change — confirm current requirements with the city before operating.
Which government controls the parcel
Applies only to the City of Anna Maria at the north end of Anna Maria Island, roughly everything north of the Holmes Beach city line. It does NOT govern Holmes Beach or Bradenton Beach, the two other island cities, which each run separate vacation rental registration programs, nor Longboat Key or unincorporated Manatee County on the mainland. The Manatee County Property Appraiser parcel record shows which city a property sits in.
The rules
Anna Maria is one of the most vacation-rental-dense cities in Florida and its Code of Ordinances Chapter 108 (Ordinance 15-807, adopted November 19, 2015) is built around that fact. Nightly rentals of single-family and two-family homes are lawful throughout the residential districts; the city states in the ordinance itself that it does not prohibit vacation rentals or regulate their duration or frequency. What it does regulate is life safety and neighbourhood impact: mandatory annual registration and inspection, a maximum of eight overnight occupants per house, off-street parking limited to the spaces on the registration sketch, a written rental agreement with a city-supplied addendum on noise, trash and sea-turtle lighting, and a 24-hour emergency contact. Holmes Beach and Bradenton Beach, the island's other two cities, have their own separate programs.
Registration is filed through the city's Citizenserve portal with the registration form, a copy of the active DBPR transient public lodging license, the Florida DOR sales tax certificate, evidence of the Manatee County Tax Collector tourist tax account, an exterior site sketch showing parking spaces, and an interior floor sketch identifying every bedroom. The city then inspects for Florida Building Code and Fire/Life Safety compliance; a new rental may not be advertised or rented until it passes, and renewals must be submitted before the expiry date with the inspection during the renewal period. Registration fees, re-inspection fees, and fines are set each year by City Commission resolution rather than in the code; the city posts the fee resolutions on its Vacation Rental Ordinances and Previous Resolutions page, and we have not confirmed the current-year amounts.
Lodging tax totals 13%: 6% state sales tax plus Manatee County's 1% surtax (7% to the Florida Department of Revenue) and the 6% Manatee County Tourist Development Tax paid to the Manatee County Tax Collector monthly or quarterly. The Tax Collector states it has no agreements with Airbnb, HomeAway or VRBO, so the owner must register a tourist tax account and remit the 6% on every booking, including cleaning and pet fees, even when the platform collects state tax.
Occupancy is the lesser of two persons per bedroom of 100 square feet or more (one for a 70-99 square foot bedroom) plus two, or eight people, unless the owner's own family is in residence; homes operating before November 2015 could apply for a five-year grandfathered occupancy based on bedroom count. Enforcement runs through the city's code enforcement chapter and special magistrate with per-day fines. On preemption, the city adopted Chapter 108 in 2015, after the June 1, 2011 cut-off in Fla. Stat. § 509.032(7)(b), which is why the ordinance is written as a registration, inspection and occupancy scheme and expressly disclaims any ban or minimum stay.
Not yet reviewed: tenant-operated rentals, the current-year fee resolution amounts, and any zoning-district limits on rentals outside the single-family and two-family districts that Chapter 108 covers.
At a glance
| Governing body | City of Anna Maria (municipality) |
|---|---|
| Permit / license | City Vacation Rental Registration (annual, inspection required; fee set by resolution) + DBPR license + Manatee tourist tax account |
| Primary residence | No residence rule — occupancy cap waived while owner-occupied |
| Whole-home investor | Yes — single-family and two-family residential districts with registration; 8-person cap |
| Night cap / minimum stay | None (city states it does not regulate duration or frequency) |
| Lodging tax | 13% (6% state + 1% surtax + 6% Manatee TDT, self-remitted; no Airbnb/Vrbo county agreement) |
State context: Florida short-term rental laws — preemption, the DBPR license, and what cities may still regulate.
Primary sources
- City of Anna Maria Code Ch. 108 Vacation Rentals (Municode)
- City of Anna Maria — Vacation Rentals (How Do I)
- City of Anna Maria — Vacation Rental Ordinances & Previous Resolutions
- Manatee County Tax Collector — Tourist Development Tax
- Florida DOR — 2026 Discretionary Sales Surtax, DR-15DSS (PDF)
- Fla. Stat. § 509.032 (vacation-rental preemption)