Jacksonville, FL short-term rental rules
Jacksonville has no short-term rental ordinance and no city registration program; you need the state DBPR license, a Duval County tourist tax account, and a business tax receipt, but the zoning code never expressly authorizes nightly rentals of a house, so confirm zoning with the Planning and Development Department before you buy.
Does this apply to you?
Permits open · There is no city short-term rental permit or registration to obtain; only the state DBPR license, the Duval tourist tax account, and a business tax receipt apply.
- conditional
Renting your primary residence
You live there and rent a room, or the whole home while you are away.
Renting rooms in, or the whole of, the home you live in is not prohibited by any Jacksonville ordinance and there is no city permit to apply for. The city's own guidance is that you must hold a Florida DBPR vacation rental license, register with the Duval County Tax Collector for tourist tax, obtain any required fire inspection, post the human trafficking sign, and comply with zoning, parking and noise rules. The Zoning Code defines a dwelling unit as one that may be rented on a weekly, monthly or longer basis, and daily-charge lodging as a hotel or motel, so nightly stays sit in a grey area the city has not codified.
Verified 2026-09-05 · Jacksonville.gov — Short Term Rentals (Property Appraiser) · Jacksonville Ordinance Code § 656.1601 Definitions (Municode)
What the source says
Short-term and vacation rental property owners must: Register with the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation. Learn more about state registration requirements . Register with the Duval County Tax Collector. Learn more about local tax requirements . Obtain any required fire inspection. Post the required human trafficking awareness sign. Comply with applicable local requirements, including land use, zoning, parking and noise regulations.
— Jacksonville.gov — Short Term Rentals (Property Appraiser)The dwelling unit may be for owner occupancy or for rental or lease on a weekly, monthly or longer basis.
— Jacksonville Ordinance Code § 656.1601 Definitions (Municode)
- conditional
Whole-home investment property
You do not live there; the unit is rented short-term full time.
There is no Jacksonville ordinance that bans, caps, or licenses whole-home short-term rentals, and no zoning district expressly lists them as a permitted use either; a 2018-2019 City Council special committee studied registration but was terminated without an ordinance. An investor needs the DBPR license, a Duval tourist tax account, and a business tax receipt. Because the Zoning Code frames a dwelling unit as rented weekly or longer and treats daily-charge lodging as hotel or motel use, ask the Planning and Development Department for a written zoning confirmation for the specific parcel before relying on nightly rentals.
Verified 2026-09-05 · Jacksonville Ordinance Code § 656.1601 Definitions (Municode) · Jacksonville.gov — Short Term Rentals (Property Appraiser)
What the source says
Hotel, motel means a building or group or buildings in which sleeping accommodations are offered to the public and intended primarily for rental to transients with a daily charge, as distinguished from multiple-family dwellings and rooming or boardinghouses, where rentals are for periods of a week or longer and occupancy is generally by residents rather than transients.
— Jacksonville Ordinance Code § 656.1601 Definitions (Municode)Using a booking platform such as Airbnb, Booking.com or Vrbo does not necessarily mean all required taxes are being paid on your behalf. Property owners may remain responsible for unpaid taxes and other requirements.
— Jacksonville.gov — Short Term Rentals (Property Appraiser)
- 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 Jacksonville.
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 to every address in the consolidated City of Jacksonville, which covers all of Duval County outside the four independent beach and inland municipalities. It does NOT govern Jacksonville Beach, Atlantic Beach, Neptune Beach, or the Town of Baldwin, each of which has its own code (Jacksonville Beach in particular runs a separate Short-Term Vacation Rental Certificate program). Confirm which one you are in with the Duval County Property Appraiser parcel record, which lists the taxing municipality.
The rules
Jacksonville is the rare large Florida city with no short-term rental ordinance at all. The consolidated city-county has never adopted a registration program, an occupancy cap, a minimum stay, or a zoning overlay for vacation rentals; a City Council Special Committee on Short-Term Vacation Rentals met in 2018-2019 and was terminated in February 2019 without legislation. A full Municode search of the Ordinance Code returns no hit for the phrase short-term vacation rental. The city's official guidance tells hosts to get the state DBPR license, register for Duval tourist tax, obtain any required fire inspection, post the human trafficking sign, and comply with zoning, parking and noise rules. The beach cities (Jacksonville Beach, Atlantic Beach, Neptune Beach) and Baldwin are separate jurisdictions.
Because there is no city permit, the paperwork is all state and county: a Florida DBPR vacation rental license under Chapter 509 (single or collective), a Florida Department of Revenue sales tax account, a Duval County Tourist Tax account with the Duval County Tax Collector, and a local Business Tax Receipt (the Tax Collector's business tax categories expressly include vacation rentals and Airbnb/VRBO listings). No city fee, inspection, or floor plan is required for the rental itself.
Lodging tax stacks to 13.5%: the 6% state sales tax, Duval's 1.5% discretionary surtax, and the 6% tourist development / convention development tax that the City levies acting as a county under Chapters 70 and 666 of the Ordinance Code. The tourist tax is remitted to the Duval County Tax Collector, not the Department of Revenue. We could not reach the Tax Collector's tourist tax page to confirm whether Airbnb or Vrbo remit the Duval bed tax under a platform agreement, and the city's own page warns that using a platform does not necessarily mean all taxes are paid, so treat the 6% as your liability until the Tax Collector confirms otherwise.
The zoning position is the weak spot. Section 656.1601 defines a dwelling unit as one that may be rented on a weekly, monthly or longer basis, and defines a hotel or motel as sleeping accommodations rented to transients with a daily charge; nightly whole-home rentals are not expressly listed as a permitted use in any residential district, but the city does not currently enforce against them and has no mechanism to do so. Because Jacksonville adopted nothing on or before June 1, 2011 that prohibits or limits vacation rentals, Fla. Stat. § 509.032(7)(b) would bar the city from adopting a ban or a minimum-stay rule now; any future ordinance can only register, inspect, and address nuisance issues.
Not yet reviewed: tenant-operated rentals, the fire inspection trigger the city references, homeowner-association restrictions, and whether Airbnb or Vrbo hold a Duval County tourist tax collection agreement.
At a glance
| Governing body | City of Jacksonville / Duval County (consolidated) |
|---|---|
| Permit / license | No city STR permit — DBPR license + Duval Tourist Tax account + Business Tax Receipt |
| Primary residence | No residence rule |
| Whole-home investor | Not prohibited by ordinance — no STR-specific zoning approval exists; confirm zoning with Planning |
| Night cap / minimum stay | None adopted by the city |
| Lodging tax | 13.5% (6% state + 1.5% surtax + 6% Duval TDT/convention tax, self-remitted to the Duval Tax Collector) |
State context: Florida short-term rental laws — preemption, the DBPR license, and what cities may still regulate.
Primary sources
- Jacksonville.gov — Short Term Rentals (Property Appraiser)
- Jacksonville Ordinance Code § 656.1601 Definitions (Municode)
- Jacksonville.gov — Duval County Tourist Development Council
- Jacksonville Ordinance Code Ch. 666 Duval County Tourist Development Plan (Municode)
- Duval County Tax Collector — Convention/Tourist Development Tax (short-term rentals)
- Florida DOR — Local Option Transient Rental Tax Rates, DR-15TDT (PDF)
- Florida DOR — 2026 Discretionary Sales Surtax, DR-15DSS (PDF)
- Fla. Stat. § 509.032 (vacation-rental preemption)