Tampa, FL short-term rental rules
Tampa has no short-term rental ordinance of its own; its zoning code defines a dwelling unit as occupancy on a weekly or longer basis and treats day-rate rentals as transient lodging (hotel/motel or bed and breakfast), which is prohibited in the RS single-family districts.
Does this apply to you?
Not reviewed · We found no City of Tampa short-term rental registration or permit program on tampa.gov; compliance is a matter of zoning use category plus state and county accounts.
- conditional
Renting your primary residence
You live there and rent a room, or the whole home while you are away.
Renting your own home, or a room in it, for a week or longer at a time fits the city's definition of a dwelling unit and needs no city permit. Renting by the night is a transient lodging use under Chapter 27: the bed and breakfast use is a special use (S1, zoning administrator review) in the RM multifamily districts and a permitted use in RO, RO-1, OP, OP-1, CN, CG and CI, but it is not listed at all for the RS single-family districts (RS-150 through RS-50), where unlisted uses are prohibited. There is no owner-occupancy requirement in the code; the zoning district decides.
Verified 2026-09-05 · City of Tampa Code of Ordinances, Sec. 27-43 Definitions (Municode) · City of Tampa Code of Ordinances, Sec. 27-156 Official schedule of district regulations, Table 4-1 (Municode)
What the source says
Dwelling unit: A room or group of rooms forming a single independent habitable unit used for or intended to be used for living, sleeping, sanitation, cooking and eating purposes by one (1) family only; for owner occupancy or for rental, lease or other occupancy on a weekly or longer basis; and containing independent kitchen, sanitary and sleeping facilities.
— City of Tampa Code of Ordinances, Sec. 27-43 Definitions (Municode)The use of land or structures that are not expressly listed in the schedule of permitted uses by district as permitted principal uses or permitted accessory uses are prohibited uses and shall not be established in that district.
— City of Tampa Code of Ordinances, Sec. 27-156 Official schedule of district regulations, Table 4-1 (Municode)
- conditional
Whole-home investment property
You do not live there; the unit is rented short-term full time.
A whole house rented for a week or longer at a time is an ordinary dwelling unit under Sec. 27-43 and is allowed in any residential district with a Florida DBPR vacation-rental license, a state sales-tax account and a Hillsborough County tourist development tax account (Airbnb and Vrbo bookings are platform-collected). Nightly rentals of a whole house are not a listed use in the RS single-family districts; the only day-or-week lodging uses in Table 4-1 are 'bed and breakfast' (S1 in RM-12 through RM-75, permitted in RO, RO-1, OP, OP-1, CN, CG, CI) and 'hotel and motel' (ten or more transient lodging units, permitted in CG, CI and IG), so a nightly whole-home operation in a single-family zone has no permitted-use path.
Verified 2026-09-05 · City of Tampa Code of Ordinances, Sec. 27-43 Definitions (Municode) · City of Tampa Code of Ordinances, Sec. 27-43 Definitions (Municode) · Hillsborough County Tax Collector — Open a Tourist Development Tax Account
What the source says
Transient lodging unit: A room or group of rooms forming a separate habitable unit used or intended to be used for living and sleeping purposes, with or without independent kitchen facilities, occupied or intended to be occupied by transients. It is presumed that the lodging unit is not the sole residence of the occupant(s).
— City of Tampa Code of Ordinances, Sec. 27-43 Definitions (Municode)Bed and breakfast: A residential building or group of buildings where transient lodging unit accommodations (without independent kitchen facilities), are offered for rental by the day or week, and meal services are provided. Such use shall contain no more than eleven (11) transient lodging units, in addition to the resident manager's unit.
— City of Tampa Code of Ordinances, Sec. 27-43 Definitions (Municode)The Hillsborough County Tax Collector has agreements with several platforms to collect and remit tourist development taxes on behalf of property owners (hosts).
— Hillsborough County Tax Collector — Open a Tourist Development Tax Account
- 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 Tampa.
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
This record governs addresses inside the City of Tampa city limits, including downtown, Ybor City, Seminole Heights, Hyde Park, Davis Islands, Westchase and New Tampa parcels that were annexed into the city. It does NOT govern unincorporated Hillsborough County (Brandon, Riverview, Carrollwood, Town 'n' Country, Apollo Beach, Lutz and most of the county outside the city), nor the cities of Temple Terrace or Plant City, each of which has its own code. Many 'Tampa' mailing addresses are actually unincorporated county. Confirm which applies by looking the parcel up on the Hillsborough County Property Appraiser site and checking the taxing-district or municipality field.
The rules
The City of Tampa has no stand-alone short-term rental ordinance and no city registration program; the question is answered entirely by the Chapter 27 zoning code. Sec. 27-43 defines a 'dwelling unit' as one occupied by a family 'for rental, lease or other occupancy on a weekly or longer basis,' so renting a house or condo for a week or more at a time is simply residential use and is allowed anywhere housing is allowed. Occupancy by 'transients' is a 'transient lodging unit,' and the only transient uses in the Table 4-1 schedule are 'bed and breakfast' (special use in the RM multifamily districts, permitted in RO, RO-1, OP, OP-1, CN, CG and CI) and 'hotel and motel' (ten or more units, permitted in CG, CI and IG). Neither is listed for the RS single-family districts, and Sec. 27-156 states that uses not expressly listed are prohibited. In practice: weekly-plus rentals are open citywide; nightly rentals of a single-family house have no permitted-use path.
Because there is no city STR permit, the paperwork is state and county: a Florida DBPR vacation-rental license under Chapter 509 (a 'hotel license' in the tax collector's wording), a Florida Department of Revenue sales-tax account, a Hillsborough County business tax receipt, and a Hillsborough County tourist development tax account unless every booking runs through a registered platform. A City of Tampa business tax receipt is also generally required for businesses operating in the city; we did not verify a fee for a rental-specific receipt. The tax collector's account page lists the additional operator requirements (state sales tax, DBPR license, local business tax).
Lodging tax stacks to 13.5%: 6% state sales tax, the 1.5% Hillsborough discretionary sales surtax (Florida DOR form DR-15DSS, calendar year 2026), and the 6% Hillsborough County tourist development tax on rentals of six months or less, remitted monthly to the Hillsborough County Tax Collector. The tax collector has collection agreements with Airbnb (bookings effective December 20, 2016), HomeAway and VRBO (January 7, 2019), Vacation Rentals and Misterb&b; owners who use only those platforms do not need their own TDT account, but anyone taking direct bookings or using a third-party reservation system must open one and remit the 6% themselves.
Enforcement is complaint-driven through Code Enforcement (Chapter 9) and zoning; there is no city occupancy cap, night cap or local-contact rule specific to rentals. On preemption: Tampa's 'weekly or longer' dwelling-unit definition is a duration rule embedded in the zoning definitions rather than a rental ordinance, and we did not locate the adoption date of that definition, so we cannot confirm whether it predates the June 1, 2011 cutoff in Fla. Stat. § 509.032(7)(b). If it was adopted later, the duration element is vulnerable to a preemption challenge; if earlier, it is grandfathered. Treat the weekly minimum as the city's enforceable position until a court or the city says otherwise.
Not yet reviewed: tenant-operated rentals; the exact City of Tampa business tax receipt fee for a rental; the historic Ybor City and Channel District overlay rules, which use their own use tables; and Hillsborough County's separate 2026 registration ordinance for unincorporated areas, which by its terms does not apply inside Tampa city limits.
At a glance
| Governing body | City of Tampa (municipality) |
|---|---|
| Permit / license | No city STR permit found — DBPR license + Hillsborough TDT account (unless platform-collected) + BTR |
| Primary residence | No residence rule — zoning use category decides |
| Whole-home investor | Weekly-plus yes; nightly only where hotel/motel or bed-and-breakfast uses are permitted |
| Night cap / minimum stay | Weekly-or-longer for a dwelling unit; nightly renting is transient lodging |
| Lodging tax | 13.5% (6% state + 1.5% Hillsborough surtax + 6% Hillsborough TDT) |
State context: Florida short-term rental laws — preemption, the DBPR license, and what cities may still regulate.
Primary sources
- City of Tampa Code of Ordinances, Sec. 27-43 Definitions (Municode)
- City of Tampa Code of Ordinances, Sec. 27-156 Official schedule of district regulations (Municode)
- City of Tampa — Rental Information (Neighborhood Enhancement)
- Hillsborough County Tax Collector — Tourist Development Tax Overview
- Hillsborough County Tax Collector — Open a Tourist Development Tax Account
- Florida DOR — 2026 Discretionary Sales Surtax (DR-15DSS) (PDF)
- Fla. Stat. § 509.032 (vacation-rental preemption)