Groups urge Gov. DeSantis to veto short-term rental bill, for different reasons

You may have seen the signs of discontent.

Literally, yard signs that say, “This is a single family home neighborhood. Short term vacation rentals not welcome here."

“They have been a problem since the start of it, I’m talking 2009 and 10,” said Terry Cantrell, who lives in Hollywood Lakes, where there are at least a dozen short-term rental properties in the neighborhood.       

“For our neighborhood, it’s noise, safety issues, because we have children and dogs, and they speed all over the place, they drink, and it’s just horrible,” said Denise Reiter, standing on her front porch in the Floranada neighborhood of Fort Lauderdale. 

Reiter said there are eight short-term rental homes in her immediate neighborhood. Last month, a man was shot and killed at one of them, and it happened next door to Reiter’s house. It’s one of at least 38 shootings at vacation rental homes in Florida since 2019. 

Cantrell is an activist against short-term rentals and is among those urging the governor to veto SB 280, the bill that would regulate vacation rentals all over the state, because he said Hollywood has more stringent regulations now and SB 280 would preempt them. 

“Absolutely, as does most all other municipalities in the state that have taken action like we have,” Cantrell said.

SB280 does preempt local ordinances that regulate vacation homes, but has its own set of regulations, including setting maximum occupancy limits for overnight stays and allowing cities to still charge registration and inspection fees for these properties. 

The Florida Realtors Association is urging the governor to veto the bill for a different reason, saying it’s too strict, it will be bad for tourism, and called it, “a tool to discourage and limit short-term rentals throughout Florida.”

During a debate on the bill in the Florida Senate, Sen. Jason Pizzo asked why hotels are empowered to deal with problems while neighborhoods have no recourse when it comes to homes essentially becoming hotels.  

“And a hotel wouldn’t put up with it for 15 minutes, the loitering and lingering and drunkenness and drugs and pornographic films being shot in the backyard, poolside, where every other neighbor can see it as it’s going on, a hotel wouldn’t allow it, so my constituents want to know why it’s allowed in their neighborhood,” Pizzo said.

Pizzo, all the other Democrats, and four Republicans voted against the bill. Many cities including Hollywood, Miami Beach, and Fort Lauderdale have stronger regulations on short-term rentals in place, which is why the mayor of Fort Lauderdale is among city leaders urging the governor to veto the bill.