Fort Lauderdale Charges $880 to Register a Vacation Rental. Four Other Licenses Come First.

Fort Lauderdale charges $880 to register a vacation rental. That fee covers up to four homes under one folio number and the first safety inspection. The City will not accept the application until four state and county licenses are in hand.

What the City Counts as a Vacation Rental

The City's definition turns on how the home is advertised. A vacation rental is a residential property advertised for periods of 30 days or less to transient occupants. Thirty days is the line. A home advertised only on six month leases sits outside it. A home advertised for a long weekend sits inside it.

The program covers a single-family home, a building holding two, three or four homes, and a condominium. That is a paraphrase of the City's own wording, which uses a term this blog does not use. Timeshares are excluded.

Two documents govern the program. Article X of Chapter 15 of the City Code of Ordinances carries the housing and life safety standards. Ordinance No. C-26-39 carries the administration and enforcement of the registration program.

The Four Licenses That Come Before the City's

The City's registration page puts the paperwork in order. All four of these come before the City application. These are the documents the City asks for first:

• A Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation license. A homestead that is owner occupied and rents only a room can be exempt, with a notarized letter or the Department's own statement form.
• A Florida Department of Revenue sales tax account. If the hosting platform remits the tax, the City takes a tax statement or a notarized letter naming the platform.
• A Broward County Business Tax Receipt.
• A Broward County Tourist Development Tax account, with the same platform option.

Proof of ownership from the Broward County Property Appraiser comes next. A non-owner needs a notarized letter of authorization signed by the owner. A home held by a business needs its ownership information from Sunbiz. An out-of-state or international entity has to register with the Florida Division of Corporations.

One more document is easy to miss. The City wants a sample lease agreement carrying the property information and the ordinance terms. It also wants a sketch or photo of the off-street parking that states "No on-street parking permitted."

What the Registration Costs

The fees come from Vacation Rental Fee Resolution 17-81. These are the figures the City publishes:

• Registration, covering up to four homes under one folio number and the first inspection: $880.00
• Safety inspection, reinspection, or no-show: $100.00
• Transfer of rental agent: $50.00

A City Business Tax account is invoiced separately after approval. The City's page does not give that amount.

The Inspection, and the Clock That Runs With It

The application goes through LauderBuild. An incomplete application is rejected, and anything missing has to come back within ten business days. Processing runs about five business days once the application is accepted. In the August and September renewal peak, the City says that stretches to ten or twelve business days.

The inspection is scheduled only after both the registration fee and the Business Tax fee are paid. A code officer makes contact within three business days. Scheduling is confirmed at 954-828-8000. A failed inspection brings a reinspection in ten days. The owner is expected to have the home ready for it. A Certificate of Compliance follows within three business days of passing.

Maximum occupancy is two persons per bedroom. The inspector verifies the legal bedrooms, so the count is the City's rather than the floor plan's.

Two deadlines close a file. An application left pending more than 30 days after a notice is closed. An account that is never renewed closes six months after the certificate expires.

The Penalty Changed on September 15

This is the part that moved recently, and it moved a long way. On September 15, 2026 the City Commission approved amendments to Article X. The City's program page states a civil penalty of $1,000 per day. It applies to advertising, renting, leasing or operating a vacation rental without a valid City-issued Certificate of Compliance. For operating on an expired certificate, the page states the penalty rose from $250 to $1,000 per day.

The amendments also close two gaps. An owner who files a complete and timely renewal is protected from penalty. That protection holds while the City is still processing it. A change of ownership, business entity or management company does not erase an existing compliance obligation.

That September 15 date has its own paper trail. The second reading was agenda item OSR-1 26-0763. It is titled as an ordinance amending Chapter 15, Article X, Vacation Rentals. It was calendared for the September 2, 2026 Commission meeting with a request to defer to September 15.

What We Could Not Confirm

Three things, and the first one matters most.

The City's program page does not say when the new penalty takes effect. Approval and effective date are not the same date. We are not going to print one the City has not published.

The $1,000 figure sits on the City's program page rather than in ordinance text we read. The agenda item names the penalty provisions it revises and carries no amounts. We are reporting the City's own description of its own ordinance, and that is what it is.

We also did not get the City Business Tax amount, or the bedroom standards behind the occupancy count. So we are not printing a total cost to register a vacation rental here. The $880 is the registration fee, not the bill.

Before You Write the Offer

Lourdes Maestres has spent 17 years selling luxury real estate in Fort Lauderdale. The buyers who get caught here are rarely the ones who never checked the rules. They are the ones who checked the state rules and assumed the City had nothing to add.

Lourdes and the MPH Team will price this out for the address you are considering. You will see every fee, and the order the licenses come in.