6 Rules Floridians Have to Follow Before Renting Their Home for the Winter

Rent out your Florida home for the winter, and you could lose its homestead exemption.

With snowbird season close, that’s worth sorting out before you hand over the keys.

Here are the rules Floridians have to follow before renting their home for the winter.

Note: This is general information, not legal or tax advice. Florida laws, tax rates and association rules are subject to change.

1. HOA and Condo Rental Limits

Your homeowners’ association (HOA) can limit a winter rental because state law lets an HOA amend its documents to regulate stays shorter than six months.

An HOA can also ban renting a home more than three times in a calendar year.

In many communities, those amendments apply to every owner.

An HOA can fine you, your tenant or your guests up to $100 per violation, unless its documents set another amount.

A fine for a continuing violation caps at $1,000 in all, again unless the documents say otherwise.

A condominium amendment that limits rentals applies only to owners who consent and owners who buy after it takes effect.

2. Your Homestead Exemption

Renting your home for the winter can cost it the homestead exemption because state law treats renting all or substantially all of a homestead as abandoning it.

That abandonment lasts until you physically live in the home again.

An abandonment after January 1 doesn’t affect that year’s exemption.

If you rent the home for more than 30 days a year for two years in a row, that protection ends.

A property appraiser who finds you weren’t entitled to the exemption can charge you back taxes for up to 10 prior years.

The state adds a penalty of 50 percent of the unpaid taxes for each year, plus 15 percent annual interest.

3. IRS Personal-Use Limit

Your winter rental income goes on your federal return, and your personal-use days decide how the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) treats your deductions.

If your personal days go past 14, or 10 percent of the days you rent the home, whichever is greater, the IRS treats it as your residence.

At 120 rental days, your limit stays at 14 personal days, but at 180 rental days it rises to 18.

If you go past the limit, the IRS generally caps your rental deductions at your rental income.

4. Sales Tax on Rent

State sales tax applies to a winter rental when the stay runs six months or less, and the rate is 6 percent.

You register with the Florida Department of Revenue (DOR), then collect the tax with the rent and send it in.

Florida exempts a written lease for continuous residence that runs longer than six months.

A lease that runs exactly six months doesn't clear that bar.

Verbal deals don't count.

Many counties add a discretionary sales surtax, and DOR collects that tax on transient rentals, too.

5. County Tourist Tax

Your county can add a tourist development tax to your winter rental because state law lets counties tax rentals of six months or less.

You charge that tax to your tenant when the rent is paid.

Charlotte County charges 5 percent, while Sarasota County charges 6 percent.

Both counties collect the tax themselves, so you report it to the county instead of DOR.

In Charlotte County, you register with the tax collector's office before you collect the tax.

Charlotte County's returns are due by the 20th day of the month after you collect the tax.

6. Required Lease Notices

A winter rental lease needs a radon notice because state law requires the notice on at least one document signed at or before the rental agreement.

The notice says radon is a naturally occurring radioactive gas that may present health risks over time.

It also says buildings in Florida have had radon levels above federal and state guidelines.

A home built before 1978 generally needs a lead notice under federal law, too.

That rule skips leases of 100 days or less, so a lease of four months or longer doesn't get the exemption.

On a pre-1978 home with a lease longer than 100 days, you give your tenant the Environmental Protection Agency's pamphlet on lead hazards.

The lease itself also has to include a lead warning statement.

The signed disclosure stays in your records for three years after the lease begins.

Lodging License Under 30 Days

If you split the winter into short stays of under 30 consecutive days, a state lodging license can apply.

You need the license once you book those short stays more than three times in a calendar year.

You also need it if you advertise the home as a place that's regularly rented for stays under 30 consecutive days.

The Division of Hotels and Restaurants at the Department of Business and Professional Regulation issues the license.

Operating without that license is a second-degree misdemeanor.