Short-term rental rulesin Pinellas County, by city

The rules by city at a glance

Reviewed on September 24, 2026 against the county, city and state sources linked below.

This is a summary for owners, not legal advice. Confirm with the city before you list.

One state law explains why the cities differ so much. Since 2011, Florida has not let a local government ban vacation rentals or limit how long or how often guests stay. A local rule adopted on or before June 1, 2011 is exempt. So a city with an older rule can still set a minimum stay, and a city that acted later can regulate only registration, safety, occupancy, parking and noise.

The table below covers the part that changes from city to city. The state license and the tax are the same across the county, so they have their own sections further down.

Source: Florida Statutes, section 509.032

Unincorporated Pinellas County

If the home is outside every city limit, the county's short-term rental Certificate of Use applies. It comes from Ordinance 25-15, adopted in August 2025. You need one if you rent the home more than three times in a calendar year for less than 30 days at a time, or if you advertise it for regular guest rentals. Inside a city, the county sends you to that city.

The certificate costs 450 dollars in the first year, paid as 250 dollars when you apply and 200 dollars after the home passes inspection. The first inspection costs 150 dollars, and a re-inspection after a failed one costs 100 dollars. The renewal is 450 dollars each year, and the home is inspected again every two years. The certificate does not transfer. A buyer applies again within 30 days of the purchase.

Occupancy is two people per bedroom plus two in one common area, to a maximum of ten. Guests of all ages count. You need one off-street parking space for every three occupants, and quiet hours run from 10 p.m. to 9 a.m. You name one responsible party, 18 or older, and post a one-page notice inside the front door. Every listing must show the occupancy limit, the parking limit, the state license number and the county certificate number.

Renting one room in the home you live in does not need a certificate. A separate guest house on the same lot does. The ordinance names no zones and sets no minimum stay, and as a rule adopted after 2011 it cannot set one.

Source: Pinellas County short-term rentals · Certificate of Use questions · Ordinance 25-15

St. Petersburg

St. Petersburg limits how often, not how long. On any residential property, you may rent for less than 30 days at most three times in any 365 days. The code says a term shorter than monthly. The city describes this rule as grandfathered under the 2011 state law, which is why it can still limit frequency.

Short stays more often than that make the home a transient accommodation use. The city allows that use only in a licensed hotel or motel, or on land with a Resort Facilities Overlay, and its handout says that no site had that overlay yet. The city has no short-term rental permit of its own, and its handout states no inspection or occupancy rule. The state license and the county tax still apply.

Some private guides describe different permit tiers for owner-occupied and other homes. We did not find those tiers in the city's handout or in its code.

Source: St. Petersburg transient accommodation handout

St. Pete Beach

St. Pete Beach allows stays of less than 30 days in two places only: the RM zoning district and properties in the Pass-A-Grille Overlay District. Even there, the limit is three times in any 12 months. Every other district, including the single-family districts, allows rentals of one month or more and nothing shorter.

A rental of one month or more in a single-family home does not need a city business tax license. Permanent transient lodging, such as a hotel, needs one, with review by zoning and the fire marshal. We found no separate city registration, insurance requirement or local rental tax for a home in the city code or on the city's pages.

Source: St. Pete Beach short-term rental rules

Madeira Beach

Madeira Beach sets minimum stays by district, and its rules date from 2006, before the state cutoff. In R-1, a rental of less than six months is not allowed. In R-2, the minimum is three months. R-3 allows vacation rentals. The commercial districts, C-3, C-4 and the John's Pass Village district that was C-1, allow them only above ground-floor commercial space. The city's restriction map shows which applies to each lot.

A vacation rental needs a city certificate of compliance, which costs 300 dollars, and an inspection before the first certificate. After that, the home is inspected every year for 100 dollars, and a violation must be corrected within 30 days. The occupancy limit is two people per sleeping room, and a living room does not count as one. The code also asks for one off-street parking space for each bedroom, with quiet hours from 10 p.m. on weeknights and 11 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, to 7:30 a.m.

Source: Madeira Beach code, short-term vacation rentals · Vacation rental restriction map

Treasure Island

Treasure Island calls a short-term rental a tourist dwelling, and its code does not permit tourist dwellings in the RU-75 or RM-15 districts. There is no minimum stay. The test is turnover: in RU-75, more than two changes of occupancy in a year, and in RM-15, more than six, create a presumption that the home is a tourist dwelling. Advertising the home for rent there can count as evidence too.

Tourist dwellings are permitted in the CG, RFM-30 and RFH-50 districts and in the PR-MU Core and PR-MU Gulf Boulevard districts, with no limit on changes of occupancy. The city charges a local business tax of 24.31 dollars a year for one rental unit. The code states no separate inspection or occupancy rule. The city's own rental page did not open for us on the review date, so this summary rests on the city code, and you should read that page before you list.

Source: Treasure Island short-term rental information · Treasure Island code, definitions

Indian Rocks Beach and Indian Shores

The two towns sit side by side and take opposite approaches. Indian Rocks Beach registers every vacation rental under Ordinance 2023-02. The rule covers the S, RM-1, RM-2 and CT districts and sets no minimum stay. Registration and each renewal cost 300 dollars a year. The home is inspected when you apply and every year after, for 150 dollars, with 75 dollars for a re-inspection, and the city also asks you to book a fire inspection. You also need a city business tax receipt.

Occupancy in Indian Rocks Beach is two people per bedroom plus two in a common area, to a maximum of ten overnight guests. In the CT district the maximum is twelve.

Indian Shores states on its own site that the town does not have rental restrictions, and its code carries no rental registration. A condominium association can still restrict rentals, so read the declaration before you list. The state license and the county tax apply in both towns.

Source: Indian Rocks Beach vacation rental information · Indian Shores questions

Clearwater

Clearwater does not use the county certificate. It has its own rule for residential land. On residentially zoned land, the city does not allow a rental of less than 31 days or one calendar month, and it does not allow advertising for daily or weekly stays. The residential districts are LDR, LMDR, MDR, MHDR, HDR and MHP. The rule dates from 2003 and 2009, so the 2011 state law leaves it in place.

Every residential rental in the city needs a business tax receipt, renewed each year by September 30, and a named local contact. The tourist and downtown districts are not residential zones, but we did not confirm from the code which rentals they permit. For a property on Clearwater Beach or downtown, ask the city's planning department before you list.

Source: Clearwater code, definitions · Clearwater code compliance handbook

The Florida vacation rental license

Every whole-home short-term rental in the county also needs a state license from the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation. For a single unit, the first year costs 230 dollars: a 50 dollar application fee, a 10 dollar education fee and a 170 dollar license fee. The renewal is 180 dollars.

Pinellas is in the department's District 3, where licenses renew on February 1. A home licensed from August 1 pays a half-year fee for its first period. An operator with several units can use a group or collective license instead. Renting a single room does not need a state license.

Source: DBPR vacation rental licensing guide

The tax on every stay

A stay of six months or less carries 13 percent tax in total: the 6 percent Florida sales tax, the 1 percent Pinellas surtax and the 6 percent Pinellas tourist development tax. You register with both the Florida Department of Revenue and the Pinellas County Tax Collector. The sales tax and the surtax go to the state. The tourist tax goes to the tax collector, normally every month, and is late after the 20th.

Airbnb has collected the Pinellas tourist tax since 2015, and Vrbo since 2018. The tax collector is clear that the owner still pays it on any booking a platform did not collect on, which includes every direct booking. The county's page does not say which platforms remit the state sales tax, so confirm that with the Department of Revenue.

Source: Pinellas tourist development tax · Florida Department of Revenue, transient rentals

What changes when Off Grid manages the house

Off Grid works as a co-host. You keep the listing, the platform account and the payout, and we run the house. The registrations on this page stay in your name, because the law puts them on the owner. What we take on is the work inside them: we check which rules apply to your address before you sign, put the required numbers on every listing, and hold the occupancy and parking limits in every booking.

Management is quoted per property. If you have a house in Pinellas County and want to know what it can do inside these rules, send it to us.