TAMPA, Fla. (WFTS) — This is a story I have been following since August, when I first visited the Bay Crest Park neighborhood in Town 'N' Country and met residents who said short-term rentals were changing the character of their community.
On Wednesday, Hillsborough County commissioners unanimously approved a new ordinance that those residents helped push for, but many of them say the fight is not over.
WATCH BELOW: Hillsborough County cracks down on short-term rentals
The ordinance requires each short-term rental owner to register with the county and sign an affidavit confirming the property meets life and safety codes.
Short-term rental owners must also:
- Designate a local contact available to respond to complaints within one hour
- Authorize inspections by code enforcement or law enforcement at any time upon request
- Post information inside the rental about local rules, including emergency and safety information, noise, trash, recycling and parking regulations
- A 24/7 complaint line will also be established as part of the program
- Pay a $200 annual registration fee
County attorney Johanna Lundgren said the fee was determined in coordination with code enforcement to support implementation of the program, including a web-based registry and ongoing staff time. She said the fee is significantly lower than what most other local governments across Florida charge.
Violations of the ordinance will be processed through code enforcement and can ultimately lead to court action. Because most short-term rentals are non-homesteaded properties, unpaid fines can be converted into liens and enforced against the property.
Commissioner Harry Cohen said the ordinance is a starting point.
"They will have to make sure that there's someone available to respond if there are complaints made about what's going on at the property, and they'll also be required to post certain information so that rental customers are aware of what our rules and regulations are, particularly related to noise, trash, parking, things like that," Cohen said.
Cohen said the ordinance came directly out of months of citizen complaints to commissioners' offices about large parties, noise and the inability to reach anyone for help in the middle of the night.
"If there is a party going on at midnight and someone calls our 24-hour a day, seven-day number, they need to be able to reach a responsible party that can get to the property within an hour," Cohen said.
Cohen also noted that the Florida Legislature has preempted local governments from regulating the zoning locations of short-term vacation rentals and rental durations beyond regulations the county had in effect in 2011. He said the ordinance was crafted to work within those state law constraints by structuring it as a business regulation rather than a land use regulation.
When I first visited Bay Crest Park in August, resident Samantha Freeland told me 121 short-term rentals had already appeared in her neighborhood, making up more than 20% of all homes. She said 3 more had gone live just that morning. As of Sept. 2, that number had climbed to between 126 and 127 in less than a month.
One recently listed rental near her home is a 1,600-square-foot house that sleeps 16 people. Freeland said many of the short-term rentals in the neighborhood have been modified without permits, with enclosed garages and porches converted into bedrooms, some without windows or adequate ventilation.
"There is a light now that we can see at the end of the tunnel, but the life safety inspection is very important," Freeland said. "When you see a large party pull up to sleep at one of those homes that sleeps over 16 people in this small square footage, you just think, 'Oh my gosh, what's going to happen if something catches fire there, or there's a major emergency there?' We don't know. It's scary."
Freeland described some of the problems residents have experienced living next to short-term rentals.
"We've had drunk people trying to barge into people's homes, where we've had drunk people trying to climb over fences. I've seen drug deals in front of houses that I've called in," Freeland said.
Back in August, neighbor Michelle Cuilla told me about an elderly couple on her block who were afraid to leave their home because renters next door were urinating on their car in the driveway. Residents also told me those rentals were typically lasting just a couple of days, which they said breaks county code requiring a minimum of one week.
Despite the frustrations, Freeland said she and her neighbors are not opposed to short-term rentals outright.
"We're not against short-term rentals. What we are against is the inadequate management and the bad actors that seem to be prevalent throughout this industry within our neighborhood and throughout the county," Freeland said.
Freeland said many of the short-term rentals in Bay Crest Park are owned by out-of-state investors operating under LLCs, making it difficult for neighbors to identify or contact owners when problems arise. She said management companies hired to oversee the properties are often unresponsive.
Freeland's neighbor, Mark Kiddo, has been one of the loudest voices pushing for stronger regulations. When I first met him in August, he had already presented commissioners with seven suggestions for strengthening the ordinance, with mandatory safety inspections and a 24/7 complaint line at the top of his list. On Sept. 2, he addressed the board directly during public comment.
"Mandatory safety inspection before registration was not included. That decision carries weight. Short-term rentals have burned, homes have been destroyed, surrounding properties have been damaged, lives have been put at risk, and in some places lost," Kiddo said.
Kiddo said residents are also concerned about how fines will be enforced, pointing to inconsistent outcomes at special magistrate hearings and liens that have gone uncollected by the county in the past. He also raised a separate issue that he said has been presented to commissioners: some out-of-state short-term rental owners are receiving homestead exemptions they may not be entitled to.
Kiddo said he and other residents will continue pushing for a stronger ordinance.
"There are discussions that we have had that look forward, and that make it a stronger ordinance so that the people of Hillsborough County, the voting residents, the residents, the people that have to clean up the mess are not affected by this," Kiddo said.
Kiddo said residents who want advice on how to organize in their own neighborhoods can contact the Bay Crest Park Civic Association.
Cohen acknowledged the ordinance may need to be strengthened over time. He said he plans to request a staff report 90 days after the ordinance takes effect, at which point commissioners could revisit the question of whether to require mandatory safety inspections before registration.
"We're going to see how it's working. If it needs additional items added to it, we can always do that. But this is our first start at bringing some coherence to something that has really plagued a lot of our neighborhoods," Cohen said.
Cohen also said the ordinance was written so the city of Tampa can opt in. He said Tampa City Councilman Clendenin had already raised the issue at the city level, and the county attorney drafted the ordinance in a way that would allow the city to adopt it.
Freeland said the next step is watching the ordinance take effect on Jan. 1, 2027, and assessing whether additional protections, including a life safety inspection requirement, need to be added.
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