There’s been a lot of talk about the “vacation problem” on the island, including one that doesn’t yet exist.
In Holmes Beach, code enforcement officer David Forbes sent an email Nov. 24 to commissioners stating he began investigating listings on the website airbnb.com at the direction of Holmes Beach Police Chief Bill Tokajer.
“Rather than wait for outside ‘informants’ to provide me with physical addresses for Holmes Beach properties listed on ‘Airbnb.com,’ I wish to advise everyone that, as time permits, I will be conducting a proactive investigation into each and every one of these properties,” he wrote in the email.
The website, founded in 2008 in San Francisco, calls itself a “community marketplace” and has spread to more than 190 countries.
Airbnb encourages “hosts” or homeowners, instead of agents or business owners, to list their homes, rooms or spaces to share for rent on the website. The result is a user-generated rental directory.
The investigation was prompted by comments from Holmes Beach Commissioner Jean Peelen and former Anna Maria Mayor SueLynn. They brought the concerns in October to a Coalition of Barrier Island Elected Officials meeting, and Peelen to several city meetings.
“It is a serious issue that’s coming up across the country,” Peelen said at a commission meeting in October. “They had a huge problem with it in New York City and there’s some listed in Holmes Beach.”
Peelen said her primary concern with the listings in Holmes Beach is that citizens could be renting their homes, or rooms in their home, without state licenses or business tax receipts. Added to the concerns are that the rentals may not comply with the city’s minimum stay requirements in some zoning districts.
According to Forbes, Airbnb shows 160 listings in Holmes Beach. Listing on the site does not violate any city codes and no violations have been found or reported.
Forbes wrote in the email he spent 45 minutes investigating one property and anticipates other properties to require as long or longer.
According to deputy clerk Lori Kee, owners of short-term rental properties in the city are required to obtain a license through the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation and obtain a business tax receipt from the city.
Kee said while nightly rentals are allowed in the A1-motel zone, they are prohibited in all residential neighborhoods. The A1 zone is west of Gulf Drive between the 5200 and 7200 blocks.
Rentals in the R2, R3 and R4 zones must be for a minimum 7-day period, with some exceptions for grandfathered properties.
The R1AA and R1-single-family zones prohibit rentals of less than a month, with the exception being some properties that held a business tax receipt before the passing of the one-month rule in 2007. Those properties were allowed by the commission at the time to operate as weekly rentals until 2017, according to Kee.
The city currently has on file 1,589 rental property addresses with business tax receipts.
“I’m very pleased our code enforcement is looking into this matter,” Peelen said during a Nov. 25 commission meeting.
