Davie Short Term Rental Regulation: A Guide For Airbnb Hosts

Do you own a place in Davie and you're weighing whether to put it on Airbnb or Vrbo? Well, the good news is that you can. Florida law protects your right to rent short-term almost everywhere in the state, and Davie, a Broward County town wedged between Fort Lauderdale and the Everglades, has never tried to ban the practice. What it has done instead is build a real registration system with its own fees, inspections, occupancy caps and a penalty ladder that gets steep fast if you ignore it.

That's the catch worth understanding before you list anything. Davie regulates vacation rentals under Chapter 16, Article IX of its own Code of Ordinances, and the town treats a rental you advertise or book for under 30 days more than three times a year as a licensed use, not a hobby. You'll need the town's own Certificate of Compliance on top of a Florida state license and two separate Broward County tax accounts, and every one of those pieces has its own deadline.

So let's walk through what it actually takes to do this properly in 2026: who counts as a vacation rental under Davie's own definition, what the registration costs and requires, the documents you'll need before you apply, the taxes that stack on top, and how seriously the town enforces all of it. Every figure below comes from Davie's own ordinance and application packet, or from Florida's and Broward County's own pages, checked in July 2026. Once you've got a feel for the rules, run the property through BNBCalc first, since the numbers should decide whether Davie's paperwork is even worth your time.

What are short term rental (Airbnb, VRBO) regulations in Davie,Florida?

Two layers of law sit on top of each other here, and separating them explains why Davie can regulate but can't ban.

The bottom layer is state preemption. Under Fla. Stat. § 509.032(7)(b), "a local law, ordinance, or regulation may not prohibit vacation rentals or regulate the duration or frequency of rental of vacation rentals." That protection dates to 2011 and only exempts local rules already on the books by June 1 of that year, so a town adopting new rules today has no path to a ban or a minimum-stay requirement. Davie's own vacation rental ordinance is well past that cutoff, which is exactly why it regulates through registration and standards instead of a duration cap. Our Florida statewide guide walks through where that protection comes from and what it does and doesn't cover if you want the fuller picture.

The top layer is Davie's own Chapter 16, Article IX, adopted by Ordinance No. O2021-014 on June 9, 2021. It defines a vacation rental as any unit in a condo or co-op, or any individually or collectively owned single-family, two-family, three-family or four-family house, that gets rented to transient occupants more than three times a year for stays under 30 days, or is advertised as regularly available that way. That's the same three-times, 30-day test Florida itself now uses statewide since a 2025 rewrite of the transient-occupancy rule, so Davie's local definition and the state's line up cleanly. Miss that threshold, meaning you rent occasionally and always for 30 days or more, and you're not operating a vacation rental under the town's own definition at all.

Cross that line, though, and it's unlawful to let anyone occupy the unit without registering first. Advertising a stay under 30 days counts as direct evidence you're operating a vacation rental, and it's admissible against you in an enforcement case even before a single booking closes. That single fact is worth sitting with: the listing itself is what the town treats as proof, before any guest ever checks in.

Starting a Short Term Rental Business in Davie

That three-times-a-year test from the last section is the whole gate. Clear it, and Davie doesn't restrict you by zoning district the way plenty of Florida cities do; nothing in Chapter 16 or the application packet carves out agricultural, single-family or any other district as off-limits, and the application form asks you to state your zoning district rather than checking it against a banned list. So the regulatory path is the same whether your Davie property sits in a golf-course subdivision or near the equestrian trails on the town's western edge.

What does change the plan is the housing type. The ordinance covers single-family, two-family, three-family and four-family houses, plus condo and co-op units. Timeshares are carved out entirely and follow a different Florida statute. If your Davie property is a duplex or fourplex you're renting unit by unit, each unit that clears the frequency test needs its own registration, since a separate application is required for each building.

Before you spend a dollar on furniture, do check whether an HOA or condo association restricts short-term rentals in your deed or bylaws. Davie's own application packet lists HOA approval as a required document "if applicable," which tells you the town expects private restrictions to exist and defers to them. A registration from the town does not override a lease clause or an HOA rule that says otherwise, so that's worth confirming before you count on the income.

Once you've cleared the frequency test and confirmed no association or zoning rule blocks you, there's still a real sequence to work through, and it runs across three separate governments. Davie's own Police Code Compliance Division handles the town registration, the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation issues the state license, and Broward County runs two separate tax accounts. The next few sections cover each in order.

Short Term Rental Licensing Requirement in Davie

Since three governments are involved, it helps to know Davie's own piece is the one that actually gates whether you can operate at all. The town calls it a Certificate of Compliance, and you can't legally host a transient guest without one once you've crossed the three-times, sub-30-day threshold.

Applications go to the Police Code Compliance Division, which reviews the paperwork, schedules the required inspection, and issues the certificate. Registration runs on the town's fiscal year, October 1 through September 30, and every certificate expires on September 30 regardless of when you first registered, so a property approved in June still comes up for renewal three months later. Register within 180 days of that September 30 cutoff, though, and your certificate stays valid clear through the following year's deadline instead of lapsing almost immediately, which is a genuinely useful grace period for anyone who applies mid-cycle.

The fee schedule traces back to Resolution No. R-2022-112, passed by the Town Council on July 27, 2022, and it's what the current application packet still lists, as of July 2026:

Fee	Amount	Notes
Full-year registration (Oct 1 to Sep 30)	$500	Includes 2 initial safety inspections
Half-year registration (Apr 1 to Sep 30)	$300	For a property registering mid-cycle
Owner-occupied renewal	$400	Annual
Non-owner-occupied renewal	$450	Annual
Inspection / re-inspection / missed-inspection fee	$100	Per inspection
Late registration or renewal	$75	On top of the base fee
Transfer of responsible party	$50	When you change who's on call

All of it is non-refundable, and the packet specifies the only accepted payment is a cashier's check or money order, so don't expect to pay by card at the counter. Renewal applications are due at least 60 days before the September 30 expiration, meaning by roughly the start of August, and anything filed after September 30 gets treated as a brand-new application with a brand-new fee rather than a late renewal.

An inspection is baked into the process either way. The town inspects the property before it issues the first certificate, and again every year after that. Fail to fix what the inspector flags within 30 calendar days and the certificate gets suspended until you're re-inspected clean, and a missed appointment (the inspector schedules ahead of time) draws its own fee rather than a free do-over. A registration also isn't transferable to a new owner or a different address; sell the property or move the operation, and you're filing a fresh application.

Required Documents for Davie Short Term Rentals

Since none of that $500 comes back if the town bounces your application, it's worth assembling the paperwork before you submit rather than after. Davie gives you 15 days to fix a deficiency once it's flagged, but that clock is one more thing to manage on top of an application you'd rather just get right the first time.

The packet's required-documents list runs to a dozen items, and most of them are straightforward:

• The registration application and a notarized affidavit of compliance
• Agent authorization, if someone other than the owner is applying
• Proof of property ownership, pulled from the Broward County Property Appraiser's records
• Corporate documents from Sunbiz.org, if the owner is an entity rather than an individual
• An exterior sketch showing sheds, pools, spas, fencing and every off-street parking space, hand-drawn is fine as long as dimensions are accurate
• An interior floor sketch identifying bedrooms, exits, hallways and safety equipment
• Your Florida DBPR license for a transient public lodging establishment, vacation rental category
• Proof of Florida Department of Revenue registration for sales tax, or the name of the entity remitting on your behalf
• A Broward County Tourist Development Tax number document
• HOA approval, if your property has one
• Proof of vacation rental home insurance
• The application fee itself

Disabled veterans seeking Davie's fee exemption need to attach a DD214 and documentation of the disability rating too. One detail that trips people up: two of those items, the DBPR license and the Broward TDT number, are themselves separate applications with their own lead time, so don't leave either for the week before you plan to submit to the town.

Davie Short Term Rental Taxes

Assuming you clear registration and are able to start hosting, there's still tax to sort out, and Davie sits under three separate layers that don't share a single filing system. Since each one goes to a different government, it's worth taking them one at a time.

Tax	Rate	Collected by
Florida state sales tax	6%	Florida Department of Revenue
Broward County Tourist Development Tax	6%	Broward County Tourist Development Tax Section
Local Business Tax Receipt	Varies by classification	Broward County Tax Collector, if applicable

The state layer is Florida's 6% sales tax on transient accommodations, which applies to any living-quarters rental of six months or less. You, or whoever collects the rent on your behalf, has to register with the Florida Department of Revenue and file returns even in months you earn nothing.

Broward's own charge is the 6% Tourist Development Tax, which covers hotels, apartments, condos, single-family homes and mobile homes rented for six months or less, county-wide. You register directly with the county's Tourist Development Tax Section and file monthly, quarterly, semi-annually or annually depending on how much you collect, and you can pay by mail, in person, or online through ACH, debit or credit, though digital payments carry a processing fee.

Platform collection is the piece that varies most by county. Whether Airbnb or Vrbo collect that 6% for you automatically depends on whether the platform has struck a deal with that specific county's tax collector. Collier County has confirmed arrangements with major platforms, which the Collier County guide covers in more detail, but I couldn't confirm the same for Broward on the county's own page as of my last check. Don't assume the platform has it handled; check your own account settings and, if you're unsure, call the county directly before you skip collecting it yourself.

The third layer, a Local Business Tax Receipt from Broward County, is listed in Davie's own application packet as required "if applicable," and the county's page says rates vary by business classification without publishing a flat number for vacation rentals specifically. Treat that one as a call to the Business Tax office rather than a fee you can budget from this guide alone.

Davie wide Short Term Rental Rules

Registration and taxes get you the right to operate. What actually governs day-to-day running is a set of standards in Sec. 16-156 that apply the same way whether you're near the Orange Drive corridor or out toward the ranchettes.

Occupancy is the one owners misjudge most often. The town caps overnight guests at two people per sleeping room, and it confirms the number of sleeping rooms with its own on-site inspection rather than taking your word for it. Daytime gatherings can run up to one and a half times that overnight number, but never past 20 people total, and that gathering cap doesn't apply at all if the rental is owner-occupied and you're physically on site. Kids under 13 get a partial break too: up to four of them don't count toward either limit.

Safety and parking carry their own requirements:

• Pools, spas and hot tubs must meet the Residential Swimming Pool Safety Act, and the whole unit has to meet the Florida Building Code
• Smoke and carbon monoxide detection has to be interconnected, hard-wired or battery-powered, and professionally installed and monitored, not a stick-on unit from the hardware store
• A natural gas detector is required if the property uses gas
• Every vehicle tied to the rental parks in a driveway or a designated space on the property; no street, grass or sidewalk parking, and no encroaching on the neighbor's yard
• At least one landline capable of dialing 911 sits in the main common area, registered with both Broward County Emergency Management and the town

Make sure the certificate of compliance itself gets posted near the main entrance, and don't forget the interior posting requirements that go with it: the property address and landline number, the responsible party's contact details, the approved maximum occupancy and vehicle count, Davie Police and Fire's non-emergency line at 954-764-4357, a notice about the noise code, and an evacuation map by every bedroom door.

Two more duties round it out. Your responsible party has to be reachable 24/7 and able to act within an hour of being contacted, which is a real operational commitment, not a box to check. And under Florida law, whoever's responsible for the property has to ask, 48 hours before check-in, whether an incoming guest is a registered sexual offender or predator, since Davie treats a failure there as grounds for outright revocation.

Does Davie strictly enforce STR rules?” Is Davie Airbnb friendly?

Given everything above, the honest answer is that Davie is genuinely Airbnb friendly by Florida standards, but "friendly" here means a working registration system rather than a free pass. The town isn't trying to squeeze operators out; it's trying to make sure the ones operating are on record, inspected and insured.

Enforcement isn't complaint-only theater either. A code enforcement or police officer can cite a violation on the very first offense, no warning required, and each violation carries a civil penalty up to $500 plus administrative costs. Each day a violation continues counts as a separate offense, except occupancy violations, which count once per rental period rather than compounding daily.

Repeat problems escalate fast through a special magistrate. A third violation suspends your certificate for 180 days. A fourth costs you a full year, 365 days. Every violation after that adds another 30 days on top, so a fifth violation runs 395 days and a sixth runs 415, with a 12-month cap on any single suspension. Get cited for a Building Code or Fire Prevention Code violation specifically, and your certificate goes into automatic temporary suspension five working days later, staying suspended until you're re-inspected and cleared. Operate anyway during a suspension and the fine climbs to $1,000 per day.

That's a real deterrent, and it's built to hit repeat operators hardest rather than someone who makes one honest mistake. If you're weighing Davie against a market with a lighter enforcement touch, the Osceola County guide covers a very different regulatory posture in the Kissimmee vacation-home zone, worth a look if flexibility matters more to you than a Broward County location.

How to Start a Short Term Rental Business in Davie

Given how the pieces fit together, tackling them in this order saves you from paying a fee twice or applying before you're eligible.

1. Confirm you clear the frequency test. If you'll rent under 30 days more than three times a year, or advertise it that way, you're a vacation rental under Chapter 16, full stop.
2. Check your HOA, condo bylaws or lease for a short-term rental restriction. Davie's own paperwork treats this as your responsibility to sort out, not the town's.
3. Apply for your Florida DBPR vacation rental license through the Division of Hotels and Restaurants before you approach the town, since Davie's application asks for proof of it.
4. Register with the Florida Department of Revenue and Broward County's Tourist Development Tax Section for your two tax accounts.
5. Prepare your exterior and interior sketches, get vacation rental home insurance, and gather your ownership and corporate documents.
6. Submit the registration application, affidavit and fee to the Police Code Compliance Division, and schedule your initial inspection.
7. Fix anything the inspection flags within 30 days, then post your certificate and all required interior notices before you accept a single guest.
8. Diarize September 30. That's your annual expiration date no matter when you started, and renewal paperwork is due roughly 60 days ahead of it.

Who to contact in Davie about Short Term Rental Regulations and Zoning?

Whichever step you're stuck on, three offices split the work between them, and knowing which one owns your question saves a lot of time on hold.

Town of Davie Police Code Compliance Division administers the vacation rental program itself, meaning applications, renewals, inspections and complaints.

• Address: 1230 South Nob Hill Road, Davie, FL 33324
• Phone: 954-693-8237
• Fax: 954-693-8253
• Registration email: [email protected]
• Complaints email: [email protected]

Broward County Tourist Development Tax Section handles the county's 6% lodging tax, registration and returns.

• Address: 115 S. Andrews Avenue, Room 121, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301
• Phone: 954-357-8455
• Email: [email protected]

Broward County Local Business Tax office, under the county Tax Collector, covers the Local Business Tax Receipt some vacation rentals need.

• Address: Broward County Governmental Center, Room A-100, 115 S. Andrews Avenue, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301
• Phone: 954-357-4829
• Email: [email protected]

For the state license itself, the Florida DBPR Division of Hotels and Restaurants is the office to call, at 850-487-1395 or [email protected], mailing to 2601 Blair Stone Road, Tallahassee, FL 32399-1011.

What do Airbnb hosts in Davie on Reddit and Bigger Pockets think about local regulations?

I couldn't pull a proper survey of Davie-specific forum threads for this guide, since Reddit blocks the kind of automated access this research would need, so what follows is my read of the recurring public discourse on markets like Davie rather than a tally of opinions.

The general theme from BiggerPockets discussions of Broward County towns is that Davie reads as a stable, unglamorous suburban market rather than a tourist hotspot, which cuts both ways for an investor. There's less demand pressure than Fort Lauderdale beach properties see, but there's also less regulatory drama; hosts describe the registration process as bureaucratic but genuinely predictable once you've been through it once.

The complaint that comes up most is the occupancy inspection. Owners who bought a home expecting to list every bedroom sometimes find the town's sleeping-room count, confirmed on-site, comes in lower than what the listing photos implied on the MLS. Since your registered maximum occupancy is what has to match your Airbnb listing, that's a mismatch worth resolving before you publish anything, not after.

If Davie's numbers don't quite pencil out for your property, run the comparison before you commit. Florida's short-term rental market spans everything from beachfront condos to inland suburbs like this one, and the gap between them in nightly rate and occupancy can be wide enough to change which town makes sense for your budget.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can you legally run an Airbnb in Davie, Florida in 2026?

Yes. Florida law prevents Davie from banning or capping short-term rentals, and the town regulates them through registration instead. Any rental under 30 days, offered more than three times a year, needs an annual Certificate of Compliance from Davie's Police Code Compliance Division, a Florida DBPR vacation rental license, and Broward County tax registrations. Occasional rentals of 30 days or longer, or fewer than three short stays a year, fall outside the definition entirely.

How much does a Davie vacation rental registration cost?

A full-year registration runs $500 and includes two safety inspections. A half-year registration, for properties registering mid-cycle, is $300. Renewals cost $400 for owner-occupied properties and $450 for non-owner-occupied ones. Late registration or renewal adds $75, and every fee is non-refundable, paid by cashier's check or money order only. All certificates expire on September 30 regardless of when they were issued.

What happens if you operate a short-term rental in Davie without registering?

You're breaking Sec. 16-152 of the town's own ordinance, and advertising the rental counts as evidence against you even before a booking closes. A code officer or police officer can issue a citation on the first offense, no warning, with a civil penalty up to $500 per violation plus administrative costs. Repeat violations escalate to certificate suspensions of 180 days, then 365 days, then longer, and operating during a suspension carries a fine of up to $1,000 per day.

Do Davie short-term rental hosts pay hotel tax?

Yes, two layers of it. Florida's 6% state sales tax applies to any stay of six months or less, and Broward County adds its own 6% Tourist Development Tax on top, for 12% combined. Both require separate registration, with the state through the Department of Revenue and the county through its Tourist Development Tax Section. Whether your booking platform collects either automatically isn't guaranteed in Broward, so check your own account settings rather than assuming it's handled.

Does Davie restrict short-term rentals by zoning district?

No zoning-district ban turned up in Davie's ordinance or its own application materials. The town regulates vacation rentals through registration, inspection and occupancy standards that apply the same way across single-family, two-family, three-family and four-family properties, plus condos and co-ops, regardless of which residential zoning district they sit in. An HOA or condo association can still restrict short-term rentals privately, and Davie's own paperwork asks you to confirm that separately.

Last verified: July 2026. Every ordinance, tax rate, state law, and contact detail in this guide links to or comes from its official source.