Short-Term Rental Rules in St. Johns and Nassau County: What Owners Need to Know

Can You Rent It Out When You Are Not Using It?

It is the second question almost every out-of-state buyer asks about a beach condo, and they usually ask it in the car on the way to the third showing. Buy now, rent it to visitors for a few years, retire into it later. On a spreadsheet it is beautiful.

The answer is that it depends on three separate layers of rules, and the one that most often stops people is not the one they were worried about.

Layer One: Florida State Law

Florida has a preemption in place that limits how far local governments can go in regulating vacation rentals. The core of it is that cities and counties generally cannot adopt new ordinances that prohibit vacation rentals outright or regulate their duration or frequency.

The critical wrinkle is the grandfather clause. Local ordinances that were in place before June 1, 2011 are preserved. So a municipality that already restricted short-term rentals before that date can keep doing so, while a neighboring one that did not cannot start now.

That single piece of history is why the rules along this coast look inconsistent. Two beach towns twenty minutes apart can have completely different regimes, and the explanation is what their commission happened to do fifteen years ago rather than any current policy logic.

The legislature has revisited vacation rental policy repeatedly, so anything you read on this is worth re-verifying against current law rather than trusting a summary.

Layer Two: County and City Rules

Even within the preemption, local governments retain real authority. They can require registration or a local business tax receipt. They can regulate parking, noise, trash, occupancy limits and life-safety requirements. They can enforce zoning that was lawfully in place. And they can apply general codes that are not specific to vacation rentals.

In practice this means the answer varies by exactly where a property sits.

Unincorporated St. Johns County, the City of St. Augustine, St. Augustine Beach, Jacksonville and the Duval beaches communities, Fernandina Beach and unincorporated Nassau County all approach this differently, with different registration processes and different treatment of residential zoning districts.

There is no substitute for calling the specific jurisdiction with the specific parcel number. I have watched buyers rely on what a listing agent said, what a neighbor said, or what somebody posted in a forum, and all three have been wrong.

Layer Three: The HOA or Condo Documents

This is the layer that actually stops most people, and it has nothing to do with government.

State preemption restrains cities and counties. It does not restrain private associations. A condominium association or a homeowners association can impose minimum lease terms, cap the number of rentals per year, require board approval of tenants, impose a waiting period after purchase before you may rent at all, or prohibit short-term rentals entirely.

And they do. Many residential communities in St. Johns County, including master-planned neighborhoods, carry minimum lease terms specifically to prevent transient use. Plenty of coastal condo buildings do the reverse and are built entirely around vacation rental operation.

So the practical order of inquiry is backwards from what people expect. Read the recorded covenants and the condominium declaration first. If they prohibit it, nothing about state or county law will help you.

Watch for the amendment risk too. An association that permits short-term rentals today can vote to restrict them, and depending on the documents and applicable law, existing owners are not always fully protected. Board minutes and any pending amendment discussion are worth reading.

The Licensing and Tax Layer

If you do operate a vacation rental in Florida, there are obligations that catch first-time owners.

• A state license through the Department of Business and Professional Regulation is generally required for transient public lodging, with different classifications depending on the property type and how many units you operate
• Florida sales tax applies to short-term rental income
• Counties levy a tourist development tax, commonly called a bed tax, and the rate and collection process vary by county
• A local business tax receipt is often required
• Booking platforms sometimes collect and remit certain taxes and sometimes do not, and the owner remains responsible for getting it right

None of this is difficult, but it is real compliance work, and unpaid tourist development tax accrues. This is a conversation for a Florida accountant, not a spreadsheet.

Where the Market Actually Supports It

Setting rules aside, demand for short-term stays in this region is concentrated and seasonal.

St. Augustine and the beaches south of it draw year-round tourism from the historic district. Amelia Island and Fernandina Beach have a long-established vacation rental market. The Jacksonville beaches see a mix of leisure and event-driven demand. Ponte Vedra Beach spikes hard around THE PLAYERS Championship and other events.

Inland St. Johns County is a different story. Nocatee, Silverleaf, RiverTown and Shearwater are primary-residence communities. The short-term demand is thin and the covenants generally prohibit it anyway.

Which means the honest version of the buy-and-rent plan works on the coast and in the historic corridor, and mostly does not work in the master-planned interior. That is worth knowing before you tour twelve houses in the wrong half of the county.

A Note on the Investment Math

I am not going to publish occupancy or revenue figures, because they vary enormously by submarket, by property and by year, and a made-up number would be worse than no number.

What I will say is to underwrite the full cost. Management fees, cleaning, higher wear, furnishing, utilities, insurance priced for transient occupancy rather than owner occupancy, association fees, taxes, the bed tax, and vacancy in the slow months. Short-term rental gross revenue looks dramatically better than long-term rental gross revenue. Net is a much closer contest than most first-time owners expect.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I rent my Nocatee home on a short-term basis?

Generally the community covenants in master-planned St. Johns County neighborhoods impose minimum lease terms that preclude transient rental. Verify against the recorded documents for the specific community and phase.

Does Florida law override my HOA rules on rentals?

No. The state preemption limits local government regulation, not private association restrictions. Your covenants or condominium declaration can be more restrictive than any law.

Do I need a license to rent my house for a week at a time?

Florida generally requires a state license for transient public lodging along with sales tax and tourist development tax registration. Requirements depend on the property and how it is operated, so confirm with the state and your county.

Which parts of Northeast Florida are friendliest to vacation rentals?

The coastal and historic corridors, particularly around St. Augustine, the beaches, and Amelia Island and Fernandina Beach, have the most established markets. Even within those areas the answer turns on the individual building or subdivision.

Search Northeast Florida Homes

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What To Do Right Now

If rental income is part of why you are buying, verify the covenants and the local jurisdiction before you spend a dollar on inspections. That is the step that determines whether the whole plan is viable.

Call or text Joey Larsen at 904-863-6679, or visit RetireMeToFlorida.com to get started.