Airbnb Loans in South Florida: Income, City Rules, Taxes and Insurance

South Florida is one of the best-known vacation rental markets in the country, and many investors want to finance a condo or house to run on Airbnb or Vrbo. The financing exists, but the rules around short-term rentals here are local, strict and change often. A property that looks great on paper can be illegal to rent short-term on your street or in your building. This guide covers how Airbnb loans in South Florida work, how lenders look at short-term rental (STR) income, and the city, association, state and insurance rules to clear first.

What an "Airbnb loan" actually is

There's no special government loan for short-term rentals. In practice, an Airbnb loan is an investment-property loan, often a DSCR loan, from a lender partner whose program will count short-term rental income. These are business-purpose loans: you don't live in the property, and the lender looks closely at the property and its cash flow, not just your personal income. Owner-occupied programs like FHA are designed for homes you live in, not full-time vacation rentals. Our guide to DSCR loans in Florida explains how cash-flow qualification works.

How lenders count short-term rental income

This is the biggest variable from lender to lender. Depending on the lender partner and the deal:

• Operating history. For a property already rented short-term, some lenders want 12 months of history, such as platform payout statements or bank deposits, to capture seasonality. That matters here, where the winter season and the summer months can look very different.
• Market projections. For a purchase without a track record, some lenders accept projections from short-term rental data providers (AirDNA-style reports) or an appraiser's analysis, sometimes applying a discount to the projected income.
• Long-term rent as a fallback. Some lenders size the loan on the appraiser's estimate of long-term market rent, which can shrink the loan amount if your numbers depend on nightly rates.

Expect the lender to subtract or review expenses too: HOA dues, insurance, property taxes, management and cleaning. Reserve requirements may be higher than for a long-term rental. Our short-term rental program works only with lender partners that count STR income, and only where city and HOA rules allow the use.

City rules: Miami Beach, City of Miami and Fort Lauderdale

Short-term rental rules are set city by city, and by the county in unincorporated areas. Three examples, based on what each city publishes on its official website, show how different they are:

City	Where STRs are restricted	Key local requirements
Miami Beach	Prohibited in all single-family homes and in many multifamily buildings in certain zoning districts	Business Tax Receipt and Resort Tax account; both numbers shown in every listing; association letter for condos
City of Miami	Single-family homes and duplexes in T3 and T4-R zones are not eligible; STR is treated as a lodging use	Certificate of Use renewed annually, DBPR lodging license, Business Tax Receipt; association-signed forms for condos
Fort Lauderdale	Allowed with city registration and inspection	Vacation Rental registration, DBPR license, sales tax and Broward tourist tax registration, county Business Tax Receipt; occupancy capped at two people per bedroom

In Miami Beach, check the city's short-term rental zoning map and list of authorized buildings. In the City of Miami, the short-term rental/lodging procedures explain the Certificate of Use process. In Fort Lauderdale, registration runs through the city's Vacation Rental Program. Other cities have their own rules, and Florida lawmakers have repeatedly debated how much local governments can regulate vacation rentals. Confirm the current rules for the exact address with the city before you sign a contract.

HOA and condo rules can override the city

Even where the city allows short-term rentals, the condo declaration or HOA rules may not. Many South Florida associations set minimum lease terms, limit how many times a unit can be rented per year, or require approval of every tenant. Under Florida law (section 718.110(13)), a new condo amendment restricting rentals generally binds only owners who consent to it and owners who take title after it takes effect, so as a buyer you are bound by the rules in place when you close. Get the declaration, bylaws, rules and recent amendments during your inspection period, and if the city requires an association letter, get it in writing early.

Florida license and transient rental taxes

• State license. Florida's Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR), Division of Hotels and Restaurants, licenses vacation rentals, with separate license types for condominium units and for dwellings (houses, townhouses and buildings of four units or fewer).
• State sales tax. Rentals of six months or less are subject to Florida's 6% state sales tax plus the county's discretionary sales surtax, according to the Florida Department of Revenue.
• Tourist development tax. Counties add local transient rental taxes on top. Per the Department of Revenue's rate chart, the rate is 6% in Broward, Palm Beach and most of Miami-Dade, with different rates in Miami Beach, Surfside and Bal Harbour, and in all three counties the local tax is paid to the county, not the state. Miami Beach also requires its own resort tax registration.

Some booking platforms collect and remit some of these taxes for you, but not necessarily all of them. Confirm which ones before you set nightly rates or build your projections.

Insurance for a South Florida short-term rental

A standard homeowners policy generally isn't designed for a property rented to guests by the night. Lenders require property coverage that fits how the home is actually used, and you'll want liability coverage that contemplates paying guests. Also price windstorm coverage and, if the property is in a FEMA special flood hazard area (check the FEMA Flood Map Service Center), flood insurance, which lenders generally require in those zones. Condo owners need their own unit policy on top of the association's master policy. Get real quotes during your inspection period; in South Florida, insurance is one of the costs most likely to change a deal's numbers.

Next step

Before you make an offer, gather the address, the city, the association's rental rules and either the rental history or a projection. Call FFC Lending at (786) 723-5626 or send the deal details through our contact page, and we'll tell you whether our lender partners can count short-term rental income on that property and what they'll need to see.