JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — As Florida's Phase 1 of reopening progresses through more lenient steps for businesses to broaden their services, the process for reopening short-term rentals will be up to each county to determine.
That's according to Gov. Ron DeSantis, who said the state will allow counties submit proposals on reopening the rentals, which must then be approved by the state. Currently, rentals must be handled on a 30-day basis.
On the First Coast, county plans for reopening rentals are beginning to emerge. Here's what we know right now about what our local counties are doing.
DUVAL COUNTY
Update May 20: The State of Florida's Department of Business and Professional Regulation has approved the City of Jacksonville's plan to resume vacation rentals in Duval County, effective immediately.
The city's plan includes the following standards vacation rentals must abide by:
Social Distancing
- 10-person occupancy cap for vacation rental units.
- Encourage visitors and staff to adhere to social distancing to maintain a safe distance of 6 feet from other individuals.
- Stagger arrival times to prevent congregating.
All Staff Members:
- Should follow appropriate CDC guidelines for sanitation and protection.
- Be required to train on and adhere to the minimum standards established by this plan.
- Should not report to work if experiencing symptoms.
- Shall receive a wellness check upon arrival to work. The wellness check, at a minimum, will consist of a temperature check. Staff members who have a temperature of 100.4 degrees or higher will not be permitted to work.
Cleaning & Sanitation
- Property owners and managers will adhere to all DBPR sanitation guidelines already in place as addressed under 61C-3.001 Sanitation and Safety Requirements of the transient lodging statutes.
- Property owners and managers will follow the CDC related guidelines that are for public spaces, businesses, schools and homes which expand upon the State of Florida & DBPR requirements already in place for safety and sanitation for all lodging.
- Vacation rentals should be allowed flexible time between stays based upon the use of CDC cleaning and sanitization procedures. Lodging units being cleaned are all different and some will take more time or less time, depending upon the size of the unit being sanitized.
Guest Communications & Interactions -- Owners must:
- Provide guests with pre-arrival communications to include copies of pertinent executive orders (State and County) and safety plans
- Provide guests upon check-in additional copies of pertinent executive orders (State and County) and safety plans
- Display materials on-site within the vacation rental unit outlining those in-effect orders and safety measures
- Limit guests traveling from cities with populations greater than one million located in an area with substantial community spread as designated in Governor Ron DeSantis’ Executive Order 2020-82 and Executive Order 2020-86
- If possible, provide contactless check-in and check-out processes.
- Limit staff interactions with guests during stay unless necessary such as maintenance emergency calls. All staff must follow proper preventative measures if interacting with guests during stay.
More information and guidance related to vacation rentals or other businesses regulated by the DBPR can be found on the Department’s Emergency Information page.
The City of Jacksonville applied for limited reopening of short-term rentals Tuesday. The plan calls for a 10-person occupancy limit in rentals and encourages social distancing with steps such as staggered arrival times for guests.
You can read the full proposal below:
NASSAU COUNTY
Nassau County is also going after a 10-person occupancy limit. The county's plan calls for visitors from New York, New Jersey, Connecticut or Louisiana to quarantine themselves for 14 days. The proposal also calls for 18 hours of wait time and cleaning between one guest's departure and the next guest's arrival.
You can read the full proposal below:
ST. JOHNS COUNTY
Update May 20: The St. Johns County plan for opening short-term vacation rentals was approved by the Florida DBPR. The plan outlines several measures including reservations, staffing, clearning and inspections.
St. Johns County's plan requires reservations be longer than the 14-day quarantine period laid out by DeSantis if they are coming from areas with high rates of transmission. Guests who break quarantine could face criminal penalties. The plan also requires a full 24-hour period between guests and calls for strict personal protective equipment usage. The county's plan requires hosts to remove soft items like pillows and blankets from short-term rental properties.
You can read the full approved proposal below:
FLAGLER COUNTY
Update May 21: Gov. Ron DeSantis approved Flagler County's vacation rentals safety plan, allowing for visitors to book short-term rentals based on guidelines from the county's tourism department, according to CDC standards.
The top things both visitors and businesses need to know are as follows:
- Ten (10) person occupancy cap
- Reservations from International Travelers shall not be accepted, nor booking accepted
- Self-quarantining required for fourteen (14) days for any of the following visitors:
- Any guest that has been on a cruise within fourteen (14) days of booking
- Any guest that has been out of the continental United States within fourteen (14) days of booking
- Quarantine Orders for New York Tri-State and State of Louisiana Travelers - anyone traveling from the New York tri-state area (New York, New Jersey or Connecticut) or the State of Louisiana are subject to a mandatory 14-day self-quarantine and reporting requirements.
- Specific cleaning protocols for Vacation Rentals are also in effect, which can be found here.
- Pre-arrival screening of guests to include home origin in addition to the FDOH Screening for COVID-19 found here.
- Maintain records of all bookings to include full name, address, email, phone number to be provided upon request by the FDOH in Flagler County or State Law Enforcement.
- Display COVID-19 Warning in all vacation rental units.
- Provide guests copies of the following Executive Orders:
- 2020-03 Requirements on Individuals arriving from CT, NJ, NY and LA
- 2020-82 Executive Order re: Emergency Management – COVID-19 – Isolation of Individuals Traveling to Florida (Extended by: 2020-112 Executive Order re: Phase 1: Safe. Smart. Step-by-Step. Plan for Florida’s Recovery)
First Coast News has reached out to other local counties for their short-term rental reopening proposals and will continue to update this list.