BRADENTON BEACH – City staff recently answered an inquiry regarding single-room rentals in vacation rental homes with a definite “No.”
On July 19, Prime Vacations Compliance Specialist Rina Hernandez sent an email to Deputy City Clerk Ruth Stief and City Treasurer Shayne Thompson that said, “Can each bedroom in a five-bedroom property be advertised and rented as individual units or does the property have to be advertised and rented as a whole?”
According to the Prime Vacations website, the company Hernandez represents manages seven boutique hotels in Florida, including The Bali Hai Beach Resort and The Anna Maria Beach Resort in Holmes Beach and The Anna Maria Island Inn in Bradenton Beach. The Prime Vacations website also lists affiliations with the AMI Locals and Anna Maria Vacations real estate and property management companies.
After consulting with City Attorney Ricinda Perry, Thompson sent Hernandez an email response: “It is the opinion of the city attorney and the building official that this is not a
permissible use for properties in areas that are zoned residential.”
In response, Hernandez wrote, “So, this wouldn’t fall under the jurisdiction of shared housing?”
Thompson suggested Hernandez contact Building Official Steve Gilbert for more information.
In an email, Gilbert provided Hernandez with the following information: “Renting by the room is a ‘boarding house,’ either transient or permanent, and with or without meals, by definition. The Florida Building Code treats such structures as commercial buildings. You would need two separate means of egress, non-combustible construction or at least fire-rated assemblies, perhaps a full sprinkler system, and full ADA compliance for all sleeping rooms, bathrooms, cooking facilities, and vertical access, including a commercial elevator.
“From a zoning perspective, boarding houses, bed and breakfasts, and multi-unit buildings, including those with multiple sleeping rooms as defined in the Florida Building Code, are permitted uses in the C2 zone district. They would not be a permitted use in either single-family (R1) or two-family (R2) zone districts,” Gilbert wrote.
“From a zoning perspective, the advertisement to rent is for a single-family or perhaps a two-family dwelling, not individual sleeping rooms. From a life safety and building code perspective, advertisement is for a single-family or perhaps a two-family dwelling, not individual sleeping rooms,” Gilbert wrote.
“From a local licensing perspective, the advertisement is for a single-family or perhaps a two-family dwelling, not individual sleeping rooms. From a state DBPR (Department of Business and Professional Regulation) licensing perspective, the advertisement is for a vacation rental, not a hotel/motel, not a transient boarding house, and not a bed and breakfast. The state licenses and inspection requirements are very different for these more intensive uses. In sum, you may not advertise rentals by the room,” Gilbert wrote.
In response to Gilbert, Hernandez then wrote: “Thank you for clarifying. We had a guest that had a reservation booked with us and canceled because they were able to book an individual room with another management company.”
Hernandez included in her email a link to an Airbnb vacation rental home in Bradenton Beach that advertised single-room rentals.
“Is this something that is going to be addressed? Please let us know if there’s something we can do about it to avoid losing future guests,” Hernandez wrote.
The Airbnb link Hernandez provided referenced the Playa Esmeralda Boutique Inn located at 206 Church Ave. in Bradenton Beach. According to the Manatee County Property Appraiser’s office, D&C Properties of Tampa LLC owns the home and property, and the Florida Division of Corporations lists Maria Trim as the Tampa-based LLC’s registered agent and Mark Dexter as an authorized person.
The Airbnb link Hernandez provided offered for rent a single-bed bedroom with a private bath for $229 per night.
The Playa Esmeralda Boutique Inn is also advertised on the independent Guest Reservations website. That website offers the boutique inn’s “superior king room,” “king room with balcony,” “king room with garden view,” “standard king room” and more.
When contacted by The Sun, a Prime Vacations representative confirmed Prime Vacations does not manage the Playa Esmeralda Boutique Inn.
Commission discussion
Hernandez’s inquiry became the subject of a brief discussion during the July 20 city commission meeting.
While providing her attorney update, Perry said, “We are now being asked if you had a home with seven bedrooms could seven different renters rent out those bedrooms separately?”
“That would almost be like a boarding house,” Mayor John Chappie said.
Commissioner Ralph Cole asked if the city can enforce its prohibition on single-room vacation rentals.
In response, Perry said, “The fire department has a lot more power than code enforcement does. They have the actual authority to go into the property and investigate it. We do not.”
Perry reiterated some of the information Gilbert provided Hernandez and she noted the city has existing zoning prohibitions in the R-1 and R-2 residential zone districts that relate to this particular type of bedroom use. She said the city is further protected by the state’s fire and building codes.
In response to a question from Cole, Perry said the single-room rental prohibition does not apply to several people sharing a rented home as their full-time residence.
“Staff’s working on this and will report back,” Chappie said.
“It was a formal request,” Perry said. “We had to respond to it and Steve did an outstanding job outlining why it’s prohibited.”
