Can You Rent Your Hollywood Condo on Airbnb? Four Layers of Permission

Almost every investor who calls me about a Hollywood condo asks the same thing before they ask about the price: can I put it on Airbnb?

The city's answer is close to yes. Florida law does not allow the City of Hollywood to ban vacation rentals, and the city says so on its own website.

The building's answer is often no. And the building's answer is the one that decides it.

A short-term rental in a Hollywood condominium needs four separate permissions: the condominium association's documents, a state license, a city license, and tax registrations with the state and Broward County. Most online guides list them in the order the government issues them. I check them in the opposite order, because the first one can end the conversation before you spend a dollar on the other three.

Market briefThe short answer

Sources: City of Hollywood Vacation Rental License program; Florida Statutes chapters 509 and 718; DBPR Division of Hotels and Restaurants; Broward County Records, Taxes and Treasury Division. As of September 2026.

Market briefLayer one: the condominium documents

Start here, before you make an offer.

A condominium declaration can prohibit rentals shorter than a set term, require board approval of every tenant, limit how many times a year a unit may be leased, or cap the number of units rented at one time. Many older buildings along the beach and the Intracoastal have some combination of these. The only way to know is to read the recorded declaration, every amendment, and the current rules and regulations.

There is one statute every buyer should understand. Under section 718.110(13), Florida Statutes, an amendment that prohibits renting, changes the rental term, or limits how many times a unit can be rented during a period applies only to owners who consent to it and to owners who take title after it takes effect.

That protection runs in one direction. It protects the current owner from a new restriction. It does not protect you when you buy. If the building amended its documents last year to require a six-month minimum, the seller may be grandfathered, but you will not be. The seller's rental history tells you what the seller was allowed to do, not what you will be allowed to do.

The condominium statute works differently from the homeowners' association statute. Section 720.306 lets an HOA adopt a rule against leases of less than six months, or more than three rentals a year, that binds every owner. The condominium statute has no equivalent carve-out. If you are comparing a condo with a townhouse in an HOA, the rental analysis is not the same.

If you are buying a condominium to rent, ask for the full document set before the inspection period, not after, and read the leasing sections yourself. A listing that says "rentals allowed" is a starting point, not an answer. The same document review protects you on reserves and assessments, which I cover in the piece on selling a condo with a special assessment.

Market briefLayer two: the state license

Florida treats a frequently rented condo as a public lodging establishment.

Under chapter 509, a unit rented to guests more than three times a calendar year for periods of less than 30 days or one calendar month, whichever is less, or advertised as regularly available for that, is a vacation rental. It needs a license from the Division of Hotels and Restaurants at the Department of Business and Professional Regulation.

DBPR issues two property types. Vacation Rental - Condominium covers a unit in a condominium or cooperative. Vacation Rental - Dwelling covers houses, townhouses and small multi-unit buildings of four units or fewer. A Hollywood condo is licensed as the first, even if the owner also holds a dwelling license for a house elsewhere.

One detail in DBPR's own guide is worth knowing if you are looking at a building with many investor owners. Where a majority of the units in a building of three stories or more are vacation rentals, the condominium rules call for automatic fire sprinklers. That is the building's problem before it is yours, but it is a question worth asking the association.

Market briefLayer three: the City of Hollywood license

This is where Hollywood is stricter than many Broward cities, within the limits the state allows.

Section 509.032(7)(b) of the Florida Statutes says a local government may not prohibit vacation rentals or regulate how long or how often they are rented, unless the rule was adopted on or before June 1, 2011. Hollywood cannot ban short-term rentals, so it regulates how they operate instead. Its program sits in chapter 119 of the city code.

The main requirements, from the city's own published materials:

A separate license for every unit. Owning three condos means three applications, three inspections and three licenses.

Annual renewal. City vacation rental licenses expire every September 30.

An inspection. The city contacts the owner to schedule one once the application is complete.

Occupancy limits. Overnight occupancy is two people per bedroom. Daytime occupancy is one and a half times the overnight figure. The city allows up to four children aged four and under in addition to either limit.

Noise monitoring. Every licensed vacation rental must have a noise detection device that alerts the owner or representative and the guests, with the data kept for 180 days and available to the city on request. Quiet hours under the city noise ordinance run from 11:00 PM to 6:00 AM.

A reachable contact. When a complaint comes in through the city's 24-hour hotline, the registered owner, manager or emergency contact is notified and given 30 minutes to resolve most issues.

Enforcement is real. The city states that just under 700 short-term rentals are licensed, and that it believes many thousands more operate without one. It monitors rental platforms, and failing to register can lead to citations, daily fines and a code lien recorded against the property.

If you are buying a unit that is already listed on a rental platform, check the city's license status for that address before closing. A lien for unpaid fines on a prior owner's unlicensed operation is a title issue to raise early, not at the closing table.

Market briefLayer four: the taxes

The tax rules use a different time threshold from the licensing rules, and that catches people.

Licensing turns on stays of less than 30 days. Transient rental tax in Florida applies to rentals of six months or less. Broward County's tourist development tax uses the same six-month line.

For a Hollywood condo, the stack looks like this:

Sources: Florida Department of Revenue; Broward County Records, Taxes and Treasury Division, Tourist Development Tax. Rates as of September 2026. Confirm current rates with each agency before filing.

On a $2,000 stay, that is $260 collected from the guest and owed to the state and county.

Platforms change who remits some of it, not whether it is owed. Airbnb collects the state tax and surtax on Florida bookings and lists Broward among the counties where it also collects the tourist development tax. Other platforms, and any booking you take directly, may leave some or all of it to you. Read the tax lines on your payout reports rather than assuming.

If you plan monthly or seasonal rentals instead of nightly stays, notice the gap. A two-month winter lease falls outside the state and city vacation rental licenses, because it is longer than 30 days. It is still inside the six-month tax window, so the 13% generally still applies. And it is still subject to whatever minimum lease term your condominium documents set.

Market briefWhat I check before a client writes an offer

The order matters more than the checklist.

First, the declaration, amendments and rules, looking for minimum lease terms, approval requirements, annual limits and caps, and the effective date of any leasing amendment.

Second, the association's actual practice. Some boards approve every application in a week; some take a month. Ask the manager.

Third, the city and state license history for the specific unit, and any open code cases.

Fourth, whether the numbers still work at 13% tax, a real insurance quote for a unit used as a rental, current dues, and a vacancy assumption that reflects Hollywood's seasonality rather than a peak-season month. That is the work I do in investment and portfolio analysis, and it is also why a building's rental rules affect its financing, which I explain in the piece on condo warrantability.

If the documents say no, none of the rest matters. If they say yes, the remaining three layers are paperwork with deadlines.

For a broader view of the city itself, the Hollywood area guide covers neighborhoods, taxes and what to expect east and west of I-95. If you are weighing a beach unit against one of the newer buildings downtown, Young Circle vs. the Broadwalk compares the two corridors.

If you are looking at a specific Hollywood building and want the rental documents read before you commit, that review is part of investment analysis. Get in touch.

This is general information, not legal or tax advice. Condominium documents, city ordinances and tax rates change, and your situation depends on your building and your facts. Confirm with the association, the City of Hollywood, a Florida real estate attorney, and a CPA before relying on any of it.