Home Sharing

Home Sharing is the practice of renting out one or more spare bedrooms in your home to generate some extra income.  Since the owner is also living in the house, the idea is that renters will be kept under control and will not disturb neighbors or be disruptive to the neighborhood.  This practice is also called "hosted rentals" or "owner-occupied rentals". The City Commission wants to make this a new "accessory use" in City Zoning Code.

But, depending on the number of bedrooms being rented, Home Sharing may conflict with the City's definition of a Bed and Breakfast or Hotel, neither of which is allowed in a residential zone.  It could also conflict with the State's definition of a Vacation Rental which could cause the City to forfeit its current seven day minimum occupancy requirement for vacation rentals.  And it could hurt homeowners by forcing them to forfeit all or part of their Homestead Exemption and related tax benefits.

On October 18, 2021, the City Commission instructed the City Attorney to draft an ordinance to legalize Home Sharing throughout the City of Sarasota and with NO constraints.  On November 15, 2021, the City Commission amended this instruction to include reasonable safeguards.  It is our understanding that this has been tabled and will not be coming back in front of the City Commission due to a new Florida Statute and Florida Supreme Court ruling (see timeline below).

November 19, 2018

The previous City Commission voted NOT to allow/legalize Home Sharing.

• LINK TO VIDEO:  CLICK HERE
• Home Sharing Agenda Item Starts at: 7:16:10 (fast forward to 7 hours, 16 minutes, 10 seconds)

October 18, 2021

Almost three years later, the current City Commission voted 5-0 to instruct the City Attorney to draft an ordinance that would allow/legalize Home Sharing with NO constraints.  

Due to scheduling and timing issues, the City Commission took public testimony on this agenda item first (there were only four speakers; I think because nobody expected the Commission to do what they did, or perhaps due to the changing of the Commission meeting times from evenings to during the day), then they took a break and then they went to some other agenda items, and then they returned to this agenda item. The link to the video is below, along with the time-stamps to fast forward to.

Thank you to Commissioner Jen Ahearn-Koch who explained that the Commission would be able to make changes to the ordinance during the normal two-reading process and for putting Home Sharing back on the agenda on November 15, 2021 so that residents and neighborhood associations could have more time to give feedback to the Commission.

October 19, 2021

Sarasota Magazine Article:  Home Sharing May Soon Be Allowed in the City of Sarasota

November 6, 2021

A presentation about Home Sharing was given at the November CCNA meeting via Zoom.  The presentation was followed by questions and comments from more than 10 different neighborhood delegates.  There was significant concern about Home Sharing being abused, the inequity of potential tax avoidance, and several other aspects of this. 

• Link to CCNA Video:  CLICK HERE
• Starts at:  45:15 (45 minutes, 15 seconds)
• Ends at:  1:12:55 (1 hour, 12 minutes, 55 seconds) 
• About 25 minutes total duration 

November 11, 2021

Observer Article:  Neighborhood groups wary of proposed Sarasota homesharing rules

November 15, 2021

The City Commission amended their October 18 instruction to include reasonable safeguards. 

However, after waiting almost six hours, approximately 20 citizens were denied the opportunity to speak to this agenda item.  The hopeful speakers consisted of several community leaders including the Chair of the City Coalition of Neighborhood Associations (CCNA), the presidents of several neighborhood associations, the general manager of a major area resort hotel, and two local developers.

• LINK TO VIDEO:  CLICK HERE
• Home Sharing Agenda Item Starts at: 5:19:20 (fast forward to 5 hours, 19 minutes, 20 seconds)
• Motion and Vote to Add Safeguards: 5:49:00 (fast forward to 5 hours, 49 minutes, 0 seconds)
• Five Neighborhood and Business Leaders Invited to Approach Dais, but then turned away, at: 5:53:40 (fast forward to 5 hours, 53 minutes, 40 seconds)

Picture showing community leaders at Commission table before being turned away:

Seated from left to right:

• Kim Githler, Local Business Person and Developer
• Rick Konsavage, General Manager, Longboat Key Club
• Chris Goglia, President, St. Armands Residents Association
• Jim Ludwig, Treasurer, Lido Key Residents Association
• Lou Costa, Chairperson, City Coalition of Neighborhood Associations

Thank you to Commissioner Jen Ahearn-Koch for being the only Commissioner to fight (albeit unsuccessfully) to give the citizens and community leaders who were in attendance the opportunity to speak to this agenda item.

November 16, 2021

Sarasota Magazine Article:  Sarasota Delays Discussion of New Home Sharing Rules Until Next Year

May 12, 2022

Note:  While Home Sharing may help with the current housing crisis, especially in terms of affordable, attainable, senior, and workforce housing options, there was no mention in this article of the potential tax consequences, including:

• Loss of all or part of the property owner's Homestead Exemption, Save Our Homes Cap, and Save Our Homes Portability Benefit
• Required payment of up to 10 years of back taxes, plus 50% penalty, plus 15% interest

August 2022

It has been discovered that a new Florida Statute governing Home Based Businesses may preempt local governments from regulating Home Sharing. (Florida Statute 559.955 from 2021 House Bill 403)

But, because Home Based Businesses are required to be a secondary or accessory use, the Home Sharing of more than one bedroom in a house could be in violation of City code that prohibits Bed & Breakfasts from operating in residential zones.

April 2023

The Florida Supreme Court reversed and remanded a lower court decision that overturned a property tax appraiser's revocation of a homestead exemption on a portion of a residence that was rented to a third-party by the owner. Under Florida law, there is a 3% cap on annual property tax assessment increases on properties that are entitled to the homestead exemption. Florida law allows the homestead exemption for properties being used as a residence by the owner. Here, the court determined that Florida law allows property appraisers to exclude the portions of property not being used as a residence from the homestead exemption. Accordingly, the court held that the owner was not entitled to a homestead tax exemption on the portion of the property that was being rented out to another party. (Furst v. Rebholz , Fla. S. Ct., Dkt. No. SC2020-1479, 04/06/2023.)