HOLMES BEACH – The Holmes Beach Code Compliance Department hosted its annual vacation rental stakeholders meeting on Tuesday, July 21.
This year’s theme was “Preserving Paradise Through Partnership,” and the two-hour session held at Holmes Beach City Hall brought together vacation rental operators, property managers, property owners and representatives from the Holmes Beach Police Department, the Holmes Beach Code Compliance Department, the Manatee County Property Appraiser’s Office, the Manatee County Tax Collector’s Office, the West Manatee Fire Rescue District (WMFR), Waste Pro and the Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch and Shorebird Monitoring organization.
WMFR Fire Marshal Rodney Kwiatkowski said short-term vacation rentals account for a large share of the emergencies the fire district responds to. He said 73% of structure fires that occurred in the district between 2020 and 2023 occurred at vacation rental properties. He said all of the district’s drowning and near-drowning calls during the same period occurred at vacation rental swimming pools.
Kwiatkowski said the fire district doesn’t take a political position on short-term rentals. The district’s focus is on enforcement of the state fire code that applies specifically to short-term rental properties. He noted the district cannot impose stricter standards than the state allows and can only enforce what state law requires. He encouraged vacation rental owners and managers to familiarize themselves with the state fire code.
Holmes Beach Development Services Director Chad Minor said the city has issued roughly 5,000 building permits since the 2024 hurricanes. He said permitting isn’t optional for storm repairs, and the city requires a permit for most storm-related repair work, including drywall replacement.
Holmes Beach Code Compliance Officer Nate Brown outlined the growth of the city’s vacation rental registration program. He said when the program launched in 2016, the city had 245 registered short-term vacation rental units and relied on city staff to manually monitor rental websites and follow up on complaints. He said the registration program now includes approximately 1,600 registered units, which makes manual enforcement unworkable.
The city now uses Rentalscape software that scans more than 10,000 vacation rental websites per day to flag properties that are unregistered or otherwise out of compliance. Brown said the software doesn’t resolve every issue, but it gives the city data needed to act on problems before they escalate, rather than responding after a violation occurs. He said the system also spreads enforcement evenly across all properties rather than singling out individual owners.
Domenico Fragomeni, from the Manatee County Property Appraiser’s Office, discussed tax compliance for rental properties. He said any property rented out at any point during the year, whether short- or longer-term, must be reported to the appraiser’s office by filing Form DR-405, the tangible personal property tax return, by April 1. He said owners who file on time typically qualify for a $25,000 exemption on furniture, appliances and other taxable property provided in the rental.
In Manatee County, all vacation rentals, resorts, hotels and motels rented for six months or less are subject to the 6% tourist development tax.
Turtle Watch Office Manager Danielle Kimberly said approximately 417 sea turtle nests had been located on the Island so far this season and reminded vacation rental stakeholders about the city’s turtle lighting regulations for beachfront properties.
