A StaySouth home under management in Fort Lauderdale.

For property owners

Vacation Rental Management in Fort Lauderdale

Our largest market, and the one we know street by street. Canal-front houses, walkable beach blocks, and a winter season that fills them.

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The market

Why Fort Lauderdale earns

Fort Lauderdale is the deepest short-term rental market in Broward County, and it earns that position honestly. The city has an international airport twenty minutes from the beach, a cruise port that moves millions of passengers a year, three hundred miles of navigable waterway, and a downtown that has spent the last decade turning into somewhere people actually want to stay. A guest can land at eleven, be on Las Olas by one, and be on a boat by three. That combination is why demand here is not one season deep.

For an owner, the useful thing about Fort Lauderdale is the range of property that works. A three-bedroom canal house with a dock rents to a different guest, at a different rate, in a different season, than a two-bedroom condo four blocks off the beach. Both are viable. What changes is the pricing strategy, the photography, and the length of stay you are aiming at, which is most of what a manager is actually for. This is the city our team is most concentrated in, which means our pricing here is informed by our own calendar rather than by a market average.

The honest caution is that Fort Lauderdale is also the market with the most operational overhead in Broward. Registration is real, inspections are real, and the noise ordinance has teeth. Owners who self-manage here usually find the compliance work, not the guests, is what wears them down.

What drives demand

Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, twenty minutes from most of our inventory
The Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show in late October, which fills the city
Port Everglades cruise traffic and the pre-cruise and post-cruise night it generates
Las Olas Boulevard dining and the beach blocks either side of it
Canal and Intracoastal frontage, which supports dock access as a rentable feature

Seasonality

Winter is the engine. Demand builds from late October, holds through the northern winter, and peaks around the holidays and spring break. Summer is softer and rate-sensitive, which is where a manager earns their keep: the difference between a good and a bad summer here is pricing discipline and minimum-stay strategy, not luck. Boat show week in late October is its own event and prices like one.

Compliance

The rules in Fort Lauderdale, handled

This is the part owners tell us takes the most time and carries the most risk. It is also the part we do not ask you to touch.

Vacation Rental Registration Program, certificate of compliance: Fort Lauderdale runs a registration program under Ordinance C-16-25, and your property needs a certificate of compliance before it can operate. The state and county licences have to be in hand first, then the application goes through the city LauderBuild portal. The certificate is issued within three business days of passing inspection; a failed inspection is re-checked in about ten days. We file it, meet the inspector, and track the renewal.
Registration and inspection fees: Registration is 350 dollars and covers the first two inspections, for up to four units under one roof. Renewal is 160 dollars for a non-owner-occupied property and 80 dollars if you live there. Each inspection after the initial one, including a re-inspection or a no-show, is 100 dollars.
Occupancy limit: Two people per legal bedroom. It is worth checking against how your property is actually permitted, because the legal bedroom count is not always the count in the listing.
Noise detection device: The city requires a noise detection device installed and working. It is the detail that most surprises owners arriving from another market. We install it and we monitor it.
City and county business tax receipts: A City of Fort Lauderdale business tax licence and a Broward County business tax receipt are both required alongside the registration. We obtain and renew yours.
Zoning and residency restrictions: Short-term rental is allowed in most Fort Lauderdale zoning districts, with limits on accessory dwelling units in the RS-8 and RS-15 districts. A sex offender residency restriction of 1,400 feet also applies. We check both against your address before we quote.

Requirements last verified September 2026.

Florida and Broward County

The state and county layer

This part is the same for every home we manage in Broward County, whatever the city requires on top of it.

Florida vacation rental license: The state licenses your property through the Department of Business and Professional Regulation once you rent the whole unit more than three times a year for stays under thirty days, or advertise it as regularly available. A single-unit licence is 170 dollars a year, with a 50 dollar application fee the first year. We apply for it and keep it current.
Florida Department of Revenue registration: Stays of six months or less are taxable, which means a sales tax certificate of registration before you take a booking. We register you.
Human trafficking awareness: Florida requires vacation rentals to train housekeeping and front-desk staff every year, keep signed acknowledgments, and post a bilingual awareness sign with the national hotline number. We handle the training records and the signage.
Licence renewal: State licences in this district expire on December 1 each year, on a fixed date rather than a year from issue. We carry that date.
What the guest pays: Roughly 11 percent on a short stay, made up of 6 percent state sales tax, 1 percent county discretionary surtax, and 6 percent Broward County tourist development tax.

You are responsible for collecting and remitting state sales tax and county tourist development tax. We set up and manage those accounts and filings as part of onboarding.

What you get

Full service management, transparent reporting.

Your property earns more

Dynamic pricing, channel optimization, and revenue strategies tuned to your specific market and property type.

Guests find you everywhere

Distribution across Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking.com, Expedia, and direct booking through the Casago network.

Five-star guest experiences

Professional guest communication, 24/7 support, and a hospitality-first approach built to earn five-star reviews and repeat bookings.

Compliance handled

We handle licensing, permits, tax registration, and the regulatory requirements specific to each Southeast Florida jurisdiction we operate in.

Your property stays in top condition

Professional cleaning between every stay, regular inspections, vendor coordination, and proactive maintenance handled by our local team.

Transparent reporting, always

A dedicated owner portal with real-time reporting on bookings, revenue, occupancy, and property activity. Quarterly performance reviews.

Also serving

Around Fort Lauderdale

Oakland Park sits directly north of the city line and rents to the same guest at a friendlier basis, which makes it one of the better entry points for a first rental property in Broward. The city permits short-term rental in single-family residential and requires registration.

Lauderdale-by-the-Sea is a small beach town with a reef close enough to swim to, drawing longer and quieter stays than the Fort Lauderdale strip does. It permits short-term rental, with a business tax receipt for all rentals and a vacation rental certificate where stays of ninety days or less are offered.

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