Osceola County

Operating rules

Primary residence

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Min stay (nights)

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Max nights / year

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Max occupancy

Aggregator sources report a limit of 3 guests per bedroom plus 2 additional and a required guest register, but this could not be confirmed firsthand from an official Osceola County source; treat as unverified.

Zoning-restricted

Yes

Cap on licenses

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Grandfathering: Statewide: local vacation-rental ordinances adopted on or before June 1, 2011 are grandfathered and enforceable under Fla. Stat. 509.032(7)(b): 'This paragraph does not apply to any local law, ordinance, or regulation adopted on or before June 1, 2011.' No Osceola-specific grandfathered ordinance confirmed firsthand.

Zoning: Under Fla. Stat. 509.032(7)(b) a local ordinance may not prohibit vacation rentals or regulate their duration/frequency (ordinances on or before June 1, 2011 are grandfathered). For unincorporated Osceola County, the Zoning Department must approve the property before the county will issue the LBTR: 'IF YOUR BUSINESS IS LOCATED WITHIN UNINCORPORATED OSCEOLA COUNTY ZONING DEPARTMENT, APPROVAL WILL BE REQUIRED IN ORDER TO ISSUE THIS BUSINESS TAX RECEIPT.' (Osceola County LBTR application.) The county's Land Development Code reportedly limits STRs to designated tourist/overlay zoning districts, but the overlay text could not be confirmed firsthand (osceola.org and Municode are bot-walled). The Tax Collector further ties zoning to the LBTR: 'Failure to maintain the short term rental Local Business Tax Receipt may result in loss of Zoning approval.'

• SB 280 (2024) statewide vacation-rental registry was passed by the legislature but vetoed by Gov. DeSantis on 2024-06-27; no statewide registry is in effect.
• County STR license fees, occupancy cap, and tourist-zone overlay are reported only by third-party aggregators; osceola.org returns HTTP 403 (Akamai bot wall), so these are unverified pending firsthand review.

Enforcement

Active enforcement

The county requires Zoning Department approval before issuing the STR Local Business Tax Receipt in unincorporated areas and ties continued zoning approval to maintaining the LBTR; operating without an LBTR is a violation of county Ordinance 95-10 carrying penalties up to $250 per day. Code-enforcement intensity could not be confirmed firsthand (osceola.org is Akamai-blocked).

Fines

Ordinance 95-10 provides penalties of up to $250 per day for operating without a required Local Business Tax Receipt, in addition to court costs, attorney fees, and administrative costs.

Notes

Osceola County Community Development / Code Enforcement handles STR compliance. The $250/day penalty is stated firsthand on the county's own LBTR application, but a detailed code-enforcement fine schedule was not obtainable from an official osceola.org page (Akamai-blocked). Marked needs_review pending firsthand confirmation of the STR-specific license and zoning-overlay details.