State of Florida Accepts Orange County’s Plan to Reopen Vacation Rentals

On May 22, 2020, the State of Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR) approved Orange County’s plan to safely reopen vacation rental operations within the County. Orange County submitted its plan pursuant to Governor DeSantis’ Executive Order 20-123, which permits individual counties to submit requests to reopen vacation rental operations, subject to the county’s submittal of a plan to safely reopen. 

Orange County’s plan, which became effective immediately following the State’s approval, allows vacation rental properties to resume operations subject to certain restrictions. Such restrictions include:

• Vacation rentals may not be used for events or group gatherings that exceed maximum occupancy.
• Only guests whose name appear on the reservation may stay at the property.
• Reservations and stays are only allowed by U.S. residents from states with a COVID-19 case rate of less than 700/100,000 residents. (Currently, the following states exceed the stated rate: New York, New Jersey, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maryland, Connecticut, Louisiana, Rhode Island, Delaware, and Washington DC.)
• Any person coming from a highly-infection area, as defined by the Governor’s guidelines, must reserve a minimum stay of 14 nights and follow CDC self-quarantine guidelines.
• Vacation rentals must follow DBPR’s sanitation and safety guidelines and the Vacation Rental Management Association’s SafeHome guidelines.
• Where direct guest contact may occur between property owners, managers, or other staff, PPE must be used.
• All guests must be provided written CDC guidance and resources and Orange County’s COVID-19 information from the County’s dedicated website.

In addition to these requirements, Orange County’s plan also recommends adherence to the minimum standards and best practices set forth by the DBPR. For more information, consult Orange County’s full plan.