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/STAY · LOCAL RULES · FORT MYERS BEACH, FL

Fort Myers Beach short-term rental rules

Every vacation rental on Fort Myers Beach registers with the town every year and passes a yearly fire inspection. The town has its own code of conduct, which guests sign and which hangs at the main door.

Checked on Nov 12 2026 against the official pages below

The three things to know

PERMIT

Yearly town registration on the town's online portal: $400 a unit for 2027 (apply Nov 15 to Dec 15 2026), with your DBPR license, a Fire District inspection report (every 12 months) and a notarized consent form. Your registration number goes in every ad. In some neighborhoods stays must be at least a week.

DOOR NOTICE

The town's code of conduct (guest limits, trash, quiet hours 10 p.m. to 7 a.m., mandatory evacuations) posted at the main entrance, and signed by guests. The Fire District adds a decal on an outside window, a posted occupant load and a floor diagram with escape routes.

TAX

5% Lee County tourist tax, paid to the county (the Lee Clerk), plus 6% Florida sales tax and Lee's 0.5% surtax to the state.

Print the door notice

This prints the town's code of conduct from LDC sec. 34-2393 word for word, with your 24-hour contact. Post it at the main entrance. The town also has its own printed version and a guest agreement for guests to sign (below).

The town's and fire district's papers

  • Town code of conduct (PDF): the town's own printed version and guest agreement.
  • The Fire Marshal issues the outside window decal and the occupant load sign at your yearly inspection; post a floor diagram with the escape routes too.

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TOWN OF FORT MYERS BEACH

Code of conduct for short-term rentals

Posted at the main entrance as required by Fort Myers Beach LDC sec. 34-2393(b)(3).

    Fort Myers Beach Land Development Code sec. 34-2393. Printed free at headedin.com/stay/rules/fort-myers-beach/

    Prints one letter page. Post it at the primary entrance/exit, and have guests sign the town's agreement.

    What the rules say

    Who registers
    "all dwellings and dwelling units required to be licensed under any provision of F.S. ch. 509 … utilized for vacation rentals … shall be registered with the town."Town Code sec. 10-198
    • Register within 90 days of starting and renew every year. The town: "Rentals advertised or arranged for 30 days or longer may not require Town STR registration."
    • 2027: apply Nov 15 to Dec 15 2026, good Jan 1 to Dec 31 2027. Town page fees: $400 a unit, $600 per building for the condo opt-out, $50 grandfathered. (The town's FY26 fee schedule showed $300.)
    • Upload your DBPR license, the Fire District inspection report and a notarized consent form; missing items within 30 days or the application closes. Fees aren't refunded.
    • Ads: "This registration number shall be included in all forms of public advertising of the units."
    • Questions: str@fmbgov.com, (239) 765-0202.
    Minimum stays by area
    • In the town's restricted districts the code allows one family per month, "with a minimum stay of one week" (sec. 34-2391).
    • Not limited that way: land between Estero Blvd and the Gulf, land directly on the bay side of Estero Blvd, units on the pre-2003 weekly registry, and some condos of 6 or more units.
    • The town's FAQ describes a 3-day minimum for weekly rentals; the code says a week in restricted districts. Look up your zoning and ask the town before you book short stays.
    What has to be posted
    "The code of conduct shall also be posted at the primary entrance/exit to each short-term rental unit."LDC sec. 34-2393(b)(3)

    Guests also get the code of conduct and sign the town's agreement (sec. 34-2393(b)(2)). The Fire District's yearly inspection checks for a decal on an outside window on the address side, a posted occupant load, a posted floor diagram with the escape routes, address numbers visible from the road, and a weekly test log if you have battery smoke alarms.

    Contact, turtles and taxes
    • Contact available 24/7 who takes "affirmative action within one hour of notice from the town" (sec. 10-198); the number is a public record.
    • Sea turtles, May 1 to Oct 31: no interior lighting visible from the beach (window coverings required) and beach furniture off the sand 9 p.m. to 7 a.m.; fines up to $250 a day.
    • Lee County tourist tax, 5%, remitted to the Lee County Clerk; Florida sales tax 6% plus Lee's 0.5% surtax to the state. We couldn't confirm on an official page whether platforms remit the county tax.

    House rules go in your listing

    For bookings made from Nov 20 2026, Airbnb wants every house rule in the listing itself; signs in the house can only repeat them. This notice only carries what Fort Myers Beach requires, so it adds no new rules. Put quiet hours, parking and the rest in your listing first.

    Official sources, read Nov 12 2026

    Plain-words summary, not legal advice. Rules and fees change, and the official page always wins. Checked Nov 12 2026.

    Help us get it right

    Host in Fort Myers Beach? If a rule, fee or form here has changed, or we missed something, tell us. We check every note against the official source before we change a page, and we put the new checked date on it.

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