Gulf Shores short-term rental rules

"All property owners that engage in the rental of their property in the city's corporate limits or police jurisdiction are required to complete and submit a business license application."City of Gulf Shores, rental license

• Apply online or by mail; Revenue, then Planning and Zoning, then the Fire Marshal review it before the license is issued. Bring a copy of your driver's license.
• Fees: the license by gross receipts, plus a $45 rental fee per short-term unit. Licenses expire Dec 31 and are late after Jan 31.
• Safety inspection (Ord. 2168, 2025): smoke alarms, extinguishers, stairs, escape openings, electrical, decks, pools and 911 address numbers. The city's page says every 3 years; the ordinance accepts a report dated within 5 years. Units out of compliance pay $500 before renewal.
• Local emergency contact on file with the city (name, email, phone).
• A copy of the business license goes to your rental agency, if you use one.

• Allowed (zoning sec. 6-18): the Single Family and Duplex Vacation Rental Overlay, BN, BG, BT, ICW-N and ICW-S, and PUD multifamily areas set aside for rentals.
• Not allowed in AG, ATP, ED, IND, OS or R-1 to R-5, unless grandfathered or allowed by a conditional use permit in R-3/R-4.
• Signs (sec. 6-18F): house number readable from the street (8-inch characters at most); one flat ID sign up to 6 square feet, not lit; one name plate; no snipe or window signs; nothing in the right-of-way. A violation can cost the license.
• Parking: none in the public right-of-way.

• Trash in the beach rental district: Monday and Thursday pickup; bins out no earlier than 4 p.m. the day before and back by 7 p.m.
• Noise (Ord. 2172, 2025): 50 dB(A) outdoors at night in residential areas, 65 by day.
• Beach: gear left out from an hour after sunset to sunrise may be treated as abandoned. "Observe and obey Beach Warning Flag System. Double red flags means the waters are closed."
• Sea turtles: nesting season May 1 to Nov 30; turn off outside lights and shield inside lights near the beach.

• Lodging tax: 4% state, 2% Baldwin County and 10% city inside city limits (5% city in the police jurisdiction), on rent, parking and cleaning fees. File by the 20th, even with nothing collected.
• Platforms: Alabama's Act 2024-334 "requires accommodations intermediaries to collect and remit state lodging taxes" and matching local taxes from Jan 1 2025. If a platform pays everything, the state says you don't need your own account; book direct and you do.