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/STAY · LOCAL RULES · INDIAN ROCKS BEACH, FL

Indian Rocks Beach vacation rental rules

Every vacation rental in Indian Rocks Beach needs a yearly city registration and inspection before it opens. The city is specific about postings: English, a plain font, 14 point or bigger, on or within five feet of the front door, plus a noise sign on every patio.

Checked on Nov 11 2026 against the official pages below

The three things to know

PERMIT

Yearly city registration for each unit: $600 new or renewal plus a business tax receipt, a $150 inspection, and a fire inspection by Pinellas Suncoast Fire Rescue. New rentals can't open until the inspection is done. You also need your DBPR license and tax registrations.

DOOR NOTICE

On the inside of the front door or within 5 feet of it, in 14-point type: your conduct rules, the most overnight guests, the responsible party's name, email and phone, and quiet hours 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. Elsewhere inside: the address, the city's code handout, parking, trash days, hospitals, sheriff and fire numbers, evacuation routes and rip current safety. A patio sign carries the city's noise statement.

TAX

6% Pinellas County tourist development tax, registered with the county Tax Collector. The county lists Airbnb and VRBO as collecting it, but tells owners to check their platform. Plus 6% Florida sales tax and Pinellas's 1% surtax to the state.

Print the door notice

This prints the postings from sec. 18-217 in 14-point Arial, as the city asks, and a second page with the patio noise sign word for word. Print the city's code handout (link below) and your own conduct rules to go with it, and an evacuation map for each bedroom door and outside door.

Print these too

  • The city's code handout (VRR Codes, PDF): trash, noise and sea turtle rules. Required inside (sec. 18-217(d)(2)).
  • Your own conduct rules, the ones you filed with your registration (sec. 18-206). Post them by the front door.

Type what you know. Anything left empty prints as a line to write on, so it works as a blank form too. What you type stays on this phone.

INDIAN ROCKS BEACH VACATION RENTAL

Guest information

Posted as required by Indian Rocks Beach City Code sec. 18-217.

    Indian Rocks Beach City Code sec. 18-217(c)-(d). Notice made free at headedin.com/stay/rules/indian-rocks-beach/

    Page two: the patio sign, word for word from sec. 18-217(c)(4). Print one for each patio, porch or outdoor lounge.

    INDIAN ROCKS BEACH VACATION RENTAL

    "You are vacationing in a residential area. Please be a good neighbor by keeping the noise to a respectful level during the day and night. Excessive and unreasonable noise can deprive neighbors of the peaceful enjoyment of their private property."

    Indian Rocks Beach City Code sec. 18-217(c)(4).

    Prints on letter paper: the guest information (one or two pages, depending on how much you write), then the patio sign on its own page. Post the first on the inside of the front door or within 5 feet of it; the sign goes on each patio, porch or outdoor lounge.

    What the rules say

    Who needs to register
    "a vacation rental registration shall be required to operate a vacation rental… A separate vacation rental registration shall be required for each vacation rental unit."Sec. 18-204
    • Owner-occupied or homestead homes can be exempt by affidavit (sec. 18-222).
    • Fees (Resolution 2026-16, from Oct 1 2026): $600 new or renewal; business tax receipt $26.25 new, $10.50 renewal; $200 late; inspection $150, reinspection $75.
    • Good for one year from approval; renew every year with a yearly inspection (secs. 18-208 to 18-210).
    • "Newly-registering vacation rentals may not begin operating until the application process, including the associated inspection, is completed."
    • File with the Finance Director: DBPR license, Florida tax certificate, Pinellas tourist tax registration, proof of ownership, site, floor and parking plans, your conduct rules, a notarized affidavit, and proof of a Pinellas Suncoast Fire Rescue inspection.
    • No minimum stay is set in the article.
    What has to be posted, and where
    "All required postings shall be rendered in English, using a non-script font such as Times New Roman or Arial, and shall be in a font no smaller than 14-point in size."Sec. 18-217(c)

    On the inside of the front door or within 5 feet of it: your conduct rules; the most overnight guests; the owner's or responsible person's name, email and phone; quiet hours notice (10 p.m. to 7 a.m.). Evacuation maps go next to each bedroom door and each outside door.

    Somewhere prominent inside (sec. 18-217(d)): the street address and unit; the city's code handout; the most vehicles with a parking sketch; trash and recycling days and times; phone, address and directions for HCA Florida Largo Hospital and Morton Plant Hospital; Sheriff and Fire Rescue emergency and non-emergency numbers; evacuation instructions and routes; National Weather Service rip current information.

    On every patio, porch and outdoor lounge: the city's noise statement, word for word. Outside: a one-square-foot sign with the business tax receipt number and the responsible party's phone (not in the CT zone; sec. 18-215(b)).

    Guests, parking, ads and the one-hour rule
    • Guests (sec. 18-216): "two persons per bedroom, plus two additional persons may sleep in a common area"; 10 at most in the S, RM-1 and RM-2 zones, 12 in CT.
    • Parking: one on-site space per bedroom; no street or right-of-way parking (sec. 18-218).
    • Responsible person available 24/7, acting "within one hour of notice", with a two-year log of complaints (sec. 18-215).
    • Ads show the city registration number and the same "You are vacationing in a residential area" statement, and match the registered guests and parking (sec. 18-214).
    • Noise: no outdoor amplified sound 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. (sec. 18-217(b)).
    • Safety (sec. 18-220): hard-wired smoke and CO alarms, exit signs, an extinguisher on each floor, emergency lights at exits.
    Taxes
    "If you are collecting rent on any living quarters for a period of six months or less, you must: Register for a tourist development (TD) account"Pinellas County Tax Collector
    • Pinellas tourist development tax is 6%. The county lists Airbnb (since Dec 1 2015) and VRBO (since Oct 1 2018) as collecting it, and says to verify your platform does; if not, the owner pays.
    • Florida's 6% sales tax plus Pinellas's surtax go to the Department of Revenue.

    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 Indian Rocks Beach requires, so it adds no new rules. Put quiet hours, parking and the rest in your listing first.

    Official sources, read Nov 11 2026

    Plain-words summary, not legal advice. Rules and fees change, and the official page always wins. Checked Nov 11 2026.

    Help us get it right

    Host in Indian Rocks 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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