The three things to know
A yearly vacation rental certificate: $250 new, $150 to renew plus a $75 inspection, renewals due Oct 1. Upload an affidavit, your DBPR license, Bay County tourist tax registration and city business tax receipt. You can keep renting while you wait for the fire inspection.
On or next to the main entrance door, or on the fridge: the address, the responsible party's name and phone, the most guests from your certificate, a warning about noise, parking and occupancy citations, trash days, the nearest ER and 911, Leave No Trace and beach flags, and an evacuation map. Plus a sign or decal outside.
5% Bay County tourist tax, filed monthly by the 20th with the Bay County Tax Collector (it took over Oct 1 2026). Its FAQ: Airbnb and VRBO don't remit it, so you do. Plus 6% Florida sales tax and Bay's 1% surtax.
Print the door notice
This prints the notice from City Code sec. 8-183(g)(1). Post it with the city's beach flag and Leave No Trace sheets (links below) and a building evacuation map.
The city's sheets (print them as they are)
- Beach flag sheet (city PDF) and Leave No Trace sheet (city PDF): required with the notice (sec. 8-183(g)(1)(g)).
- City compliance guidelines (PDF).
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Welcome. Please read.
Posted as required by Panama City Beach City Code sec. 8-183(g)(1).
Prints one letter page. Post it on the back of or next to the main entrance door, or on the fridge, with the beach flag and Leave No Trace sheets and an evacuation map.
What the rules say
Who needs the certificate
"It is unlawful for any person to offer for rent... as a Vacation Rental within the City unless the person has been issued a Vacation Rental Certificate."Sec. 8-183
- Condos and 1 to 4 family homes rented more than 3 times a year for under 30 days. One certificate per unit.
- Fees (city page): $250 new; $150 renewal plus $75 inspection; $75 reinspection; $100 lock-out. Late renewals add $25, $50 or $100; after 90 days you register again.
- Renewals are due by October 1 each year. A new owner registers again.
- Fire inspection by the city, yearly; the city says "You may continue renting your unit while awaiting inspection."
- Fines: $500, then $1,000, then $1,000 and a year's revocation.
- Unincorporated Bay County has its own separate rules.
What has to be posted, inside and out
"On the back of or next to the main entrance door or on the refrigerator, the following information shall be provided"Sec. 8-183(g)(1)
- The unit's address.
- The responsible party's name and phone.
- The maximum occupancy on your certificate: 150 square feet per person for 1 and 2 family homes, 200 for others unless the fire inspector allows 150.
- That breaking the noise, parking and occupancy rules may bring tickets or citations.
- Trash days, and that trash stays in the containers provided.
- The nearest hospital with an ER, and to call 911.
- Leave No Trace rules, beach safety and the flag system, and the penalties.
- A building evacuation map, at least 8½ by 11.
Three or more floors: an evacuation map by each bedroom door on the third floor and up. Outside (sec. 8-183(g)(3)): a sign readable from the street, or a decal for condos, with the responsible party's name, 24/7 number and the certificate number.
Responsible party, ads and High Impact Periods
- Responsible party: reachable 24/7, at the unit "within one (1) hour following notification," and checks it weekly, parking and trash included.
- Ads: the certificate number on every listing, and nothing false about guests or parking. The city business tax receipt number goes on listings too (sec. 14-31).
- High Impact Periods (added 2025): no renters under 21 with some exceptions, guest ID records, written notice to guests, and fines up to $1,000.
Taxes
"Does Airbnb/VRBO remit the 5%... The short answer is no."Bay County Tax Collector, tourist development tax FAQ
- 5% tourist development tax in the city and along the beach, filed monthly by the 20th with the Bay County Tax Collector (since Oct 1 2026; the city code still names the Clerk), zero returns too.
- Florida sales tax 6% plus Bay County's 1% surtax go to the Department of Revenue.
- The city business tax receipt is 1% of rental sales, $50 a year minimum.
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 Panama City 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
- City of Panama City Beach: short-term rentals
- City Code sec. 8-183 (code library)
- Compliance guidelines (PDF)
- Posting template (city)
- City business registration
- Bay County Tax Collector: tourist tax
- Bay County Tax Collector: tourist tax FAQ
- Florida statewide rules (our page)
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 Panama City 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.
More free tools for hosts
- Guest guidebook: a fridge QR that opens your house notes plus live local info.
- Next Guest: a new door code for every guest, set up once.
- Checkout list check: fix your list for Airbnb's Nov 20 chore rule.
- Cleaner turnover text: one message per guest, ready to send.
- Door code times for Vrbo and Booking.com guests.
- Staff code list: cleaner and owner codes, printable.
- Restock list: count it, get the shopping list.
- Wi-Fi QR card: guests point the camera and they're online.
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