Vacation rental registration — Sebastian, Florida

In Sebastian, a vacation rental is any home rented more than three times in a calendar year for stays under 30 days, or advertised as regularly rented for under 30 days, under Land Development Code Section 54-2-7.22.

The City of Sebastian borrowed its definition from Florida Statute 509.013, and the code cites that statute in the definition itself (Sebastian LDC 54-2-7.22). The section also defines a peer-to-peer or platform entity as any person, business or marketplace that gives owners, tenants and agents a way to offer vacation rentals, online or otherwise. The Sebastian rules date to Ordinance O-18-08, recorded on Municode with the date September 12, 2018.

The state uses the same threshold. Florida's Division of Hotels and Restaurants requires a license when an entire unit is rented more than three times in a calendar year for less than 30 days or one calendar month, whichever is less, or is held out as a place regularly rented to guests (Florida DBPR). A Sebastian house, townhouse or duplex unit falls under the Vacation Rental Dwelling license, and a unit in a condominium or cooperative falls under the Vacation Rental Condominium license. Renting only a room, not the whole unit, does not need a state license, though DBPR notes that city and county rules may still apply.

One kind of Sebastian dwelling is excluded entirely. The accessory dwelling unit rules adopted in 2025 prohibit leasing an ADU for transient short-term rentals as defined in Section 54-2-7.22(1)(a) (Sebastian LDC 54-2-7.23), so a unit permitted as an ADU cannot be operated as a vacation rental.

Each Sebastian vacation rental unit needs its own registration form, filed with the Building Department at City Hall, 1225 Main Street, along with the business tax application, and must pass a city life safety inspection before the business tax receipt issues.

The owner or the rental manager files a separate registration form for each unit. Registration is managed by the Community Development Department with other city, local and state agencies, and the form, supplemental to the local business tax application, goes to the Building Department (Sebastian LDC 54-2-7.22). A registration can transfer to a new owner who files updated information and assumes the obligations on a city form. The Sebastian Building Department lists the Vacation Rental Application Package among its services (City of Sebastian Building Department), and Community Development lists the same package on its applications page (City of Sebastian Applications and Forms).

The inspection is the step that gates the receipt. Prior to issuance of a business tax receipt, a city building inspector conducts a life safety inspection of the unit for compliance with Section 54-2-7.22. The applicant must also acknowledge contacting any property owners, homeowners or condo association and being aware of private restrictions that may affect a Sebastian vacation rental (Sebastian LDC 54-2-7.22).

The business tax receipt follows the city calendar. Sebastian sells and renews receipts beginning July 1, they are due by September 30 and expire September 30 of the next year, and a receipt not renewed is charged 10 percent for October plus 5 percent a month after that, up to 25 percent (City of Sebastian Business Tax Receipt page). A new receipt issued between April 1 and September 30 costs half the regular annual tax.

A Sebastian vacation rental may sleep two persons per bedroom plus two, never more than ten, and park one car per bedroom plus one outside the garage, never more than five.

The occupancy cap applies whether the home is on public sewer or a septic system, and the limit is printed on the Sebastian local license (Sebastian LDC 54-2-7.22). Cars parked outside a garage or carport must sit on a permitted, improved or stabilized driveway, not in a required yard, and guests may not park in the road right-of-way except on that driveway; parked cars cannot block sidewalks. Boats and recreational vehicles follow the city's general rules in Section 54-2-7.13.

The table applies the code's two formulas; for a three-bedroom Sebastian house, 2 times 3 plus 2 gives eight guests and 3 plus 1 gives four cars. A bedroom, for these rules, is any room used principally for sleeping that meets building code requirements for a bedroom.

Quiet hours are written into the registration. The acknowledgment form and the posted notice both carry the Sebastian noise rule: no excessive noise that would cause annoyance to any reasonable person of normal sensitivity from 11:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. (Sebastian LDC 54-2-7.22).

A registered Sebastian vacation rental must keep a set of notices posted inside the unit, print its business tax receipt number and limits in every advertisement, and report manager changes within ten days.

The posted notices go up before the city inspection and stay up: the property address, the manager's contact information, the maximum number of parked cars and boats and the approved parking spots, trash and recycling pick-up days and how to set out containers, the noise rule, the location of smoke alarms, emergency lighting and the fire extinguisher, emergency information, and the maximum sleeping occupancy (Sebastian LDC 54-2-7.22).

Listings carry the same limits. Any Sebastian vacation rental advertisement or rental offering must state the local business tax receipt number, the occupancy limit, the maximum number of vehicles allowed outside a garage or carport, and the noise statement. Changes in the rental manager or the manager's contact details must reach the Building Department within ten days of the change, and each year the operator submits a copy of a valid current state license when renewing the business tax receipt.

The fire safety items required for the state license must be in the unit, and a carbon monoxide alarm is added when Section R315 of the Florida Building Code, Residential, requires one (Sebastian LDC 54-2-7.22). Owners who ran rentals when the rules arrived were given until December 31, 2018 to obtain a Sebastian business tax receipt and comply in full.

The 2018 ordinance also set out how the city enforces the section. Operators who did not comply within the first three months were to receive a citation under Section 54-1-2.2 of the Sebastian code, and once cited had 30 days to come into compliance or face a fine set by the special magistrate (Sebastian LDC 54-2-7.22). Owners who believed the new rules impaired a written rental contract in effect on or before September 12, 2018 could submit it to the Sebastian community development director by December 31, 2018, with appeals following Land Development Code Section 54-1-2.5(d). The acknowledgment form every Sebastian operator signs still lists fines and citation penalties for violations among the city requirements.

Sebastian vacation rentals collect Indian River County's 5 percent tourist development tax plus state sales tax, and state law limits how far the city can restrict rentals.

The tourist tax account is one of the registration items. The Indian River County Clerk states that anyone offering accommodations for short-term rental of six months or less must collect the tax, at 5 percent of total taxable rental receipts, and that owners also collect the 7 percent state sales tax; a renter with a bona fide written lease over six months is exempt (Indian River County Clerk).

Florida Statute 509.032 says a local law, ordinance or regulation may not prohibit vacation rentals or regulate the duration or frequency of rental, and exempts local laws adopted on or before June 1, 2011 (Florida Statutes 509.032). Sebastian's 2018 section regulates registration, inspection, occupancy, parking, noise and advertising rather than banning rentals or setting minimum stays.

Questions about a specific Sebastian unit go to the Building Department at 1225 Main Street, phone 772-589-5537, open Monday through Friday 8 am to 4:30 pm and closed noon to 1 pm (City of Sebastian Building Department).

Last verified: October 11, 2026, on the City of Sebastian website.