St. Augustine · Northeast Florida
Property Management in St. Augustine, FL — Airbnb & Short-Term Rentals
Vacation rental and Airbnb management in St. Augustine, where the zoning district sets the shortest stay: nightly in some districts, a week in RS-1 and RS-2, a month in HP-1. We match each home to its rule.
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What we deliver
Full-service management in St. Augustine
Florida Hosts is a full-service St. Augustine property management company — Airbnb and short-term rental management, plus mid-term and long-term rentals: the listing and photography, nightly pricing, 24/7 guest communication, and cleaning and maintenance by our own staff. Our fee is 18–25% of booking revenue, quoted in writing before you sign. We manage homes across St. Augustine and St. Johns County.
See all services →Why Florida Hosts in St. Augustine
- Every vacation rental registers with the city each year and passes a fire inspection
- RS-1 and RS-2 homes rent for a week or longer; nightly stays are not allowed there
- HP-1 historic district homes rent by the month or longer
- Two guests per bedroom plus two children, never more than 12
- Castillo de San Marcos and Flagler College in the historic downtown
Explore St. Augustine
Where we manage in and around St. Augustine
Every area, landmark and institution around St. Augustine has its own demand profile and guest mix. These are the ones we manage into.
Ponte Vedra Beach
Vacation rental and Airbnb management in Ponte Vedra Beach, home of TPC Sawgrass, run to St. Johns County's short-term rental registration, the 10-guest cap and the Ponte Vedra zoning district's own limits.
ExploreSt. Augustine Beach
Vacation rental and Airbnb management in St. Augustine Beach, where short stays are limited to medium-density districts, capped citywide and tied to a city business tax receipt and yearly rental report.
ExploreFernandina Beach
Vacation rental and Airbnb management in Fernandina Beach on Amelia Island, where every rental under 30 days needs a city resort rental dwelling permit and zoning decides which homes can get one.
ExploreJacksonville
Airbnb, vacation rental and furnished-stay management across Jacksonville, near Mayo Clinic, the downtown hospitals and NAS Jacksonville.
ExploreJacksonville Beach
Airbnb and vacation rental management for Jacksonville Beach homes and condos, run to the city's registration certificate, fire inspection, parking and occupancy rules and Duval County's 6% tourist tax.
ExploreLocal vs. national
The St. Augustine advantage: local knowledge at every level
National platforms run algorithms, not relationships — pricing from national datasets, turnovers by whoever is free, and support with no feel for your market. We price St. Augustine around its own seasons and events, and our own cleaners and maintenance staff look after the homes.
Short-term rental and Airbnb management in St. Augustine
St. Augustine’s rental homes sit around a Spanish colonial fort and a historic downtown, and the city regulates them district by district. A cottage in a residential RS-1 neighborhood, a house in the HP-1 historic preservation district and a condo in a mixed-use district can each have a different shortest legal stay. Getting that right is the first job of property management in St. Augustine.
Because of those zoning lines, our short-term rental management here is really three products. Nightly vacation rental where the district allows it, week-long stays in RS-1 and RS-2, and furnished monthly stays in HP-1. All three need the same city registration and yearly fire inspection.
Where guests come from
Guests come for the historic downtown. The Castillo de San Marcos, run by the National Park Service, is the oldest masonry fort in the continental United States, built by the Spanish to defend Florida and the Atlantic trade route. Flagler College occupies Henry Flagler’s former Hotel Ponce de Leon at 74 King Street and has been a college since 1968, which brings visiting families through the school year.
Nearby, Anastasia State Park has more than 1,600 acres of beach, tidal marsh and dunes, and the Saint Augustine Amphitheatre stands nearby for concerts. Guests flying in can use Jacksonville International Airport (JAX).
St. Augustine short-term rental rules
St. Augustine Code Chapter 28, Division 2, adopted by Ordinance 19-50 in January 2020, treats “short-term rental” and “vacation rental” as the same thing. Every vacation rental registers with the city each year with a floor plan, parking plan, the manager’s contact details and the zoning district, and the city verifies the information on site. The city’s FAQ says renewals are due by October 1 and the St. Augustine Fire Department inspects at registration and every year after.
Occupancy is two people per bedroom plus two children under 18, never more than 12 (§28-148). Visitors who are not counted must leave between 10:00 p.m. and 8:00 a.m. Each bedroom needs a primary and secondary way out, every unit needs a smoke alarm, a carbon monoxide alarm and a fire extinguisher, and occupancy, visiting hours, trash days and evacuation information must be posted. Each bedroom rented needs one stabilized parking space (§28-151). When the city relays a complaint, the manager has 30 minutes to acknowledge it (§28-154).
Zoning sets the minimum stay. Under §28-155, nightly rentals are a motel use, which the RS-1 and RS-2 districts have excluded since 1975; Ordinance 2010-24 lets those homes rent for a week or longer with registration, and §28-158 voids the registration if a gathering of 20 or more people takes place. Under §28-156, HP-1 properties rent monthly or longer (Ordinance 1989-51), and boats used as rentals need a city submerged land lease. Both rules were adopted before June 1, 2011, the cut-off date in §509.032(7)(b) for local limits on how long or how often vacation rentals are rented.
Taxes on St. Augustine vacation rentals
Stays of six months or less carry Florida’s 6% sales tax under §212.03 and St. Johns County’s 0.5% discretionary sales surtax on the DR-15DSS for 2026.
St. Johns County adds a 5% tourist development tax, shown on the state’s DR-15TDT chart as collected by the county. That means a separate county account and return alongside the state filing.
How Florida Hosts manages St. Augustine rentals
Augustine rentals
In St. Augustine we confirm the zoning district first, then set the minimum stay, register the home, prepare it for the fire inspection and keep the 30-minute complaint line covered.
Our Airbnb management covers pricing, listings and 24/7 guest communication, with our own cleaning and maintenance staff. Short stays in St. Augustine are managed for 18–25% of booking revenue, quoted in writing before you sign. For HP-1 homes and others suited to longer stays, we manage mid-term and long-term rentals with licensed brokers handling the leasing. A free rental projection arrives within one business day.
Free projection · about a minute
What could your St. Augustine property earn?
Send us the address and we'll come back with real numbers for it, from a person on our team, within one business day.
Free, no obligation. Prefer to talk? Call (321) 321-2348
Step 1 of 4 · Address
What’s the address of your property?
We’ll pull real, comparable Florida listings to build your projection.
The rules
St. Augustine vacation rental rules
Every St. Augustine vacation rental registers with the city each year, with details verified on site, and passes an annual fire and life-safety inspection (Code §§28-146–28-147, Ord. 19-50). Occupancy is two per bedroom plus two children, capped at 12; each bedroom needs two means of escape; one stabilized parking space is required per bedroom; and complaints must be acknowledged within 30 minutes. Minimum stays follow zoning: one week in RS-1 and RS-2 (Ord. 2010-24), one month in HP-1 (Ord. 1989-51), and nightly in other districts. Large gatherings of 20 or more are banned at RS-1 and RS-2 rentals.
Sources: City of St. Augustine Code Ch. 28, Art. III, Div. 2 — Vacation Rentals, §§28-145–28-156 (Municode) (checked October 2026); City of St. Augustine Code §28-158 — Short term rental of dwelling units in RS-1 and RS-2 (Municode) (checked October 2026); City of St. Augustine — Short-Term Rentals FAQ (checked October 2026)
Rules change, so always confirm the current position for your address — we will tell you exactly what applies.
- In Florida, a home rented to guests more than three times in a calendar year for stays of less than 30 consecutive days — or advertised as regularly available for such stays — is a transient public lodging establishment.Fla. Stat. §509.013(4)(a)1 (2026)
- A condominium or cooperative unit, or a house of up to four units, that is a transient public lodging establishment (and not a timeshare) is a "vacation rental" under Florida law.Fla. Stat. §509.242(1)(c) (2026)
- Each public lodging establishment, vacation rentals included, must hold a license from the Division of Hotels and Restaurants of the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR).Fla. Stat. §§509.013(1), 509.241(1) (2026)
- A Florida local law may not prohibit vacation rentals or regulate how long or how often they are rented — unless that local law was adopted on or before June 1, 2011.Fla. Stat. §509.032(7)(b) (2026)
Northeast Florida
Nearby areas we manage
Common questions
St. Augustine vacation rental management — FAQs
Is Airbnb legal in St. Augustine?
Yes, with city registration, and the minimum stay depends on zoning. The city's FAQ says homes in RS-1 and RS-2 may be rented for periods of one week or longer, homes in HP-1 for a month or longer, and homes in all other zoning districts nightly, in every case with an approved registration. Code §28-155 explains that nightly rentals count as a motel use, which RS-1 and RS-2 have not allowed since 1975. A Florida DBPR license is also required.
What taxes apply to short-term rentals in St. Augustine?
Stays of six months or less carry Florida's 6% sales tax (§212.03), St. Johns County's 0.5% discretionary sales surtax (DR-15DSS, 2026) and St. Johns County's 5% tourist development tax (DR-15TDT), which is paid to the county.
How many guests can stay in a St. Augustine vacation rental?
St. Augustine Code §28-148 allows two people per bedroom plus two children under 18, with a hard cap of 12 including children. Daytime visitors who are not counted must leave between 10:00 p.m. and 8:00 a.m. (§28-149).
Does a St. Augustine vacation rental need parking?
Yes. Code §28-151 requires at least one stabilized parking space per bedroom offered for rent, on paving, gravel or similar, not dirt or grass. If on-site parking is not possible, the owner can apply to the planning and zoning board for off-site parking, which may include municipal garage permits.
What happens if a neighbor complains?
Under Code §28-154, when the city sends a complaint the owner or property manager named on the registration must acknowledge it within 30 minutes. Failing to respond is itself a violation and can lead to code enforcement or loss of the registration.
Every service we run here
What we manage in St. Augustine
Short-term rental management is the heart of what we do in St. Augustine, and we manage mid-term and long-term rentals here too — with licensed brokers for the leasing.
Free projection · about a minute
Ready to put your St. Augustine home to work?
A free rental projection built from real comparable listings near you — within one business day.
Free, no obligation. Prefer to talk? Call (321) 321-2348
Step 1 of 4 · Address
What’s the address of your property?
We’ll pull real, comparable Florida listings to build your projection.
Talk to us about your St. Augustine property
Get a free rental projection — or call and ask us anything about your home.
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