Mid-Term Rentals in Miami 2026: The 30-Day and Six-Month Rules

Last updated: August 2026

A mid-term rental in Miami is a furnished unit leased for roughly 30 days to six months. It sits in a legal gap defined by two numbers doing two different jobs.

The first is 30 days. Florida defines a transient public lodging establishment as a unit rented to guests more than three times in a calendar year for periods of less than 30 days or one calendar month, whichever is less [2]. That is the hook most short-term rental ordinances hang on, and Miami-Dade's rules reach dwellings rented for periods of less than 30 days [9]. Write a 30-day-or-longer lease and you generally step outside that category.

The second is six months. Florida's 6 percent state sales tax applies to rental charges for periods of six months or less, and the exemption requires a bona fide written lease for continuous residence longer than six months [1]. Thirty days does nothing for you here.

So: a 30-plus-day furnished lease usually sits outside the toughest municipal short-term rental ordinances while remaining fully inside Florida's transient rental tax regime. Investors who assume one threshold governs both are the ones who get an assessment letter.

The two thresholds, side by side

Thirty days: the licensing and land-use line

Florida treats occupancy as transient when the parties intend it to be temporary, and sets the establishment definition at periods of less than 30 days or one calendar month, whichever is less, more than three times a year [2]. Ordinances built on that line stop applying once your term clears it. In unincorporated Miami-Dade, the county's short-term vacation rental program, with its certificate of use, annual renewal, inspection, and escalating penalties, is written against rentals of less than 30 days [9].

Six months: the tax line

Florida's Tourist Development Tax statute describes the taxable privilege as renting living quarters for a term of six months or less [11]. The Department of Revenue applies the same rule to state sales tax and gives two ways out: a bona fide written lease for continuous residence longer than six months, or continuous residence past six months where tax was paid on the first six, after which month seven forward is exempt [1].

The second path is not retroactive. A tenant who stays seven months without a written lease over six months still owed tax on months one through six.

What the taxes add up to in Miami-Dade

On a rental of six months or less in Miami-Dade you are generally looking at three layers stacked on rent:

6 percent Florida state sales tax [1]
1 percent Miami-Dade discretionary sales surtax [5], and the usual $5,000 surtax cap does not apply to transient rental charges [1]
6 percent county local option transient rental tax, made up of a 3 percent Convention Development Tax, a 2 percent Tourist Development Tax, and a 1 percent Professional Sports Franchise Facility tax [3]

Miami-Dade self-administers its local option tax, so that portion is remitted to the county while state sales tax and surtax go to the Department of Revenue [1]. The county rate is not uniform: the state rate table shows 6 percent for most of Miami-Dade, 7 percent for Miami Beach, and 4 percent for Surfside and Bal Harbour [4].

That is roughly 13 percent on top of rent across most of the county. It is a pass-through you collect and remit, not an expense, but it shapes what a tenant will pay. Decide whether you quote rent tax-inclusive or tax-additional, and put it in the lease.

Where the regulatory advantage stops

Municipal codes are not uniform, and some predate the state preemption

Florida law says a local ordinance may not prohibit vacation rentals or regulate their duration or frequency, but that preemption does not apply to any local law adopted on or before June 1, 2011 [7]. Longstanding municipal restrictions survive.

Miami Beach is the clearest example, and it breaks the 30-day assumption entirely. The city defines a vacation or short-term rental as a rental of less than six months and one day, prohibits it in single-family homes citywide, and prohibits it in many multifamily zoning districts [6]. A 30-day furnished lease in most of Miami Beach is not a mid-term rental in the city's eyes. It is an illegal short-term rental.

Notice the consequence. The city's compliant minimum, six months and one day, also clears the Florida tax exemption for a bona fide written lease longer than six months [1]. In Miami Beach the strategy collapses into a six-month-plus furnished lease, with no transient tax and no nightly upside. Underwrite it that way or not at all. Every municipality writes its own rules: Brickell sits in the City of Miami, and Coral Gables, Pinecrest, Key Biscayne, and Aventura each differ. Check the city, not the county.

The condo documents are usually the real gate

In a Miami condo tower the binding constraint is almost never the city code. It is the declaration and the association rules: minimum lease terms of 30 days, 90 days, six months, or a year, caps on leases per unit per year, a waiting period after purchase, and board approval with an application fee and interview.

Florida law gives existing owners some protection. An amendment prohibiting rentals, altering the rental term, or limiting how often an owner may rent applies only to owners who consent and to owners who take title after its effective date [8]. That protects your current rights and does nothing for the unit you are about to buy, because you take title after every amendment already on the books. Read the declaration, the rules, and two years of board minutes before your deposit goes hard.

Who rents mid-term

Demand comes from defined-duration assignments rather than vacations: traveling clinicians on 13-week contracts, corporate relocations and project staff, seasonal residents, and owners displaced by a renovation or between a sale and a purchase. What they share is a fixed end date and a preference for a furnished unit with utilities and internet already on. That is the product you sell.

How the underwriting differs

Mid-term is not short-term on a longer calendar. The cost structure differs.

Gross rent. Below nightly rates annualized, above an unfurnished annual lease.

Turnover. This is the whole argument. A nightly operation runs dozens of turnovers a year; a 60 to 120 day lease program runs a handful. Each one avoided is a deep clean, restaging, listing cycle, and gap avoided.

Vacancy. Do not model full occupancy. An empty furnished unit still burns HOA dues, insurance, taxes, and utilities.

Furnishing capital. A real outlay before the first dollar of rent, plus replacement. Ask your CPA how it is capitalized and depreciated.

Operating stack. Utilities, internet, and often cleaning are included in rent. In a condo, add application, move-in, and move-out fees several times a year.

Management. Furnished mid-term management prices between annual-lease and nightly rates. Get written quotes.

One illustrative way to hold it together, using arithmetic rather than market data. Index an unfurnished annual lease at 100 units of gross scheduled rent. Suppose the furnished program bills 130, then loses 10 to vacancy between leases, 12 to included utilities, internet, and cleaning, and 6 to the management spread and turnover cost. You land near 102, before furnishing capital and monthly tax filings. The strategy wins only when the furnished premium in your building is large enough, and vacancy short enough, to clear that stack. Run it building by building.

Insurance

Insurers use the same statutory language the regulators do. Citizens states that a property is not eligible for personal residential multiperil coverage if it is rented to guests more than three times in a calendar year for periods of less than 30 days or one calendar month, whichever is less, or is advertised as regularly rented to guests [10]. A 30-day floor keeps you on the right side of that test.

Tell your carrier in writing exactly how the unit will be used, because a use the policy does not contemplate is a claim denial waiting to happen. Confirm your furnishings are covered as landlord personal property, since a dwelling policy written for an unfurnished rental may carry thin contents limits, and confirm loss of rents coverage and a liability limit fit for a tenant-occupied dwelling. Flood is always separate.

Financing

These are financed as investment property. Check the current weekly average at the Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey [12] and get a written quote, rather than modeling off a rate you read somewhere. Label any rate in your model an illustration.

Frequently asked questions

Does a 30-day lease avoid Florida transient rental tax?

No. The tax line is six months, not 30 days. Florida's 6 percent state sales tax applies to rental periods of six months or less, plus surtax and the county local option transient rental tax [1]. A 30-day lease clears most short-term rental ordinances and stays fully taxable.

What is the shortest lease that is exempt from the transient rental tax?

Exemption comes from a bona fide written lease for continuous residence longer than six months. Alternatively, where a person has continuously resided at the accommodation longer than six months and tax was paid on the first six, month seven forward is exempt [1]. Have a Florida real estate attorney or CPA review your lease form before relying on it.

Can a condo association block a mid-term rental even if the city allows it?

Yes, and in Miami towers that is usually the deciding constraint. Amendments restricting leasing bind owners who consent and those who take title afterward [8], so a buyer inherits every restriction already recorded.

Is a mid-term rental legal in Miami Beach at 30 days?

Generally no. Miami Beach defines a vacation or short-term rental as a rental of less than six months and one day and prohibits it in single-family homes citywide and in many multifamily districts [6].

Do I need a state vacation rental license for a 30-day rental?

The vacation rental category is tied to transient public lodging, which Florida defines by periods of less than 30 days or one calendar month, whichever is less, rented more than three times a year [2]. A unit leased for 30 days or longer generally falls outside it, but licensing is fact-specific. Confirm with the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation and with counsel.

If you are weighing a specific building, the declaration and the municipal code matter more than the pro forma. Send me the address and I will pull the leasing restrictions and city rules before you write an offer, or start with a buyer consultation if you are still choosing a submarket.

Gabriel

Sources

---

Gabriel A. Moyers, PA. eXp Realty. Florida License #3407280. Equal Housing Opportunity. This article is general information as of August 2026 and is not legal, tax, or financial advice. Verify current figures against authoritative sources before acting.