When a licensed vacation rental sells in the City of Anna Maria, the city's code says the rental license does not go with it. Under Chapter 108 of the city's vacation rental ordinance, licenses are nontransferable, they become void when the property is sold or otherwise transferred, and a license does not create vested rights. A buyer who reads the seller's booking calendar as the home's future income is reading a document the code does not carry past closing.
This affects how second-home buyers and investors compare houses on the north end. Two homes on the same street, with the same bedroom count and similar asking prices, can hold very different rental capacity. That capacity is a number assigned to each property, and it does not show up in the listing photos.
The paperwork that starts after closing
The city's forms show the steps a new owner faces. A change-in-ownership form, updated August 2026, asks for the rental address, the existing VR number, and the new owner's details. The city's application guide, updated June 2026, tells owners to upload that form through the portal and email [email protected]. The ownership form also notes that the ordinance gives some special privileges when a rental is occupied by its owner, and that owners who want them must be listed on the form.
The city's materials separate a renewal from a new license. The renewal form says to use it "ONLY" to renew an existing license. The new registration application lists these required attachments:
- A state DBPR license
- A Florida Department of Revenue sales and use tax certificate
- A Manatee County tax certificate
- Interior and exterior sketches of the property
- The property appraiser's report card
The ordinance also requires a current Certificate of Occupancy showing R-1 use before a license is issued.
Then comes the inspection. The city schedules it only after its review is finished and the applicant gets an email. A home that passes goes into a license-issuance queue that the guide says "may be backlogged at times." The city publishes no standard turnaround time. The code says the license is void on sale, yet the city also has a change-of-ownership form, so how a particular home moves from seller to buyer is a question for City Hall before closing.
Why the guest count is the real asset
The city regulates occupancy, which is the number that drives rental income. The text of Ordinance 15-807, adopted in 2015, caps a vacation rental at two people per qualifying bedroom or eight occupants in total, whichever is lower, and the eight includes day guests. When more than one dwelling sits on a lot, the cap applies to the whole lot.
Under that text, a six-bedroom house and a four-bedroom house can have the same eight-guest ceiling. Bedrooms past the fourth add space, but under the cap they add no rentable capacity.
The city's own fee schedule complicates that reading. Resolution R26-828 sets registration fees for April 1, 2026 through March 31, 2027 at $100.20 per occupant, and its table runs from 4 occupants up to 29. The resolution says "Occupancy" in that table means the maximum occupancy allowed under each rental's registration.
The Anna Maria Island Sun reported in 2023 where the higher numbers come from. Fees follow the 2015 ordinance and also roughly 100 Bert Harris claim settlements reached in 2016 and 2017, which allow higher total occupancies at specific vacation rental properties.
So the city holds two groups of rentals. Most work within the ordinance's limit of eight. About a hundred have settlement-based occupancies that can be well above it. A buyer comparing a 16-guest listing with an 8-guest listing nearby is comparing two legal positions, and the guest count may matter more than finishes or lot size.
The fee table reflects that gap. The Sun's February 2025 report listed the 2025–26 fees, and the 2026–27 figures below apply R26-828's $100.20 rate.
| Permitted occupants | 2025–26 annual fee | 2026–27 annual fee |
|---|---|---|
| 4 | $419.12 | $400.80 |
| 8 | $838.24 | $801.60 |
| 16 | $1,676.48 | $1,603.20 |
| 29 | $3,038.62 | $2,905.80 |
The fees are small next to island prices. What the table shows is that the city treats occupancy as its basic unit. The resolution says higher permitted occupancy takes more time and expense to regulate. Florida law lets the city recover its enforcement costs through the fee, but the fee is not supposed to make a profit.
The city's sources don't say whether a settlement-based occupancy survives a sale, a rebuild, or a major renovation. The ordinance does require a license modification for proposed increases in square footage, bedrooms, maximum occupancy, parking, bathrooms, or anything else that raises use intensity. That matters on an island where many homes are still being repaired or rebuilt after the 2024 storms.
Why the April 1 date matters
The registration year runs from April 1 to March 31, and annual inspections start at the beginning of that cycle. In 2025, Commissioner Charlie Salem noted that this falls in peak tourist season and asked whether it could move. City Clerk/Treasurer LeAnne Addy said the date is set in a city ordinance, so changing it would take an ordinance amendment, as the Anna Maria Island Sun reported.
The inspections focus on life safety. Mayor Mark Short told the commission that inspectors check pool fences, pool alarms, smoke detectors, lights, railings, and similar items. Owners get a short window to fix a violation, and the license is held until the problem is cured. "We're not going to be granting licenses to rent if those safety factors are not met to our satisfaction," Short said, according to the Sun's account. The ordinance requires an initial inspection and at least one reinspection a year.
The city contracts these inspections to West Florida Home Inspections. A buyer under contract on a home with a pool, a canal, or older railings is buying a property that will go through this checklist, and the license depends on passing it.
A smaller pool of licensed homes
The Sun's February 2025 report cited 759 registered vacation rental units in Anna Maria as of Dec. 31. R26-828 states that the city had 720 registered vacation rental properties as of February 13, 2026. One figure counts units and the other counts properties, at different times, so they don't measure a precise decline. Either way, the city licenses more than 700 rentals, and each one carries its own guest number.
The resolution also explains why the city tracks occupancy so closely. It describes new structures with six or more bedrooms that were later used as vacation rentals, without notice to the city, for as many as twenty-two or more guests at one time. The ordinance says its purpose is to address life-safety and compatibility concerns, not to ban rentals or limit how long or how often they are rented.
Why the state hasn't changed the system
Florida law limits what cities can do here. The 2014 version of section 509.032 says a local law "may not prohibit vacation rentals or regulate the duration or frequency of rental of vacation rentals." It exempts local rules adopted on or before June 1, 2011. Anna Maria regulates occupancy, safety, and registration instead, and the city's own ordinance materials describe how its rules developed within that framework.
Proposals to change the statewide rules keep failing. SB 280, a 2024 bill to shift vacation rental regulation toward the state, was vetoed on June 27, 2024. In 2026, CS/CS/SB 658 would have required alarms or self-latching doors at rentals near water and pool-safety features at rentals with pools, according to the enrolled bill text. It passed the Senate and died in House messages on March 13, 2026. As this post publishes, the city's ordinance and fee resolution still govern how Anna Maria rentals are licensed.
Questions to put to the city before you write an offer
Because so much depends on one home's file, these questions apply to that home specifically:
- What maximum occupancy does the city have on record for this VR number, and does it come from the ordinance or from a settlement?
- Will a new owner file the change-in-ownership form, a new registration application, or both?
- When was the last inspection, and were any safety items flagged?
- Has any work on the home raised square footage, bedrooms, or bathrooms in a way that needs a license modification?
- Is there a current Certificate of Occupancy showing R-1 use?
This post is general information about published city and state rules, not legal, tax, or financial advice. Confirm your own property's status with the City of Anna Maria and with your attorney or tax professional before relying on any of it.
If you're comparing Anna Maria rentals and want help reading a property's guest count, license history, and inspection record before you set a price, The Orns Solution can work through those questions with you during contract negotiations. Contact Us.
