- April 23, 2024
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After a lengthy wait for the state to review Flagler County’s policy on vacation rentals, the Ocean Hammock Property Owners Association got the news it didn’t want: Flagler County cannot intervene to stop the use of single-family homes as vacation rentals.
“This is basically what we expected,” Ocean Hammock POA Vice President Francis Evans said. “This is the law, and we’re trying to deal with it.”
The Ocean Hammock POA has been fighting businesses like Vacation Rental Pros, which rent out local single-family homes to as many as two dozen people. But a state law passed in 2011 allowing people to rent out their homes has stymied their efforts, and appeals to the Flagler County Board of County Commissioners have been ineffective because the law restricts the county from acting against the rental companies.
The county brought the matter before State Attorney General Pam Bondi.
“In seeking guidance from the Attorney General’s Office, the goal of the county was to receive a thorough and unbiased review of issues,” attorney Al Hadeed said in a news release, “to ensure that Flagler County is operating within the parameters of the new law.”
In a memo to the county last week, Bondi wrote: “The clear language of section 509.032(7), Florida Statutes, prohibits any local regulation on or after June 1, 2011, based upon the use of a residence as a vacation rental.”
Despite the disappointment for the Ocean Hammock POA, Evans said some residents are pinning their hopes on the state — specifically, on bills Sen. John Thrasher and Rep. Travis Hutson said they’d file in an attempt to repeal the vacation rental statute.
Thrasher and Hutson made the announcement at an Oct. 16 legislative delegation meeting where Ocean Hammock POA members packed the seats at the Government Services Building, wearing red to show their opposition to the statute that had deregulated the rentals. At the meeting, Thrasher and Hutson said the statute, designed to help struggling homeowners, had had unintended consequences.
“We’re hoping for Sen. Thrasher and Rep. Hutson to file that bill,” Evans said. "Now it’s just a matter of seeing what happens with the legislation.”
