- April 26, 2024
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A crowd at the Flagler County Commission chamber for a legislative delegation meeting cheered Wednesday night when state Sen. John Thrasher and Rep. Travis Hutson announced they’d file bills to repeal a statute that lets people fill single-family homes with dozens of renters.
“This law was passed about two years ago ... when the economy was down, and probably it sounded like the right thing to do and looked like the fair thing to do,” Thrasher said. “There have been unintended consequences, and it’s been reflected in the testimony we’ve heard here.”
The chamber’s seats were packed and its rear standing room area filled with people, most of them wearing red shirts in support of the Ocean Hammock Property Owners Association's fight against the statute.
Before Thrasher and Hutson made their announcement, people on both sides of the issue took to the podium.
“What’s transpired over the past few years is that single-family residences have been converted into mini-hotels,” Ocean Hammock Property Owners Association President Paul Pershes said. “The state law for vacation rentals that was put into place is really hurting us dramatically.”
Ocean Hammock resident Jim Ulsamer said the people running the rentals don’t live in the community, and therefore don’t have to deal with the consequences.
“We’ve got dozens of people crammed into these small buildings. The parking lots and garages are overloaded,” he said. If a fire broke out in one of those buildings, Ulsamer said, “The inhabitants would be like marshmallows toasting around a campfire, because they couldn’t get out.”
Resident Bill White asked Thrasher what he’d do if people got killed, and if a reporter showed up demanding answers.
“One of the worst scenarios you can have, I think, even as a state senator, is, ‘Mr. Thrasher, there’s somebody from 'Dateline' who wants to see you in the office.’ What are you going to say to them? Have you thought about that?” White said.
The dangerous conditions also leave the county at risk of a lawsuit, he said.
“When people die, people are going to be sued,” he said. “Who’s going to pay? The residents of Flagler County are going to pay — that’s who’s going to pay.”
Many of the Ocean Hammock rentals have been handled by Vacation Rental Pros, whose owner, Steve Milo, took the podium to defend his business.
Milo said he had more than 100 letters from out-of-state property owners who couldn’t attend, but pay their property taxes and HOA dues and had purchased those properties in order to rent them out.
“These people have rights. They make purchases based on a bundle of rights that transferred to them when they purchased the property,” he said. “There’s over a million vacation rentals in the state of Florida. This is a property-rights issue,” he said.
Milo said the company has more than 300 employees and contractors in Flagler County and contributes hundreds of thousands of dollars in bed taxes.
Several residents who spoke at the meeting said they had bought homes in Ocean Hammock and then had to rent them out in order to pay their mortgages when the economy tanked.
Thrasher urged Milo to listen to the concerns of Ocean Hammock residents who’d like to live in a community that is peaceful and quiet.
“I’m a big property rights person, as much as anybody,” he said. “But individual property rights have to be balanced. And I’m of the opinion that we’re not going to be able to work it out here."
Hutson said they should still continue trying.
“I don’t know if it will be passed,” he said. “I do encourage you in the meantime to try to get together and work this out, in case it doesn’t go through.”
Thrasher said the vacation rental business was a powerful one in Florida, and it could be a tough fight to repeal the statute.
“This is a big organization. They are a big operation, and rightfully so, because they provide a lot of economic benefit to the state,” he said. “But I’m going to give it a shot. I’m going to give it a hard shot.”
