St. Augustine officials say they’ve identified a shadow market of short-term rentals tied to the Nights of Lights festival.
City Manager David Birchim warned at Monday’s City Commission meeting that dozens of unregistered rentals surface solely for the holiday season, creating a challenge for enforcement officers.
Birchim reported that officials found “somewhere around 100 short term rentals that came online just for the Nights of Lights season that were not registered with the city.”
Many of these properties operate for only a short period before disappearing.
“They just pop up just for the Nights of Lights season, so they’re difficult to find,” Birchim said.
Because the rentals shut down quickly, enforcement often trails behind.
“By the time we achieve compliance with them, they’ve already shut down in some cases,” he said.
The city relies on a dedicated officer to handle the issue, Birchim noted,
“We have a code enforcement officer that does nothing but enforces our short term rental ordinance, and she is working on trying to reach compliance with those 100 short term rentals,” he said.
Mayor Nancy Sikes-Kline decried the practice.
“Well, that’s a problem,” she said, noting that violators are eluding required bed taxes.
Short-term rentals remain one of the city’s most polarizing issues.
Longtime residents argue that the constant turnover of visitors has disrupted neighborhoods that were once tightly knit, while supporters contend that most operators follow regulations and provide necessary lodging in a tourism-driven community.
