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Magistrate enforces city rules on short-term rentals: certificate suspensions and fines ordered
Summary
At the Sept. 25 special-magistrate session the magistrate suspended at least one vacation-rental certificate for 365 days, imposed fines for advertising/occupancy violations, and ordered reappearances for others as the city stepped up enforcement of STR rules.
The City of Fort Lauderdale special-magistrate hearing on Sept. 25 included multiple enforcement actions against short-term rental (STR) properties, including immediate suspensions, fines and orders to reappear.
The magistrate ordered an immediate 365-day suspension of the vacation-rental certificate for a property represented by Craig Mills after the city presented a qualifying number of prior violations. "If you have a qualifying number of violations, the way the code reads is that it's a shall suspend your license. I have to enter the suspension," the magistrate said, adding the suspension would begin immediately because no rentals were then active.
Other STR-related rulings and actions from the docket included fines for occupancy and advertising violations at properties where inspectors found the advertised guest counts exceeded permitted occupancy. For example, the magistrate fined a Casa Margarita property $250 for two days of occupancy violations and later imposed additional fines when repeat violations were documented. Several properties were ordered to come into compliance within set deadlines (typically 15 to 42 days) or face daily fines; some cases were continued with mandatory reappearances so the magistrate could get status updates on corrective work.
City staff emphasized that operating a vacation rental without the required certificate or advertising occupancy above permitted limits triggers mandatory remedies under the city ordinance. The record shows several instances where owners or managers said they were working to comply and where inspectors recommended suspended certificates or fines to enforce repeated noncompliance.
The magistrate's decisions reflect the city's use of certificate suspensions, per-violation daily fines and mandatory reappearance hearings as primary enforcement tools against STR operators who do not follow the city's occupancy, parking and registration rules.
