How a Small Beach Town Got a Working List of Its Short-Term Rentals
On June 18, 2024, the Melbourne Beach Town Commission held a workshop on short-term rentals (STRs). Several residents had the chance to speak and raise their concerns. One of those questions concerned the real difficulty officers face in knowing which homes were this type of rental. The police chief said the department did not yet have a list of STRs.
Melbourne Beach is a small town on the coast of Brevard County, with about 3,250 residents. Local media have called it the county's oldest beach town, a favorite of many visitors who rent homes for a short stay. In light of that, the Town has had rules since 2020.
Florida law defines what those rules can do, and one of the state's conditions is that a town cannot prohibit short-term rentals or limit how often they are rented. That is why, as we described in our first post, local jurisdictions limit themselves to regulating registration and safety. Chapter 74 of the Town code takes that route. As a result, a vacation rental must register before it operates, renew every year, and be inspected every year. Violations go through the Town's code enforcement process, which can end in front of a special magistrate.
This process gives the Town a list of registered properties, but it said very little about those operating outside the system, the gap that worried the community most in 2024. At a December workshop, residents demanded data on the real scale of the problem and asked the Town to prioritize oversight of unregistered homes. To close that gap, the Commission agreed to require all hosts to display their registration number directly in their Airbnb and Vrbo listings. However, the success of the provision requires better oversight mechanisms. The list of items raised by the Town Attorney for the August workshop already proposed implementing outside monitoring, publishing an interactive property map on the official portal, and setting up a phone line available 24 hours a day.
The Commission subsequently updated the regulatory framework established in 2020. The approved changes added new advertising requirements. As a result, the current code requires including the local registration number in any advertisement for the property. That provision took formal effect through Ordinance 2024-05, shared with residents in the July 2025 edition of the town newsletter (Beach Comber), which encouraged them to read the full text on the official website.
In early 2025, Melbourne Beach began implementing Deckard's software (Rentalscape) to manage its short-term rentals. The platform's purpose is to track listings on sites such as Airbnb, Vrbo, and Booking.com, and then match them against the local registry. By May 2025, the Town was in the middle of loading its existing registrations.
Once the platform's information was matched against the local records, the Town had a much clearer picture. In September 2025, Rentalscape detected 52 active rentals in town: 28 were licensed (meaning an active registration with the Town) and 24 were not, which gave a compliance rate of 53.8%. This figure lined up closely with outside estimates. In fact, a resident group that closely follows the Town's certificate list counted 42 rentals with issued certificates and 8 on hold in May 2025, and estimated that at least 50 were operating.
Over time, the compliance efforts made progress. By August 2026, the total number of active rentals dropped to 48, of which 30 were licensed and 18 were not, raising the compliance rate to 62.5% (Figure 1).
Figure 1: The share of active short-term rentals with a license rose from 53.8% in September 2025 to 62.5% in August 2026 in Melbourne Beach. Source: Rentalscape internal data (report cut-off: September 23, 2026).
Historically, Rentalscape has identified up to 100 properties listed as vacation rentals at some point, although the number operating at the same time is usually lower. Because the Melbourne Beach market is small, a few properties entering or leaving it shifts the percentages significantly, causing month-to-month fluctuations. For example, although the compliance rate dropped in early 2026, it recovered and went back above the 60% mark by May of that year.
The person who really makes these results possible is the Town's code enforcement officer. During our visit this summer, he had been in the role for only a few months, but he showed initiative and adaptability from the very start. By the time Eric Brandenburg and I arrived, he had already explored the system and learned to navigate Rentalscape on his own, using the intuitive interface to get ahead on his work.
In one hour, we went through the maps, the filters, and the list views, and we showed him how the system could take over the searches he was still doing manually. He left excited about what he could do with the platform. We also helped with a key need: he wanted a clear way to present the program's results to his committee. I showed him exactly where to find the metrics, giving him the perfect tools to back up his excellent work.
In my role, I constantly see that maintaining code enforcement has a cost, and in a small town, deciding where those funds come from is essential. In 2024, the Town's Building Official explained that permit fees cannot be used for this purpose, so the burden falls directly on taxpayers. In fact, property taxes are the Town's main source of revenue, making up 63.8% of its General Fund.
This scenario becomes relevant in light of upcoming state tax reforms. As we mentioned in our article on Marion County, Florida will vote in November on Amendment 3, which requires 60% approval. If approved, the Homestead Exemption for non-school taxes would increase to $150,000 in 2027 and $250,000 in 2028. In addition, the annual cap on assessment increases for non-homestead properties, a category that includes many short-term rentals, would be lowered from 10% to 5%.
The impact on Melbourne Beach would be significant: about 72% of its taxable value is protected under the Homestead Exemption. The Town's own budget presentation warns that its tax base is highly sensitive to any expansion of this exemption. In light of this scenario, its draft budget for next year includes $45,000 for a non-ad valorem revenue study (that is, revenue that does not depend on property value).
Whatever the outcome, one thing I am clear about from working closely with cities is that keeping an accurate record of which properties operate as rentals and which are properly registered will be an invaluable tool for the Town to make informed decisions.
This analysis of Melbourne Beach marks the third installment of our special seven-part series. I love seeing how each city has a unique approach: while Marion County taught us how to strategically grow a registry over time, Nassau County showed how to build visibility through taxes. Today, Melbourne Beach leaves us with a great lesson about the real impact code enforcement can have when it finally has a clear picture of its own market.
We still have four more stories to share over the coming weeks. Stay tuned!
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