The latest Airbnb fight in the Keys is over a yacht
Monroe County attorneys have a first-of-its-kind code case coming up: A 40-foot sportfishing boat operating as an Airbnb rental.
“The county is starting to prosecute these,” Steve Williams, assistant county attorney, said at Tuesday’s meeting of the County Commission in Marathon. “We’re going to bring our very first one.”
The code case is set for a hearing at 9 a.m. on Feb. 28 at the Marathon Government Center, 2798 Overseas Hwy.
The boat, which was on Airbnb at $111 per night and offering fishing trips for extra fees, is located off Blackbeard Road at a dock on Little Torch Key, and is therefore on county land.
County staff members say they’ve yet to go after any sailboats or yachts on Airbnb that operate offshore.
The yacht was operating as a nightly rental, which isn’t allowed unless the property owner has a transient rental license.
County commissioners decided Tuesday to hire two additional code compliance investigators to keep up with the increased workload following Hurricane Irma. In 2018, the department handled 776 cases with notice of violations or hearings, a 65 percent increase from the year before.
The department currently has nine code inspectors, including three specialty inspectors for unsafe structures/land clearing, vacation rentals and wastewater.
This story was originally published January 25, 2019 at 6:10 PM with the headline "The latest Airbnb fight in the Keys is over a yacht."
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