On the evening of July 21, a handful of Bradenton Beach residents and rental owners filed into a city commission workshop to argue about a single number: how many people should be allowed to sleep in a vacation rental. Mayor John Chappie opened the discussion by noting that only about 11 percent of properties in the city are owner-occupied homesteads, which meant, as he put it, that just about everybody in the community lives next to, across from, or behind a rental property. Rental owner Ken McDonough, who has owned in Bradenton Beach for close to 15 years, told the commission the island can see roughly 5,000 visitors on a given day against a year-round population of only 300 to 400 residents. City Attorney Erica Augello called the decade-old ordinance governing occupancy limits "convoluted."
No vote happened that night. Commissioners agreed on a direction and pushed the final call to their August 6 regular meeting. But the number they were arguing over, and the formula that will eventually replace it, matters far beyond that room. It determines something a listing sheet never tells you: how much legal rental income a given bedroom count can actually produce, and that answer changes depending on which of Anna Maria Island's three cities the parcel sits in.
The Number That Doesn't Show Up in the MLS
Anna Maria Island is split into three municipalities: the City of Anna Maria, Holmes Beach, and Bradenton Beach. Each one sets its own occupancy formula for short-term rentals, and those formulas are not aligned. A buyer comparing two similarly priced six-bedroom homes on opposite ends of the island isn't just comparing square footage and finish quality. They're comparing two different legal ceilings on how many paying guests that house can hold on a given night, which is the input that actually drives the top line of a rental pro forma.
The City of Anna Maria uses a two-per-bedroom-plus-two formula, but caps total occupancy at eight guests for any rental with three or more bedrooms. Holmes Beach allows six occupants or two per bedroom, whichever is greater. Bradenton Beach's current ordinance ties occupancy to the certificate of occupancy issued under the Florida Building Code, doubled for transient use, a construction Augello herself flagged as unclear because the Building Code addresses occupancy for purposes of exits and egress, not how many people can rent a house for the weekend. The city is now moving toward its own version of the two-per-bedroom-plus-two model, without the flat cap that Anna Maria applies.
Run the math side by side and the gap is not subtle.
| City | Occupancy Rule | 4-Bedroom Home | 6-Bedroom Home |
|---|---|---|---|
| Anna Maria (City) | 2 per bedroom + 2, capped at 8 for 3+ bedroom rentals | 8 | 8 |
| Holmes Beach | 6 occupants, or 2 per bedroom, whichever is greater | 8 | 12 |
| Bradenton Beach (proposed) | 2 per bedroom + 2, no flat cap | 10 | 14 |
A six-bedroom home in the City of Anna Maria tops out at eight legal guests, the same ceiling as a three-bedroom home in that same city. Add three more bedrooms and the legal occupancy doesn't move at all. The identical six-bedroom home under Bradenton Beach's proposed rule could legally sleep 14. That's not a difference in the house. It's a difference in which side of a municipal line it happens to sit on.
Why the Room Argued Over Enforcement, Not Just Numbers
The commission's debate wasn't only about the formula. It was about whether a flat cap makes sense at all when home sizes vary this much across the island. Commissioner Ralph Cole argued a fixed maximum occupancy is effectively unenforceable.
"The only thing you can get somebody for is disturbing the peace, so stick with that. You can't tell people you can only have 12 people in the house. It's about property rights. It's unenforceable."
Commissioner Scott Bear made a related point: a flat cap of, say, 12 guests regardless of size would cut a large home's rentable capacity and invite legal pushback from owners who'd argue their property rights were being restricted. McDonough had raised the same concern from the owner's side at the July workshop, saying a flat 10-person cap on a seven-bedroom home would fail to generate enough in fees to make the investment work. That shared logic is why commissioners drifted toward tying occupancy to bedroom count rather than picking one number for every rental in the city, and why Bradenton Beach's version, if adopted as discussed, would end up more generous at the high end than either of its island neighbors.
Why Bradenton Beach Is Rewriting This Right Now
The current Bradenton Beach ordinance was written more than a decade ago under a previous city attorney and has sat largely unchanged since. Augello pointed to Section 59-6(D) of the city's Transient Public Lodging Establishment code, which ties occupancy to a certificate of occupancy figure that was never designed to answer the question of how many overnight guests a rental can hold. A DBPR transient lodging license, which every short-term rental owner in Florida is required to carry, doesn't set an occupancy number either. So the city has been enforcing a rule that its own attorney says doesn't clearly say what it means, on an island where the ratio of visitors to residents runs somewhere near 15 to 1 on a busy day.
This isn't the first time occupancy rules on this island have generated friction. When the City of Anna Maria adopted its vacation rental ordinance in November 2015, roughly 100 two-plus-two exceptions were later granted in 2016 to resolve Bert Harris Act claims filed by property owners who argued the new rule diminished the value of what they already owned. That history is worth knowing if you're evaluating a purchase timeline. Occupancy rulemaking on this island has moved slowly before, and owners who felt caught by a sudden change had legal recourse that took time to work through.
What This Means If You're Comparing Cities Right Now
If you're weighing a purchase across Anna Maria City, Holmes Beach, and Bradenton Beach with rental income as part of the calculation, the bedroom count on the listing sheet is only half the input. The other half is a municipal rule that can change while you're under contract. A few things worth confirming before you write an offer:
- Ask which of the three cities and which zoning district the parcel falls under. Rules differ by city, and in Holmes Beach they can differ by zone within the city as well.
- Request the property's current vacation rental registration or certificate, not just a verbal confirmation from the listing agent, since the certificate is what actually states the legal occupancy number.
- If you're looking in Bradenton Beach specifically, ask your agent or the city clerk's office whether the two-plus-two formula has been formally adopted yet, since the ordinance was still moving through commission discussion as of mid-August.
- Check whether an HOA or condo association applies stricter limits than the city does. City rules set a ceiling, but private governing documents can set a lower one, and that's happened elsewhere on this island before.
- If your rental projection assumes a bedroom count above what a city's occupancy cap actually allows, that projection needs to be corrected before it goes into your offer strategy, not after closing.
None of this changes what a house is physically worth. It changes what that house is allowed to earn, which is the number that actually matters if income is part of why you're buying.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does a change in the occupancy ordinance affect a rental license I already hold? Ordinance changes typically apply going forward once adopted, but the specific transition terms depend on the final language the commission approves. If you already own in Bradenton Beach, the city clerk's office is the direct source for how any adopted change would apply to an existing registration.
Can an HOA or condo association set a lower occupancy limit than the city allows? Yes. City ordinances set the outer limit permitted by local government, but private governing documents can restrict occupancy, rental length, or both further. Always review the association's documents in addition to city rules.
Is this kind of rulemaking happening only in Bradenton Beach? Manatee County has also been drafting a vacation rental ordinance for unincorporated areas, a sign that occupancy and rental oversight is an active topic across the broader region, not isolated to one city.
If you're comparing properties across Anna Maria Island's three cities and want the current occupancy rules verified for a specific address before you write an offer, I'm happy to help you pull the right documents and ask the right questions of the right city office. Reach out through Angela Adams and let's make sure the number on paper matches the number you're actually allowed to rent.
