CAPE CORAL, Fla. — Cape Coral property owners who rent their homes could soon face a dramatic increase in registration fees, as the city considers raising annual costs from $35 to $600.
Hear what the Royal Palm Coast Realtor Association has to say about the proposal:
According to city documents, up to 10,000 residential rental businesses would be affected by the proposed fee increase, potentially generating an additional $6 million in revenue that the city plans to use for attractions and events.
The Royal Palm Coast Realtor Association is raising concerns that the steep increase could hurt affordable housing in the city.
"A lot of our homeowners are renting long term, not just short term, and they're renting to people who are working class families, and who are already struggling to make ends meet in these troubling times in our economy," Kevin Besserer of the Royal Palm Coast Realtor Association said.
Besserer argues the fee increase would directly impact affordable housing availability in Cape Coral.
"$600 is like $50 a month, but they're not gonna pay for that, so they're gonna actually have to make it $100 so they have the money up front to pay for next year's annual fee, so this is really $100 a month increase on already struggling families," Besserer said.
At a recent city council meeting, one homeowner expressed support for the $600 charge but suggested it should only apply to short-term rentals.
"I think a big mistake today is, you're trying to charge $600 to annual owners, annual rentals, that's not the case. You need to be hitting these Airbnbs. They're the ones that need to pay the tax," the homeowner said.
Besserer points to the current economic climate as a reason to reconsider the timing of such a significant fee increase.
"Prices in Florida are going up, and our members are seeing that, and it's, you know, hard to make home ownership affordable," Besserer said.
Cape Coral's City Council will discuss the proposal further at Wednesday's Committee of the Whole meeting.
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