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Gulf Shores short-term rental rules

For an owner inside Gulf Shores city limits or its police jurisdiction, the City requires a rental business license, zoning review, a designated local emergency contact and a rental safety inspection every 3 years. Each rental location needs its own application and license. The rental license page lists a $45 short-term rental fee in addition to the gross-receipts-based business license fee. The zoning ordinance permits licensed vacation rentals in the Single Family and Duplex Vacation Rental Overlay District, specified business and waterway districts, and designated multifamily PUD uses. It prohibits them in other listed districts and PUD single-family subdivisions, with conditional-use exceptions for individual multifamily developments in R-3 and R-4. Confirm the parcel's permitted use before applying; a Gulf Shores postal address does not establish zoning approval. The City publishes total lodging tax of 16% inside corporate limits and 11% in its police jurisdiction: 4% Alabama, 2% Baldwin County and a city component of 10% or 5%, respectively. Alabama requires a lodgings tax account through My Alabama Taxes; its transient lodging tax excludes accommodations furnished for 180 continuous days or more. The City requires a return even without receipts and says returns and payments are due by the 20th for the prior month. Outside city jurisdiction, ask Baldwin County Planning & Zoning about the parcel and the Alabama Department of Revenue about applicable lodging taxes. Baldwin County says its named lodging tax applies in certain areas and is administered by the state. We have not established the Whale Rider home's city-limit status from an official boundary source; this summary describes the owner's jurisdiction rather than certifying that home's permit or tax position.

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