Short answer: Moving to Miami and wondering about short-term vs. long-term rentals when you land? Start short-term: a furnished 1BR in Miami runs roughly 1.6–1.8× a comparable 12-month unfurnished lease (Miami’s median 1BR is $2,590/month, 2BR $3,300 — Zumper, June 2026), but those extra 2–3 months buy you neighborhood scouting time. The alternative — signing a 12-month lease from abroad and discovering you picked the wrong side of town — can cost far more: under Florida law (F.S. §83.595) your landlord can hold you liable for the entire remaining rent if you break the lease, unless you negotiated a liquidated-damages addendum at signing (capped at 2 months’ rent). The short-term premium is paid insurance. The wrong lease is an uninsured bet.
Updated: October 5, 2026.
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The real price of short-term vs. long-term in Miami
Let’s put numbers on the short-term vs. long-term rentals question for someone moving to Miami, using verified 2026 data:
| Typical monthly cost (1BR, Miami 2026) | What’s included | |
|---|---|---|
| Long-term lease (12 months, unfurnished) | $2,237–$2,590/mo (apartments.com: $2,237 avg; Zumper: $2,590 median, June 2026) | Empty unit; you buy furniture, set up utilities, wait for internet |
| Furnished short-term (30-day stay) | ~$3,600–$4,300/mo all-in | Furniture, kitchen equipped, utilities and internet running, flexible checkout |
The short-term math: a 30-day Airbnb-style stay typically gets a ~20% monthly discount off the nightly rate, plus a guest service fee of ~10.6% for 28+ night stays (vs. ~14.2% on short stays) and a $90–$180 cleaning fee. So you’re paying roughly 1.6–1.8× the unfurnished monthly rate for the furnished, flexible version.
Three months of that premium costs roughly $4,000–$5,000 extra versus three months on a long-term lease. Sounds like a lot — until you price the alternative.
What breaking the wrong 12-month lease actually costs you in Florida
This is the part nobody explains to people moving to Miami:
- Florida has no cap on security deposits (F.S. §83.49). Market practice is 1–2 months, but the statute sets no maximum.
- If you break the lease, your landlord has four legal options (F.S. §83.595) — and the harsh one is option 3: stand by and do nothing, holding you liable for rent as it comes due, all the way to the end of the term. A 9-months-early exit on a $2,600/month lease is a $23,400 exposure, before any mitigation.
- The 2-month cap exists — but only if you negotiated it before signing. A landlord may charge liquidated damages or an early-termination fee capped at 2 months’ rent, requiring no more than 60 days’ notice — but ONLY if the tenant accepted it through a signed separate addendum at lease signing (§83.595(4)). Walk in without knowing this clause exists, and it won’t exist for you.
- Florida also allows a fee instead of a deposit (§83.491, in force since July 1, 2023): a recurring fee rather than a lump-sum deposit. It’s not a deposit and doesn’t cap your liability — and the landlord must offer it to all new tenants on the same premises if it’s offered to one.
Do the arithmetic: the ~$4,000–$5,000 premium for three months of short-term renting is cheaper than a single wrong 12-month lease broken at month 6 — which can legally cost you months of rent with no cap. That’s why SETTLE clients land short-term first. Always.
Moving to Miami: the 90-day landing play SETTLE recommends
1. Book 2–3 months furnished first — not a hotel, a real apartment (Airbnb monthly-stay or a corporate-housing/furnished provider). You arrive to a stocked fridge and working internet, not a moving truck deadline.
2. Scout neighborhoods like a resident, not a tourist. Commute at 8am. Walk the block at 9pm. Check grocery access, school zones, flood risk. The $1,700/month premium you’re paying is tuition for a decision you’ll live with for a year.
3. Negotiate the long-term lease with §83.595 in your pocket. Ask for the early-termination addendum (2-month liquidated-damages cap, 60-day notice) before you sign. If the landlord won’t offer it, that’s information too.
4. Then sign the 12-month lease in the neighborhood you actually verified — furnished move-out date aligned with your new lease start.
Who should skip the short-term phase? If you already know the neighborhood from prior visits, have local family or a relocation consultant who walked the building for you, and your move date is firm — sign long-term on arrival. Everyone else: the furnished first 90 days are the cheapest insurance in Miami real estate.
What most people don’t know
- The 2024 vacation-rental preemption law never happened. SB 280 passed the legislature but was vetoed by Gov. DeSantis on June 27, 2024 — he wrote it would “prevent virtually all local regulation of vacation rentals.” The law that still governs is §509.032(7) from 2011: local rules adopted after June 1, 2011 can’t ban vacation rentals or regulate their duration/frequency, but local registration and enforcement programs are fully legal. So Miami’s rules still bite.
- The City of Miami still requires real registration for vacation rentals: a Florida DBPR vacation-rental license, Florida DOR tax registration, and the city application — Operational Management Plan, Certificate of Use, Certificate of Occupancy, Business Tax Receipt. There’s no primary-residence requirement; the binding constraint is zoning (lodging must be a permitted use in your transect zone).
- Miami Beach is a different country on this. It bans stays under 6 months + 1 day in large parts of the city, with its own Vacation/STR Business Tax Receipt plus a 4% resort tax. Booking a “Miami” short-term stay that is actually in Miami Beach? Check the address first.
- The condo declaration beats the city. A Miami building can hold every license and still forbid short-term rentals — or set a 12-month minimum lease term and require board approval of every tenant. Zoning says one thing; the recorded declaration says another. The declaration wins.
- Grandfathering protects existing owners, not you. Under §718.110(13), a condo amendment that prohibits rentals or changes their duration/frequency applies only to owners who consent and to buyers after the amendment — existing non-consenting owners are grandfathered. As the new tenant, you inherit the new rule.
- Application fees add up: Miami condo associations commonly charge $100 per applicant (observed in association documents; Florida sets no state cap that we could find). Apply to four buildings, that’s $400 before you’ve signed anything.
Frequently asked questions
Is it cheaper to rent short-term or sign a 12-month lease when moving to Miami? A 12-month unfurnished lease is cheaper per month (Miami 1BR median $2,590, Zumper June 2026) than a furnished short-term stay (roughly 1.6–1.8× the unfurnished rate). But “cheaper” ignores risk: breaking the wrong 12-month lease can expose you to the full remaining rent under §83.595. Three months of short-term premium (~$4,000–$5,000 extra) is cheaper than one wrong lease.
How long should I stay in a short-term rental before signing long-term in Miami? SETTLE recommends 2–3 months: one month is barely enough to learn traffic patterns and flood behavior; four or more starts burning the premium without new information. Align the furnished checkout with your long-term lease start.
Can my landlord charge me for breaking my lease in Florida? Yes. Under §83.595, the landlord can hold you liable for rent as it comes due through the end of the term, or — only if you signed a separate early-termination addendum at lease signing — charge liquidated damages capped at 2 months’ rent with no more than 60 days’ notice. Negotiate that addendum before signing; it can’t be added later.
Do I need a license to rent an Airbnb in Miami? To operate a vacation rental in the City of Miami you need a Florida DBPR vacation-rental license, Florida DOR tax registration, and the city’s own application (management plan, Certificate of Use, Certificate of Occupancy, Business Tax Receipt). As a guest booking short-term, you don’t need a license — but verify the unit is in a building whose declaration and zoning actually allow short-term stays.
Yara Coker — SETTLE, relocation services in Miami.
