CAPE CORAL, Fla. — On Wednesday, Council Member Bill Steinke recognized that many people in Cape Coral live near an Airbnb. Especially, since the city has more than 9,000 unique short-term listings.
See previous reporting below:
Some people who live in southwest Cape Coral told Fox 4’s Bella Line that their neighborhood has been transformed by short-term rentals and in a lot of cases, the rentals are breaking the city rules.
Jeff Manzi has lived in Cape Coral since the 80s and he Fox 4’s Bella Line that living here was always like a dream until his neighbor’s house went up for sale.
Watch Bella's THURSDAY report below:
"It's a nice neighborhood. Except for that now,” said Manzi.
Right next door, he says there's a home up for rent on Airbnb, that's marketed like a frat house.
It has five bedrooms, but 17 beds. Click here for the listing.
"There's people in and out of here. It's like a revolving door,” said Manzi.
Manzi says it's a non-stop party, and when I went to look at the home on Airbnb I had the option to rent it for two nights. Even though the city has a 7-day stay requirement for short-term rentals.
"I've documented this house since, I think, December, on rentals, and not one time has it been rented out for a week,” said Manzi.
It's an issue many people deal with in Cape Coral, so Manzi brought it up to the city council and Mayor John Gunter agreed that something must be done.
"While we were sitting here having the discussion I went on the Airbnb website, pulled up Cape Coral, put in two-day rental, and 315 listings come up,” said Gunter. "That's our fault, that's our code compliance department, we need to do a better job managing that, that's something that we are going to have to look at.”
Manzi showed me a police report he and his neighbors filed and Cape Coral police tell me that's the best way to document homes that are violating the law.
One of Manzi's neighbors told me she went to the city magistrate, but that office wasn't able to help her.
"This is a problem that has to be taken care of, and the city knows it,” said Manzi.
I reached out to the city to see if code enforcement is working to find a better solution to party rentals, but I haven't heard anything back yet.
