Property Management for Downtown Tampa Condos

Renting out a condo is a different job from renting out a house. A condominium association, not just you and your tenant, has a say in who can move in, how, and what the building costs you each year. This page covers the Florida rules that matter most to an owner who leases a condo, with the statute for each one so you can read it yourself. BayTown's office is at 615 Channelside Drive in Tampa, so this is our own neighborhood.

Flat $149 a month, taken only from rent collected

The management fee is $149 per month per property, flat, whatever the rent brings in, never a percentage. It comes out of collected rent only, so nothing is billed while the unit sits empty.

Leasing and renewals are separate one-time fees, and Emily goes through both with you in the free quote, in writing. There is no setup fee, no marketing fee, no inspection fee, and repairs are billed at vendor cost with no markup. No long-term contract either: an owner who leaves gets files, keys and the tenant relationship handed over cleanly.

Downtown, Channelside and Harbour Island

Downtown Tampa is the city's central business district, and Wikipedia lists ZIP codes 33602 and 33606 for it. The Channel District is a residential neighborhood just east of Downtown, with several TECO Streetcar stops. Twin 30-story condominium towers there were completed in 2007, and Wikipedia notes many other mid-rise and high-rise buildings have been completed since. Harbour Island is an island neighborhood within the city limits of Tampa, separated from Downtown by the Garrison Channel; the ZIP code serving it is 33602.

These are buildings with their own boards, rules and budgets. Everything below is general Florida law, not a statement about any particular building. For any specific building, the answer is in that association's declaration, bylaws and rules, so get them before you list.

Can you rent your unit, and for how long?

Whether a unit may be leased, the shortest allowed lease, and any limit on how many units can be rented at once are set by each association's declaration and rules. We do not assume any building's rule. Ask the association for the current documents and read the leasing section before you advertise.

One Florida rule protects owners who bought before a restriction existed. Under Florida Statutes section 718.110(13), an amendment can prohibit renting, change the length of the rental term, or limit how many times owners may rent during a period. Such an amendment applies only to owners who consent to it and to owners who buy their units after it takes effect. If your association passed such an amendment after you bought and you did not consent, that statute is the question to put to a Florida condominium attorney. A restriction written into the original declaration is a different matter.

Association approval and application fees

Some condominium associations screen tenants before a lease starts. Under Florida Statutes section 718.112(2)(k), an association may not charge a fee in connection with a lease. The exception is when it is required to approve the lease and its declaration, articles or bylaws provide for a fee for that approval. The statute caps any such fee per applicant, counts spouses, or a parent or parents and dependent children, as one applicant, and bars a charge when the lease is a renewal with the same tenant. The cap is adjusted every five years and published by the Department of Business and Professional Regulation on its website, so check the current figure there rather than relying on an old number.

In practice that means: ask the association how long approval takes, what it requires from the applicant, and who pays the fee, and build that timing into your move-in date. A tenant you have approved can still be delayed by the building.

Insurance: your policy and the building's

A condominium association's master policy does not cover everything inside your unit. Under Florida Statutes section 718.111(11), that coverage must exclude personal property and several categories of items inside the unit: floor, wall and ceiling coverings, electrical fixtures, appliances, water heaters, water filters, built-in cabinets and countertops, and window treatments. The statute makes that property, and its insurance, the unit owner's responsibility. A unit owner policy must also conform to section 627.714.

Ask your insurer which policy fits a unit you rent out, and what the association's own documents require you to carry. Tenants are not insured by your policy; many owners require tenants to carry renters insurance in the lease.

Milestone inspections and reserve studies

Under Florida's condominium safety laws, buildings of three habitable stories or more face two building-wide requirements that can reach an owner's budget. Under Florida Statutes section 553.899, a condominium building of that height must have a milestone inspection by December 31 of the year it reaches age thirty, measured from its certificate of occupancy. It must be repeated every ten years after that. A local enforcement agency may move the first inspection to age twenty-five where local conditions such as proximity to salt water call for it. Under section 718.112(2)(g), such an association must also complete a structural integrity reserve study at least every ten years, and it must keep reserves for the items the study identifies. For budgets adopted on or after December 31, 2024, a unit-owner-controlled association may not vote to provide no reserves or lower reserves for those items.

For an owner, the practical point is to ask the association for its latest reserve study, its current budget and any special assessment under discussion. Do that before you set a rent, because assessments are a cost the owner carries.

If assessments fall behind, the tenant can be told to pay the association

Under Florida Statutes section 718.116(11), an association may act when a unit is occupied by a tenant and the owner is delinquent in a monetary obligation to it. It may make a written demand that the tenant pay the rent to the association until the delinquency is paid. Keeping assessments current protects the tenancy as well as the unit.

Move-ins, elevators, parking and amenities

High-rise buildings commonly control how moves happen and what a resident can use. Ask the association four things before you list. Must move-ins and move-outs be reserved? How is parking assigned to a rented unit? How do tenants receive keys, fobs and amenity access? Does the building charge any deposit for the move? These are building rules, and the answers go in the lease and in the listing so the tenant knows them before signing.

Short-term and vacation rentals

This page is about standard long-term leases. Whether a building allows short-term or vacation rentals is set by its declaration, and we do not state any building's policy on it.

Your single point of contact

Emily Brown is the lead property manager and your single point of contact. She personally carries the properties she manages and replies personally, usually right away.

Antonio Lombardo is co-founder and broker of record. BayTown is a licensed Florida real estate brokerage, and the office is in the Industrious building at 615 Channelside Drive in Tampa. Coverage is all of Hillsborough and all of Pasco, so a condo downtown and a house in the suburbs can have the same manager.

Sources

Legal points on this page come from the statute text at the official Florida Legislature site; local facts from the pages below. Rent figures are a ZIP-level asking-rent index, not an estimate for any one home. This page is general information, not legal advice.

• Florida Statutes s. 718.110(13): rental amendments (2026 edition, accessed November 4, 2026)
• Florida Statutes s. 718.111(11): condominium insurance (accessed November 4, 2026)
• Florida Statutes s. 718.112(2)(g) and (2)(k): reserve study, transfer fees (accessed November 4, 2026)
• Florida Statutes s. 718.116(11): tenant payments to the association (accessed November 4, 2026)
• Florida Statutes s. 553.899: milestone inspections (accessed November 4, 2026)
• Wikipedia: Downtown Tampa (accessed November 4, 2026)
• Wikipedia: Channel District (accessed November 4, 2026)
• Wikipedia: Harbour Island, Tampa (accessed November 4, 2026)
• Zillow Observed Rent Index, ZIP level (data month September 2026, downloaded October 25, 2026)

Related pages

• Request your free management quote
• Property management in Tampa
• Hillsborough County property management
• HOA and CDD rentals in Tampa Bay
• What property management costs in Tampa
• Flat fee vs. percentage management
• Managing a rental from out of state

Last updated November 4, 2026