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Good News Florida Realtors Coronavirus Update - 5/28/20

By Meagan Bauer posted 05-28-2020 16:01

  
Update by Florida Realtors

May 28, 2020

Coronavirus Update


Hello everyone. I hope you all had a good holiday weekend. Memorial Day is always a very special holiday but I felt like it took on extra meaning this year. Im my case, it made me pause for a moment and realize that despite these difficult times, we are all very lucky to live in the greatest country in world and even luckier to have such brave men and women to defend it. I hope all of you were able to find a similar moment for yourselves.

The reason you are getting this update a little early this week is because I simply could not wait to share the continuing good news we are receiving regarding vacation rentals. More on that, and some other topics in this week's update.
 


Vacation Rentals

As of today, the Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR) has approved 50 county vacation rental reopening plans. That means approximately 75% of all Florida counties are able to host guests in their vacation rentals again. That is pretty impressive news considering many feared it could take several weeks or even months to get these plans submitted and approved following the governor's full phase 1 announcement on May 15th.

The full list of approved counties can be found on DBPR's Vacation Rental Status website. If you are in a county that has not been approved yet, 1) check with your county administrator to make sure a plan has been submitted to DBPR, and 2) if a plan has been submitted, check DBPR's website daily since they are moving very quickly on getting these reviews and approvals done.

For background purposes, as part of the governor's full phase 1 reopening of Florida, all counties may seek approval to operate vacation rentals with a written request from the County Administrator and the county’s safety plan for vacation rental operation submitted to DBPR. Accordingly, the County Administrator should submit his/her written request and the county’s safety plan to DBPR Secretary Halsey Beshears electronically at: halsey.beshears@myfloridalicense.com.
 


Full Phase 1 of Florida's Reopening

There isn't anything new to report on Florida's full phase 1 reopening this week. As I mentioned in my last update, governor DeSantis had just expanded the phase 1 reopening to include youth activities right before we entered the holiday weekend. Definitely keep an eye out for announcements next week though as it is entirely possible he will decide to expand Florida's reopening even further.
 


New Executive Orders

The governor's executive order regarding youth activities hadn't been released by the time of my update last week but here is Executive Order 2020-131 in case you are interested. As for this week, so far there have been no new executive orders announced or issued.

For continued reference, Executive Order 2020-123 contains the all information regarding the full phase 1 of Florida's reopening. Additionally, all of the governor's executive orders can be found here.
 


Unemployment Benefits

More and more Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) claims are being paid to Florida's independent contractors, many of whom are Realtors® each week. According to the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity’s (DEO) unemployment dashboard, as of May 26th, almost 130,000 PUA claims from independent contractors have been processed and more than 90,000 are receiving their benefits.

For continued reference, here are the steps for applying for PUA in Florida.

If you applied for state benefits on or before April 4 you must: 

  1. Go to CONNECT and apply for state benefits again.
  2. Wait for DEO to deny you state benefits.
  3. Once you get denied, check your CONNECT inbox for instructions about PUA.

If you applied for state benefits after April 4 you must:

  1. Wait for DEO to deny you state benefits.
  2. Once you get denied, check your CONNECT inbox for instructions about PUA.

In both of the above cases, you will not get access to the PUA application until DEO has processed your state benefits application and denied you state benefits. Only then will access to the PUA application appear in the CONNECT system.

Once Realtors® are denied state benefits and receive access to the PUA application, they can refer to this guide and/or this video for assistance as they fill it out. These resources, and much more can be found on DEO’s CARES Act website. You can also always refer to Florida Realtors® Q&A website on this topic.
 


These, and many other topics can be found on our coronavirus website so keep it bookmarked until this crisis is over. Most importantly, stay safe and stay healthy.

Sincerely,

Danielle Scoggins
Vice President of Public Policy
Florida Realtors

Florida Realtors Office of Public Policy 
200 S. Monroe St., Tallahassee, FL 32301-1824 
Telephone: 850.224.1400
Fax: 850.224.0702


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