Guides
Short-term rental license requirements to meet before anything else
Short-term rental license requirements cannot be stated generally, so this is the audit: what to ask each office, how to record it, and when to re-ask.
What to take away
- Short-term rental license requirements are issued by named offices: New York City's Office of Special Enforcement, Los Angeles's home-sharing registration, Chicago's Shared Housing registration, Seattle's operator license, Austin's short-term rental license.
- The figures are public. Los Angeles adds a 14% transient occupancy tax. San Francisco caps unhosted stays at 90 nights a year. Denver caps whole-home licenses at 1% of the housing units in each neighborhood.
- Run the audit as a register with one row per property and one column per authority. Anything not in the register does not exist.
- Date every answer. An answer from last year is a lead, not a fact.
- The audit's real output is not the permit. It is being able to show, in a year, exactly what you asked and what you were told.
Why nobody can tell you the requirement
Whether a nightly stay needs a registration, a permit, a license or nothing at all is decided locally, and often by more than one office at once. A city and the county around it can differ. Two buildings on the same street can differ, because a condominium declaration is a separate instrument. Any of it can change between seasons.
A page that gave you one requirement would be describing somewhere else. What transfers is the discipline of finding out which office holds yours, and being able to prove you asked.
The requirements to meet, by name
These were current as of 2026. Confirm each figure with the issuing office before you rely on it, because fees and caps move.
- New York Cityregistration with the Mayor's Office of Special Enforcement under Local Law 18. Whole-home stays under 30 days are out, so the host must be present and no more than two guests. The registration number goes in the listing.
- Los Angeleshome-sharing registration for a primary residence, plus the 14% transient occupancy tax. Hosted stays are unlimited, and whole-home rentals are capped at 120 nights a year. Registration fees have been listed near $89 a year.
- San Franciscoa Short-Term Residential Rental Certificate from the Office of Short-Term Rentals. Hosted rentals can run 275 nights a year. Unhosted whole-home rentals are capped at 90.
- Seattlea Washington business license through the Department of Revenue plus a Seattle short-term rental operator license. An operator may license two units, one of them the primary residence.
- Austina short-term rental license from the Development Services Department, in Type 1, 2 or 3. Non-owner-occupied Type 2 licenses are capped by census tract, and the permit number must appear in the ad.
- Chicagoa Shared Housing registration or a Vacation Rental license from the Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection, plus a 4% surcharge on top of the hotel accommodations tax.
- Washington, DCa Basic Business License with a short-term rental endorsement from the Department of Licensing and Consumer Protection. Only a primary residence qualifies.
- Bostonregistration with the Inspectional Services Department, primary residence only, at about $50 a year.
- Denvera short-term rental license, primary residence only, with whole-home licenses capped at 1% of the housing units in each statistical neighborhood. Add the 10.75% lodger's tax.
- Miami Beach and the rest of Floridaa state vacation rental license from the Department of Business and Professional Regulation, a local business tax receipt, and Florida's 6% sales tax plus county surtax on stays under six months.
- Hawaiitransient accommodations tax and general excise tax registration through Hawaii Tax Online. Maui requires a nonconforming use certificate for many short-term rentals.
- San Diegoa Short-Term Residential Occupancy license. Whole-home Tier 3 licenses are awarded by lottery and capped at 1% of the city's housing stock, plus a 10.5% transient occupancy tax.
- Nashvillea short-term rental permit. Non-owner-occupied units are allowed only in certain zoning districts, and the permit number is posted in the listing.
- Philadelphiaa short-term rental license plus a Commercial Activity License from the Department of Licenses and Inspections.
State tax lines come before the first booking too. Colorado wants a state sales tax license, and its 2.9% state rate applies to stays under 30 days on top of local rates. Arizona requires a Transaction Privilege Tax license, with transient lodging taxed at 5.5% by the state plus city and county rates.
At the federal level, an EIN from the IRS is free and takes minutes online. Platforms report payouts on Form 1099-K once they cross $5,000 for 2024, $2,500 for 2025 and $600 from 2026.
Most cities also issue a general business license or business tax certificate separately from the rental permit. Working smoke and carbon monoxide alarms, a fire extinguisher and a clear exit path are required almost everywhere.
The register
Build a table with one row per property. These are the columns.
Register columns per property
- Authorityoffice or body concerned
- Question askedexact wording with address
- Date askedday you sent it
- Answered byname, reference, form
- Answerquoted, not summarized
- Document heldpermit, email, screenshot
- Expires or renewsdate and reminder
- Re-ask bydate to check again
| Column | What goes in it |
|---|---|
| Authority | Which office or body this row concerns |
| Question asked | The exact wording, with the address in it |
| Date asked | The day you sent it |
| Answered by | Name, reference number, or the form you used |
| Answer | What they actually said, quoted rather than summarized |
| Document held | Permit, certificate, email, screenshot with a date |
| Expires or renews | The date, and the reminder you set |
| Re-ask by | The date you will check it again regardless |
The last two columns are what separate an audit from a folder. Most compliance failures in this trade are not decisions, they are dates.
The questions, by authority
Ask each of these in writing, with the specific address included. Do not ask "is this allowed" and stop there.
Seven authorities to question
- City or county short-term rental office
- Same officeconditions and enforcement
- State revenue departmenttaxes
- Building, condo or homeowners' association
- Landlord or property ownerwritten consent
- Fire or building safety authority
- Your insurer or broker
- City or county short-term rental officeis a nightly rental permitted at this address, and what registration or permit applies? Ask what it costs, how long it takes, when it renews, and whether any change is pending.
- Same office, second questionare there conditions attached, such as limits on nights, occupancy, parking or signage, and who enforces them?
- State revenue departmentwhat am I required to register for, collect and remit on a short stay, and does any of it change if a platform collects part of it?
- Building, condominium or homeowners' associationdo the governing documents permit transient occupancy, and has the board taken any position on it?
- Landlord or property ownerdo I have written consent for this specific use, and does that consent survive a sale?
- Fire or building safety authority, where one applies to this use: what has to be present, and is an inspection required before or after registration?
- Your insurer or brokerdoes the policy contemplate paying guests, and what does it require of me in return?
Question three is the one most often answered halfway. A platform collecting some taxes in some places does not tell you what remains yours. Only the revenue department can.
How to record an answer so it is worth something later
Quote the answer rather than paraphrasing it. A paraphrase carries your interpretation, and your interpretation is what will be in dispute.
Recording an answer properly
- Quote the answer, do not paraphrase
- Save the reply itself, not a note
- After phone calls, send confirming email
- Save the confirmation email
- If ambiguous, treat as unresolved
- Ask a narrower question
Save the reply itself, not a note about it. Where the answer came by phone, send a follow-up email that says what you understood and asks them to correct it if wrong. Save that reply.
An unanswered confirmation email is weaker than a written reply and much stronger than a memory. Where the answer is ambiguous, treat it as unresolved and ask a narrower question. Choosing the favorable reading of an ambiguous answer is how people end up genuinely surprised.
The requirements people forget are requirements
Three obligations sit outside the permitting conversation and belong in the same register.
Forgotten requirements to register
- Cleaners and maintainerslegal terms
- Booking decisionsanti-discrimination rules
- Write criteria down, apply identically
- Record every refusal with its reason
- Accessibilitya question, not assumption
- Check DOJ ADA guide for small businesses
The people who clean and maintain the property are engaged on terms with a legal answer, and the answer does not follow the label on the agreement. That question belongs in the register with a re-ask date like any other.
How you accept and decline bookings is governed by anti-discrimination protections that differ by state and locality on top of the federal position. HUD summarizes the federal rights and obligations.
Whether and how they apply depends on the facts. Local protections often reach further, so write your criteria down, apply them identically, and record every refusal with its reason.
Accessibility is separate again, and it is a question rather than an assumption. Whether obligations attach depends on how the property is operated. The Department of Justice's ADA guide for small businesses explains the framework for small operators.
The mapped version of all seven authorities, with what each one actually controls, is the licensing and compliance guide.
What you may say about your status
"Licensed," "permitted," "registered" and "fully insured" are claims. A claim made while something is pending is a claim that is not yet true.
Claims that must match the register
- Licensedonly if currently licensed
- Permittedonly if permit is active
- Registeredcheck registration number
- Fully insuredread policy for paying guests
- No lapsed registration numbers quoted
- No claims carried from old listings
The Federal Trade Commission's advertising guidance for small businesses covers the general standard. In this trade the specific traps are a registration number quoted after it lapsed, a description of insurance that has not been read against paying guests, and a claim carried forward into a new listing from an old one.
Whatever the listing and the owner pitch say has to match the register, one more reason to keep it current. The register is the source your marketing copy should be written from, as set out in the marketing and growth guide.
Running the audit at scale
With one property this is a folder. With eight it needs an owner and a rhythm.
Give the register a named owner who is not the person who took the bookings, so nobody is auditing their own work. Review it monthly against the calendar. Once a season, re-ask every authority whether anything has changed, even where nothing has expired.
When you add a property, the register row is created before the listing goes live rather than after the first booking. That sequence is the whole discipline, and it belongs inside the daily routine rather than beside it, which is why it appears in the operations and workflow guide.
Adding a property in a new jurisdiction restarts the whole audit rather than extending it. That cost is exactly what makes a second market more expensive than it looks in the expansion and market guide. Where staff will be hired in that new place, the employment rows restart too, which is covered in the hiring and training guide.
Common questions
How much does a permit cost?
That is set locally and changes. Boston has charged about $50 a year, Los Angeles has listed about $89 a year, and larger licensing programs such as Austin's run into the hundreds. The office issuing it is the only source. Put the figure in the register once you have it.
How long does registration take?
Also local, and it is worth asking explicitly, because a long lead time changes when you can accept bookings.
Can I list while an application is pending?
Ask the office that question directly and in writing. Do not infer it, and do not describe yourself as registered until you are.
What if I operate in several cities?
Then you have several audits, not one. Nothing in one jurisdiction's answer carries to another, including within the same state. A Type 2 waitlist in Austin does not help you in Nashville.
What happens if the rule changes after I am registered?
Usually a notice, sometimes a transition period, occasionally neither. Which is why the re-ask column exists, and why every property depending on a single ruling is a concentration you should know you are holding.
