Short-term rental registration rules, city by city, from each city's own page
For each major US city, from the city government's own page: whether short-term rentals must register or be licensed, the fee, the licence term, primary-residence and unit-count limits, and dated rule changes. This is the portfolio's first city-level asset — every other jurisdictional asset is state-level — and the rules are churning: Austin rewrote its rules three times in twelve months (Feb 2025 zoning change, Oct 2025 two-year licences and tenant operation, and from July 1, 2026 the city 'will begin requesting removal of unlicensed properties from STR platforms'); Chicago registers 'shared housing units' with $2,500–$10,000 fines per violation; NYC's Local Law 18 registration regime has a Prohibited Buildings List. The incumbents assembling this are property-management software vendors (Lodgify, Hospitable, Truvi) whose city guides are content marketing with no quotes, no dates and uneven freshness — keeping fifty city pages current by hand was the prohibitive part, and it is exactly what the pipeline does. Answers 'do I need a licence to Airbnb my place in [city]', 'what is the fine for an unregistered short-term rental in [city]', and 'what changed in [city]'s STR rules this year'. Cities whose page we cannot reach get no record.
3 records where two or more sources state different values. Both sides are reproduced on the record page, each with its own source and quote.
The data
| City | Registration / licence required? | Ordinance / administering office | Residence and unit limits | Dated rule change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Austin | All STR owners/operators in the City of Austin must be licensed annually through the City. | Austin Development Services Code Compliance | ||
| Chicago | All shared housing units are required to have an approved Registration Number to operate short-term rentals (31 days or fewer) in the City of Chicago. | BACP | ||
| Denversources differ | the City and County of Denver requires hosts to get a license to offer a short-term rental in their primary residence. | Denver Revised Municipal Code | Primary residence means the place where a person's habitation is fixed for the term of the license and is the person's usual place of return. A person can have only one primary residence. | |
| Nashville | In Nashville and Davidson County, the law requires that anyone wishing to rent a property on Short Term Rental Property (STRP) websites must receive a permit from the Metro Codes Department prior to listing. | Metro Codes Department | The Short Term Rental Property owner shall not receive any compensation or remuneration to permit occupancy of an Short Term Rental Property for a period of less than twenty-four hours. The maximum stay for any guest shall be thirty consecutive days. | |
| New Orleans | Short Term Rentals in Orleans Parish are regulated through the Short Term Rental Administration, a part of the Department of Safety and Permits. | Short Term Rental Administration, a part of the Department of Safety and Permits | ||
| New York Citysources differ | The law requires short-term rental hosts to register with the Mayor's Office of Special Enforcement (OSE), and prohibits booking service platforms (such as Airbnb, VRBO, Booking.com, and others) from processing transactions for unregistered short-term rentals. | Mayor's Office of Special Enforcement (OSE) | On January 9, 2022, New York City adopted Local Law 18, also known as the Short-Term Rental Registration Law. | |
| Seattlesources differ | Operating an STR without a regulatory license could subject you to fines and other penalties. | Seattle Municipal Code |
Where this came from
Every record above links the page it was taken from and quotes the sentence that states it. These are the 8 sources this dataset was assembled from.
- austintexas.govhttps://www.austintexas.gov/department/short-term-rentals
- chicago.govhttps://www.chicago.gov/city/en/depts/bacp/supp_info/sharedhousingandaccomodationslicensing.html
- denvergov.orghttps://www.denvergov.org/Government/Agencies-Departments-Offices/Agencies-Departments-Offices-Directory/Business-Licensing/Business-Licenses/Short-Term-Rentals
- nashville.govhttps://www.nashville.gov/departments/codes/short-term-rentals
- nola.govhttps://nola.gov/short-term-rentals/
- nyc.govhttps://www.nyc.gov/site/specialenforcement/registration-law/registration.page
- nyc.govhttps://www.nyc.gov/site/specialenforcement/registration-law/registration-rules-and-laws.page
- seattle.govhttps://www.seattle.gov/business-regulations/short-term-rentals
Machine-readable
- data.jsonThe whole dataset — every record with its source URL and source quote.
- Open Knowledge Format bundleOne JSON object per line — every record's frontmatter and quoted span exactly as it is held here, in one fetch.
- How this is made and checkedWhat "verified against source" does and does not mean.