Is short-term rental legal in Columbus, OH?
Columbus requires a Short-Term Rental Permit for rentals under 30 days, in two types mirroring the state pattern: owner-occupied (Type A style) and non-owner-occupied, with permit numbers displayed in every ad.
Rules checked October 2026
Run the Columbus verdict on your facts
| What counts as a short-term rental | Columbus requires a Short-Term Rental Permit for rentals under 30 days, in two types mirroring the state pattern: owner-occupied (Type A style) and non-owner-occupied, with permit numbers displayed in every ad. |
|---|---|
| Permit / license | Short-Term Rental Permit — issued by City of Columbus (Public Safety / Licensing) |
| Fee | Permit fee per the city schedule (a few hundred dollars) |
| Renewal | Permits run 2 years |
| Primary-residence rule | No primary-residence rule for the permit itself; the permit type follows your occupancy facts. |
| Whole-home rental | Whole-home rentals permitted under the correct permit type. |
| Night cap | — |
| Guests / occupancy | Occupancy per permit and housing codes |
| Minimum stay | None |
| Zoning | Some neighborhood overlays and HOA rules do locally what the permit doesn't. |
| Density / scarcity | No density cap found in the current rules |
| Fines | Operating without a permit draws city fines and permit consequences under the licensing code |
| Taxes | City/county bed taxes accompany the permit. |
| Platform duties | Permit numbers required in advertisements. |
| State layer | No state preemption (state bills have stalled). Columbus, Cincinnati and Cleveland license locally. |
What trips hosts in Columbus
- Columbus is the Midwest's plain-vanilla permit regime — its lesson is that 'permitted' still means permitted: the unpermitted listing is the violation.
The private layer still applies
These are the city's rules. Your HOA, condo board, lease or mortgage can say no on top of them — that layer is printed as a warning in the checker, never merged into the city's verdict.
Sources: Columbus City Code Ch. 591 (Short-Term Rentals) · City of Columbus STR program. Rules checked October 2026.