Short-term rental rules · Cleveland, Ohio

Short-term rentals in Cleveland, explained properly.

This page covers the City of Cleveland, Ohio. Until November 27, 2026, the Zoning Code permits renting to short-stay guests in residence districts as limited lodging, an accessory use of the host's own primary residence, for no more than 91 days a year. From November 28, 2026, every short-term rental (a home rented for 30 consecutive days or less) needs a yearly City license from the Commissioner of Assessments and Licenses, and in residential districts short-term rentals are limited to 10% of the residential units on a block or in a building of three or more units (or one, if that is greater) unless the Board of Zoning Appeals grants a variance. Stays owe the City's 3% transient occupancy tax, and Ohio state sales tax rules also apply (see state law below).

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At a glance

What you need to know before you buy or list

Question	Answer
Are short-term rentals allowed?	Until November 27, 2026, the Zoning Code permits renting to lodgers in residence districts as "limited lodging", an accessory use of the host's own primary residence, for no more than 91 days a year. From November 28, 2026, short-term rentals need a City license, and the Zoning Code lists them as a permitted use in One-Family Districts, subject to a density limit of 10% of the residential units on a block (or one, if that is greater)[1][2][3][4]Clause Clause Clause Clause Clause Clause Clause Clause
City license required?	Yes, from November 28, 2026: a yearly short-term rental license from the City Commissioner of Assessments and Licenses for each dwelling unit; $150 a year, running December 1 to November 30[3][2]Clause Clause Clause Clause Clause
Who can host?	Until November 27, 2026 (limited lodging): an owner, or a tenant authorized by the owner, who lives in the home more than 51% of the year. From November 28, 2026: the property owner, or a tenant whose written lease allows short-term rental; the license chapter lets an operator or local responsible party manage the rental[1][3][5]Clause Clause Clause Clause Clause
Cap or spacing limit?	From November 28, 2026: in any residential district, short-term rentals are limited to at least one, or no more than 10%, of the residential units on the block or in a building of three or more units, whichever is greater; more needs a variance from the Board of Zoning Appeals[3]Clause Clause Clause Clause Clause
City lodging tax	3% City transient occupancy tax on stays of less than 30 consecutive days, which since July 1, 2026 names short-term rentals expressly; a booking platform may collect and remit it for the host[6]Clause Clause Clause Clause Clause

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Detailed rules

The full picture, section by section

License, platforms and enforcement (from November 28, 2026)

What the license application needs	Owner, operator and 24-hour local contact details; a dimensioned floor plan; a parking plan; proof of at least $500,000 liability insurance; proof that taxes are paid; a certificate of occupancy; proof the home is certified lead safe; and, for a tenant, a lease that allows subleasing[3]Clause Clause Clause Clause Clause Clause Clause Clause Clause Applies to: From November 28, 2026 Section 686B.03(b) lists what the application on the Commissioner's form must include, including a floor plan showing the proposed maximum number of guests, bedrooms, safety features and evacuation routes; a parking plan; liability insurance of at least $500,000 (or proof that the rental is insured under a booking agent's policy); proof that real estate and transient occupancy taxes due are paid; a certificate of occupancy; and proof that the dwelling is certified lead safe. Evidence that subleasing is prohibited is grounds for denial. Changes must be reported within seven days (686B.03(c)).
Can the license be transferred?	No: a license cannot be transferred to another person or to another property[3]Clause Applies to: From November 28, 2026 Section 686B.03(d) says licenses are not transferable from one person to another or from one premises to another.
Advertising, booking and display	A short-term rental without a license may not be advertised, offered or booked, and the license must be displayed prominently inside the main entrance[3]Clause Clause Clause Applies to: From November 28, 2026 Section 686B.05(a)-(c). Civil fines of $1,000 apply per violation (each day of unlicensed advertising or of failing to display the license is a separate violation; see penalties).
Booking platform duties	Booking platforms that take reservations or payments must register with the Commissioner every year and name a contact for service, taxes and fixing violations; platforms must also tell hosts about their City tax and license obligations[3][6]Clause Clause Clause Clause Section 686B.08 requires booking agents of short-term rentals to register annually (from November 28, 2026). Under 193.121 (in force since July 1, 2026), a booking agent that does not collect the tax for all its hosts must file a quarterly transaction report, and every booking agent listing a short-term rental in the City must tell the host of its tax and license obligations when it first lists the property and remind it each year, using language approved by the City.
City rules still to come	The Commissioner of Assessments and Licenses is to adopt rules for the license program, including how licenses are issued and how many are issued initially and each year; none had been published as of October 8, 2026[3]Clause Clause Section 686B.10 directs the Commissioner to adopt rules, which may add grounds and processes for approving, denying, suspending and revoking licenses; they take effect seven days after publication in the City Record. Section 686B.03(f) says the manner of issuing licenses and the quantity issued initially and annually will follow 686B.04 and those rules. Check the City Record and the Division of Assessments and Licenses before applying.
Rental registration and tax abatement	A licensed short-term rental does not need a certificate of rental registration while it stays a short-term rental (renting for more than 30 consecutive days requires one), and a home operated as a short-term rental cannot get a tax abatement. Until November 27, 2026, limited lodging needs no rental registration while the home stays owner-occupied[3][1]Clause Clause Clause Sections 686B.05(d)-(e) (from November 28, 2026) and 337.251(b)(2) (until November 27, 2026).
Penalties	Operating without a license or above the density limit without a variance: misdemeanor of the first degree (up to $1,000 and six months in jail) and a $5,000 civil fine; $1,000 per day for unlicensed advertising; $1,000 then $3,000 for breaking the operating standards; $1,500 a year for an unregistered booking platform[3]Clause Clause Clause Clause Clause Clause Applies to: From November 28, 2026 Sections 686B.99 (criminal) and 686B.991 (civil). Fines are in addition to other penalties, including under Chapter 193 (tax) and Chapter 630 (nuisances). Civil penalties can be appealed within 10 days to the issuing officer and then to the Board of Zoning Appeals.

Operating standards

Occupancy and length of stay	From November 28, 2026: at most two overnight guests per bedroom plus two, and no single rental longer than 30 consecutive days; every bedroom needs indoor access to a bathroom, and basement rooms may be bedrooms only if they meet the below-grade habitable room rules[3][1]Clause Clause Clause Clause Clause Applies to: From November 28, 2026 (limited lodging rule shown for the period before) Section 686B.06(a), (b), (d) and (e). Until November 27, 2026, limited lodging under 337.251 allows lodging to any one lodger for no more than 30 consecutive days.
Local contact and neighbor notice	From November 28, 2026: a local contact must be reachable at all times while guests are there and able to reach the property within one hour; before the first guests, the host must give the contact's details in writing to the adjacent homes and those across the street and behind[3][1]Clause Clause Clause Clause Sections 686B.02(g), 686B.06(i) and 686B.06(j) (updated details within seven days of a change). Until November 27, 2026, a limited lodging host must give lodgers the contact details of a person responsible for resolving complaints (337.251(c)(6)).
Smoke alarms, CO detectors and fire extinguisher	Smoke alarms next to each sleeping area and carbon monoxide detectors are required now (limited lodging) and under the license chapter; from November 28, 2026 an A/B/C fire extinguisher, at least in the kitchen, is also required[1][3]Clause Clause Clause Clause Sections 337.251(c)(3)-(4) and 686B.06(f).
Noise and trash	From November 28, 2026: excessive or unnecessary noise is prohibited at all times, and hosts must provide trash and recycling containers and tell guests the collection days[3]Clause Clause Applies to: From November 28, 2026 Section 686B.06(g)-(h).

Zoning

Neighborhood Form-Based Code pilot areas	In the Form-Based Code pilot areas (parts of Detroit Shoreway - Cudell, Hough and the Opportunity Corridor), "lodging" in House, Neighborhood and Community districts is limited to 5 lodging units or 10 beds and the operator must live on the premises; whether this use covers a short-term rental of a home is not stated, so ask the City Planning Commission[5]Clause Clause Clause Clause The Neighborhood Form-Based Code (Title VIIA) applies within portions of four pilot areas shown on the Zoning Map. It defines lodging as a facility for transient stays of generally less than 30 days, with examples of bed and breakfast, extended-stay facility, hostel and hotel. In House (H), Neighborhood (N) and Community (C) districts lodging is limited to 5 units or 10 beds with the operator living on the premises; in Neighborhood Flex (NX) and Community Flex (CX) districts, 10 rooms or 20 beds. Ordinance No. 561-2026 does not mention the Form-Based Code. This page does not say how these rules apply to a short-term rental of a dwelling.

Neighborhood Form-Based Code pilot areas

In the Form-Based Code pilot areas (parts of Detroit Shoreway - Cudell, Hough and the Opportunity Corridor), "lodging" in House, Neighborhood and Community districts is limited to 5 lodging units or 10 beds and the operator must live on the premises; whether this use covers a short-term rental of a home is not stated, so ask the City Planning Commission[5]Clause Clause Clause Clause

The Neighborhood Form-Based Code (Title VIIA) applies within portions of four pilot areas shown on the Zoning Map. It defines lodging as a facility for transient stays of generally less than 30 days, with examples of bed and breakfast, extended-stay facility, hostel and hotel. In House (H), Neighborhood (N) and Community (C) districts lodging is limited to 5 units or 10 beds with the operator living on the premises; in Neighborhood Flex (NX) and Community Flex (CX) districts, 10 rooms or 20 beds. Ordinance No. 561-2026 does not mention the Form-Based Code. This page does not say how these rules apply to a short-term rental of a dwelling.

Taxes

Filing the City tax	A host (or the booking agent collecting for it) files a return and pays the transient occupancy tax by the last day of each month for the month before, unless the City allows less frequent filing[6]Clause Section 193.07(a)-(b). The tax is administered by the Commissioner of Assessments and Licenses (193.02(a)).

State law that also applies

Ohio state sales tax on lodging	Ohio's 5.75% state sales tax applies to room charges for stays of under 30 days only at places with five or more sleeping rooms; the Department of Taxation says a place with fewer than five rooms for guests is not a "hotel" and does not charge the tax on the room[7][8][9]Clause Clause Clause Clause The Department of Taxation's taxability guide lists hotel room rentals as taxable for stays under 30 days in facilities with 5 or more sleeping rooms. Its information release on bed and breakfasts quotes the Ohio Revised Code definition of a hotel (an establishment where sleeping accommodations are offered to guests and five or more rooms are used for guests, in one or several structures) and of transient guests (stays of less than thirty consecutive days), and says a bed and breakfast with fewer than five rooms available to transient guests is not a hotel and does not have to charge the tax on the room; food served on the premises is still taxed unless room and meal charges are separated. The Department gives the state sales tax rate as 5.75 percent. The information release dates from 1995 and cites older letters of R.C. 5739.01; the current text of the Revised Code could not be read for this page. How a whole-home short-term rental counts its rooms is not addressed by the sources read; check with the Department of Taxation. City and county lodging taxes are shown on each place's page.
Do booking platforms collect the state sales tax?	Ohio's marketplace facilitator rules, which make online marketplaces collect sales tax on sales they facilitate, do not cover hotel lodging: the Department of Taxation says the facilitated sales they reach exclude lodging by a hotel; no Department statement on booking platforms and short-term rentals was found[9]Clause Clause Since September 1, 2019, a marketplace facilitator that meets substantial nexus in Ohio is treated as the seller for the sales it facilitates and must collect and pay Ohio sales tax on them. The Department of Taxation says that, to count as facilitating a sale, the marketplace must be selling a taxable good or service used or received in Ohio, and that this excludes lodging by a hotel. The Department pages read do not say whether booking platforms collect state sales tax on stays at short-term rentals that are hotels (five or more rooms); check with the platform and the Department. City rules on platform collection of city lodging taxes are shown on each place's page.

Ohio state sales tax on lodging

Ohio's 5.75% state sales tax applies to room charges for stays of under 30 days only at places with five or more sleeping rooms; the Department of Taxation says a place with fewer than five rooms for guests is not a "hotel" and does not charge the tax on the room[7][8][9]Clause Clause Clause Clause

The Department of Taxation's taxability guide lists hotel room rentals as taxable for stays under 30 days in facilities with 5 or more sleeping rooms. Its information release on bed and breakfasts quotes the Ohio Revised Code definition of a hotel (an establishment where sleeping accommodations are offered to guests and five or more rooms are used for guests, in one or several structures) and of transient guests (stays of less than thirty consecutive days), and says a bed and breakfast with fewer than five rooms available to transient guests is not a hotel and does not have to charge the tax on the room; food served on the premises is still taxed unless room and meal charges are separated. The Department gives the state sales tax rate as 5.75 percent. The information release dates from 1995 and cites older letters of R.C. 5739.01; the current text of the Revised Code could not be read for this page. How a whole-home short-term rental counts its rooms is not addressed by the sources read; check with the Department of Taxation. City and county lodging taxes are shown on each place's page.

Do booking platforms collect the state sales tax?

Ohio's marketplace facilitator rules, which make online marketplaces collect sales tax on sales they facilitate, do not cover hotel lodging: the Department of Taxation says the facilitated sales they reach exclude lodging by a hotel; no Department statement on booking platforms and short-term rentals was found[9]Clause Clause

Since September 1, 2019, a marketplace facilitator that meets substantial nexus in Ohio is treated as the seller for the sales it facilitates and must collect and pay Ohio sales tax on them. The Department of Taxation says that, to count as facilitating a sale, the marketplace must be selling a taxable good or service used or received in Ohio, and that this excludes lodging by a hotel. The Department pages read do not say whether booking platforms collect state sales tax on stays at short-term rentals that are hotels (five or more rooms); check with the platform and the Department. City rules on platform collection of city lodging taxes are shown on each place's page.

Changes

Recent and pending changes

We read the Cleveland Codified Ordinances on American Legal Publishing (current through legislation passed September 28, 2026): Chapter 686B (short-term rentals), Chapter 193 (transient occupancy tax), Zoning Code sections 337.251, 337.02, 337.03 and 337.05, the zoning definitions of hotel, rooming house and tourist home, and the Neighborhood Form-Based Code; and Ordinance No. 561-2026 as published in The City Record of June 12, 2026. We searched City Council legislation introduced since January 2024 for short-term rental, lodging, transient, Chapter 686B, Chapter 193 and Section 337 items: Ordinance No. 561-2026 is the only one passed, and no amendment was pending on October 8, 2026. The Commissioner of Assessments and Licenses had not published the license rules or an application page; issues of The City Record from June 19 to October 2, 2026 contain no short-term rental rules. We will watch the Code, Council legislation and the City Record.

Jun 1, 2026

Short-term rental license and density limit (Ordinance No. 561-2026)Enacted[2]Clause Clause Clause

Passed June 1, 2026. Creates Chapter 686B (yearly short-term rental license, $150; 10%-per-block density limit in residential districts with a Board of Zoning Appeals variance; occupancy, safety, local contact and neighbor notice rules; booking platform registration; fines up to $5,000), adds short-term rentals to the uses permitted in One-Family Districts, and repeals the limited lodging section 337.251. These parts take effect 180 days after passage, on November 28, 2026. The tax changes in the same ordinance took effect July 1, 2026.

Jun 1, 2026

Transient occupancy tax extended expressly to short-term rentalsEnacted[6][2]Clause Clause Clause

Ordinance No. 561-2026 amended Chapter 193 so the 3% transient occupancy tax names short-term rentals, adds a booking agent definition and requires booking agents to tell hosts about their City tax and license obligations. Effective July 1, 2026.

Sources

Every rule above links to one of these

Cleveland Zoning Code 337.251 Limited Lodging in Residence Districts (repealed effective Nov 28, 2026)
City of Cleveland (American Legal Publishing)
Cleveland Ordinance No. 561-2026 (short-term rentals, transient occupancy tax, One-Family Districts, repeal of 337.251), The City Record, June 12, 2026
Cleveland City Council (The City Record) · page updated June 12, 2026
Cleveland Codified Ordinances Ch. 686B Short-Term Rentals (Ord. No. 561-2026, effective Nov 28, 2026)
City of Cleveland (American Legal Publishing)
Cleveland Zoning Code Ch. 337 Residential Districts (337.03, 337.05)
City of Cleveland (American Legal Publishing)
Cleveland Neighborhood Form-Based Code (Codified Ordinances Title VIIA)
City of Cleveland (American Legal Publishing)
Cleveland Codified Ordinances Ch. 193 Transient Occupancy Tax
City of Cleveland (American Legal Publishing)
Ohio Department of Taxation: Sales and Use Taxability (Lodging and Storage)
Ohio Department of Taxation
Ohio Department of Taxation Information Release ST 1995-01: Bed and Breakfast (hotel = five or more rooms)
Ohio Department of Taxation
Ohio Department of Taxation: Sales and Use Tax (5.75 percent state rate; marketplace facilitators)
Ohio Department of Taxation

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This page is general information compiled from public sources, not legal or tax advice. HOA rules, deed restrictions and zoning for a specific property can be stricter. Confirm with the local permitting office and a qualified professional before buying or listing a property.