Short-term rentals in Louisville, explained properly.

Metro Code 115.517(A) lists the minimum contents of the annual registration form; the host must give the emergency contact's details to guests before their stay. Where the owner's primary residence is required, the Office of Planning says each form needs at least two documents supporting residency, a residency hearing may be needed if they are inadequate, and incomplete forms are not accepted. Applications, new or renewal, are reviewed under the rules in force at the time (115.517(F)).

Metro Code 115.517(B) sets a nonrefundable $250 fee with each annual registration form, used by the Office of Planning and Design Services for short-term rental administration and enforcement. The Office of Planning's page also lists $250 per registration form.

The Office of Planning says a conditional use permit starts with a pre-application, which involves a conference with staff and a neighborhood meeting, followed by a formal application limited to a single property. It lists a $200 pre-application fee and a $560 (owner occupied) or $1,260 (non-owner occupied) formal application fee. These fees come from the Office of Planning's page; the fee schedule itself was not read.

Metro Code 115.520(E) requires any host using a hosting platform to include the valid Louisville Metro registration number in the listing. Only registered short-term rentals may be advertised (115.521(A)). The Director may ask a platform to remove a listing whose registration number is invalid, expired or revoked, and the platform must remove it within ten business days (115.521(B)).

Metro Code 115.999(N)(1) sets civil penalties of $125 for a first offense, $250 for a second, $500 for a third and $1,000 for each later offense; each day a violation continues after notice is a separate offense, and citations can be appealed to the Code Enforcement Board. Advertising violations get a warning first, then $125 per offense (115.999(N)(2)). No new registration is issued for a property cited in the prior 12 months unless the Board of Zoning Adjustment grants a waiver; an active registration is revoked when the property has two or more substantiated civil or criminal complaints, or the host twice violates the rules for that property, within 12 months; and an owner or host whose registration is revoked cannot get a new one for one calendar year (115.516(D), (E)). Revocation can be appealed to the Board of Zoning Adjustment within 30 days. For a rental with a conditional use permit, the Board may also hold a hearing to revoke the permit (Land Development Code 4.2.63(J)).

Land Development Code 4.3.23(C) and 4.2.63(C) limit occupancy to two times the number of bedrooms plus two people, or two times the bedrooms plus six where the property is larger than two acres. If that allows more than 12 people, no more than 12 may be over 16, unless the Planning Director (for registrations) allows more within the overall maximum. For conditional use permits the Board of Zoning Adjustment may further restrict occupancy or grant relief case by case. The host must post the maximum number of guests in the rental (Metro Code 115.520(D)).

Land Development Code 4.3.23(A)-(B) and 4.2.63(A)-(B) set a maximum stay of 29 consecutive days (a unit rented to the same occupant for 30 days or more is not a short-term rental) and limit each unit to a single short-term rental contract at a time; Metro Code 115.520(B) repeats the one-contract rule.

Land Development Code 4.3.23(D) limits registration-only short-term rentals to single-family homes and duplexes unless the property is zoned C-R, C-N, C-1, C-2, C-3, OR-3, OTF or EZ-1, and says this cannot be waived. Rentals that need a conditional use permit follow 4.2.63(E) (single-family, duplex or condominium; see above).

Metro Code 115.520(A) requires smoke alarms meeting Metro Code 94.02, at least one working carbon monoxide detector and an emergency escape and rescue opening in every sleeping room as set out in the Kentucky Residential Code, at least one maintained and charged fire extinguisher on each habitable floor, and a clearly marked evacuation plan posted on the premises. Under 115.520(D) the name, email and phone number of the host and any emergency contact, and the maximum number of guests (and of persons over 16, if applicable), must be posted conspicuously inside. The host is responsible for guests' activity and must deal with problems at any time of day, or delegate this to the emergency contact (115.520(F)).

Land Development Code 4.3.23(E)-(G) and 4.2.63(F)-(H) bar the host from serving food or alcoholic beverages to guests, prohibit outdoor signage identifying the short-term rental in residential zoning districts, and require sufficient parking for the host and guests, as decided by the Planning Director (registrations) or the Board of Zoning Adjustment (conditional use permits). After a parking complaint, the Planning Director may require a parking study, and if parking is inadequate the host must add parking or stop the short-term rental use.

The Office of Planning says the short-term rental regulations do not supersede lease agreements, homeowners association bylaws, covenants, deed restrictions or any other agreement or law that prohibits subletting or short-term rental use, and that Metro Government does not enforce such agreements unless it is a party to them.

Metro Code 121.01 levies five transient room taxes on the rent for occupancies of accommodations regularly furnished to transients, including rent charged by anyone who arranges the rental: 3% (A), an additional 1.5% (B), an additional 1% for the Kentucky Center for the Arts (C), an additional 2% for convention center bonds (D) and a special 1% for the Kentucky International Convention Center (E). Section 121.02(B) calls them the cumulative transient room taxes, and the Revenue Commission says Louisville Metro imposes a total transient room tax of 8.5%. Rent includes charges for services needed to arrange the rental, such as platform charges (121.05). Accommodations supplied for 30 days or more in a row are exempt. No combined total with the state taxes is given here.

Metro Code 115.519(A) says the host is ultimately responsible for the transient room tax, but a hosting platform with a collection agreement may pay it on the host's behalf. The Revenue Commission says online booking platforms must register and file and pay the tax monthly on the stays they facilitate, hosts who book only through platforms no longer file a transient return, and hosts with direct bookings file a monthly return (form TR1M, filed electronically) for those stays. The tax and return are due by the last day of the month following the month of the stay (121.02(C)). Late payment draws a 5% penalty plus 12% yearly interest, and a late return 5% a month up to 25% (121.03).

Metro Code 115.519(B) says the host is subject to Louisville Metro occupational license taxes under Chapter 110, and 115.519(C) requires registration with the Revenue Commission. The Revenue Commission says short-term rental hosts are treated as being in the business of renting real property and must register and file net profit returns on all rental income, including short-term rental income. The rate was not read here.

Section 139.200 of the Kentucky Revised Statutes imposes a 6% sales tax on retailers' gross receipts from the rental of any room or rooms, lodgings, campsites or accommodations furnished by any hotel, motel, inn, tourist camp or other place in which rooms, lodgings or accommodations are regularly furnished to transients for a consideration. The tax does not apply to rooms or accommodations supplied for a continuous period of 30 days or more to a person. The Department of Revenue says the statewide transient room tax is in addition to the 6% sales tax and any local transient room tax, and that for sales tax purposes the 1% statewide transient room tax is reported as part of taxable receipts, as local transient room taxes are. Local transient room taxes are shown on each place's page.

Section 142.400 imposes a statewide transient room tax of 1% of the rent for every occupancy of any suite, room, cabin, lodging, campsite or other accommodation charged by any place in which accommodations are regularly furnished to transients, or by any person that facilitates the rental by brokering, coordinating or otherwise arranging it. Rent does not include other state or local taxes, and stays supplied for a continuous period of 30 days or more to a person are excluded. Under section 142.402 the return and tax for each month are due to the Department of Revenue by the 20th of the next month. The Department of Revenue says this tax is in addition to the 6% sales tax and any locally assessed transient room tax and is reported separately each month.

The Department of Revenue says Airbnb and VRBO are collecting and remitting the 1% statewide transient room tax for all participating Kentucky hosts, that since January 1, 2023 these platforms must also report and pay local transient room tax on their total charges, including service fees, and that a business renting only through Airbnb or VRBO does not need its own state transient room tax account. Section 139.450 requires a marketplace provider whose own and facilitated sales of property or services delivered or provided in Kentucky exceed $100,000 to register for a sales and use tax permit and to collect the tax on each taxable retail sale it facilitates, and relieves the marketplace retailer of collecting tax on those sales. The sources read do not say which platforms collect the 6% sales tax on stays; check with the platform and the Department of Revenue.

No section of the Kentucky Revised Statutes regulating short-term rentals as such was found, so local governments' own rules apply. In the 2026 Regular Session, Senate Bill 112 would have barred local governments from requiring a conditional use permit for a short-term rental, imposing density-based limits, banning short-term rentals in residential zones or imposing a residency requirement on operators; its last action was referral to the Senate Committee on Committees on January 21, 2026. Senate Bill 54 (2026), which would have authorized local governments to regulate short-term rentals, was likewise last referred to the Committee on Committees on January 9, 2026. In 2025, Senate Bill 110 (no conditional use permits or density limits for short-term rentals) was last sent to the Economic Development, Tourism and Labor Committee. A similar bill could be filed in a later session.