Short-term rentals in Searcy, explained properly.

Art. 5-11-3 requires the applicant to provide proof of a current Searcy A&P Tax Permit before a business license for a short-term rental is issued. Art. 5-11-2 also says all short-term rentals, including bed and breakfast facilities, shall collect and pay all appropriate federal, state and local taxes. The A&P tax rate and how it is collected are not shown here, and this page does not total State and City taxes.

Art. 5-11-2 sets the maximum overnight occupancy of a short-term rental at two (2) persons per bedroom, plus two (2) additional persons. The occupancy figure must also be posted for renters (Art. 5-11-4). The article's definitions of a bedroom are in Art. 11-3, which hasn't been reviewed yet.

Art. 5-11-3 requires the applicant to designate a local property representative who is available twenty-four (24) hours per day, seven (7) days per week, to respond within one (1) hour to complaints about the condition, operation or conduct of occupants and to take remedial action to resolve them. The names, addresses and telephone numbers of the owner and the representative are kept on file with the Code Enforcement office and the Police Department; failing to provide or update them may result in suspension or revocation of the business license.

Art. 5-11-3 says the potential short-term rental shall be inspected by the Fire Marshall and Building Inspection Official or a designee for compliance with all applicable building codes, including the Arkansas Fire Prevention Code, International Building Code and National Swimming Pool Code. The inspection is conducted yearly and is required before the business license for the unit is renewed. An inspection fee is not shown here.

Art. 5-11-2 applies this condition to short-term rentals in the districts where they are permitted (all districts other than Industrial). The parking counts in Chapter 6 are not shown here. The location and quantity of off-street parking must also be posted for renters (Art. 5-11-4).

Art. 5-11-4 lists ten items: the property address; the owner's and local property representative's names and contact information; the license expiration date; maximum overnight occupancy; applicable noise and use restrictions; location and quantity of off-street parking; a direction that trash is not stored within public view except in proper containers, with the collection schedule; evacuation routes; the renter's responsibility not to trespass or create disturbances; and notice that the renter may be cited or fined by the City for violations.

Art. 5-11-5 lets the Code Enforcement Department suspend or revoke a short-term rental business license on written notice by Certificate of Mailing for: a false material statement in the application; a change in any fact the license was issued on that is not reported within thirty (30) days; a violation of any provision of law at the rental, or failure to meet sanitation standards, Arkansas Fire Prevention Code requirements or other standards; the local property representative failing to respond within one (1) hour to two (2) or more complaints in any twelve (12) month period; or failure to pay applicable federal, state and local taxes. Under Art. 5-11-6 the holder may appeal a revocation to the Searcy City Council within thirty (30) days of the revocation being issued by Certificate of Mailing. The Council reviews factual compliance and whether the severity of noncompliance warrants revocation. Fines or other penalties are not shown in this article.

The Department of Finance and Administration's sales tax rule (26 CAR § 30-501) says the service of furnishing rooms, suites, condominiums, townhouses, rental houses or other accommodations to transient guests by hotels, motels, lodging houses, property management companies or any other provider of accommodations to transient guests is subject to gross receipts tax, and defines transient guests as those who rent accommodations other than their regular place of abode on less than a month-to-month basis. The Department's statewide rate table lists the State Sales and Use Tax at 6.500% (effective July 1, 2013). City and county sales taxes may also apply; they are not shown here.

The Department's tourism tax rule (26 CAR § 30-1407) says that, in addition to state and local sales or use tax, a 2% tourism tax applies to the gross receipts from furnishing a condominium, townhouse or rental house to a transient guest, and from furnishing a guest room, suite or other accommodation by a hotel, motel, lodging house, property management company or any other provider of an accommodation to a transient guest. A transient guest is a person renting an accommodation other than their regular place of abode on less than a month-to-month basis. The Department's rate table lists the Parks and Tourism Tax at 2.000%. Act 822 of 2019 amended the tourism tax statute (Ark. Code § 26-63-402(1)) to the same effect and added accommodations intermediaries to the list of providers.

Act 822 of 2019 amended the state sales tax on accommodations (Ark. Code § 26-52-301(3)(A)) and the tourism tax (Ark. Code § 26-63-402(1)) to list accommodations intermediaries among the providers whose furnishing of accommodations is taxed. An accommodations intermediary is anyone other than the owner, operator or manager of the room, condominium, townhouse, rental house or other accommodation, and furnishing includes brokering, coordinating, making available or otherwise arranging the sale or use of the accommodation. The Act's title says it requires an accommodations intermediary to collect and remit the sales tax and tourism tax due on the arrangements it makes, and these sections took effect on the first day of the calendar quarter after the Act took effect (approved April 9, 2019). The same Act requires marketplace facilitators with more than $100,000 of Arkansas sales or 200 transactions in the current or previous year to collect and remit sales tax. This is the Act as passed; the current wording of the Arkansas Code was not read here. Which taxes a given platform collects is not stated in these sources; check with the platform.

Act 313 of 2025 (approved March 18, 2025) requires cities to allow at least one accessory dwelling unit by right on a lot with a single-family home, bars cities from requiring that the house or the accessory dwelling unit be occupied by the owner, and makes conflicting city rules in effect on or after January 1, 2026 invalid to the extent of the conflict, but it also says the section does not prohibit a municipality from regulating short-term rentals (defined as a home or unit offered for a fee for 30 days or less). Two 2025 bills on local regulation of short-term rentals did not become law: HB1445 was withdrawn by its author and recommended for study in the interim by the House City, County and Local Affairs Committee, and HB1790 failed on third reading and died at the end of the session. Searches of the Legislature's bill records from 2017 to 2026 found no enacted statewide short-term rental licensing law.