Get your short-term rental legal with the city
A short-term rental operating legally — the address checked against city zoning and permit-cap maps, HOA and lease restrictions cleared, life-safety hardware installed and self-inspected against the municipal checklist, the permit application filed with neighbour notification, and a transient occupancy tax account registered with the city.
Not on sale yet
Included with every copy
- Your own copy — keep it forever
- Gets better over time — free updates included
- Run it on web and mobile
- Invite a partner to go through it with you — you share the same progress
- 5 knowledge checks to test what you've learned
- The playbook's community — ask questions, get additions, and see how other buyers improve it, right on the step
Who it's for
Property owners and investors preparing a dwelling for Airbnb or VRBO in a city that licenses short-term rentals, including landlords whose leases permit subletting. Not for hosts in near-total-ban cities, units that already hold a permit, or properties under an active enforcement order, where a lawyer is the right first step.
About this playbook
A step-by-step route to a fully legal short-term rental: confirm the city will let you host at all, clear the HOA and lease hurdles, install what the fire marshal checks for, and file a complete application with the neighbor notices the city demands. It ends with your transient occupancy tax account registered and the permit number on your listing. The path is built around your own city's ordinance, zoning map, and inspection checklist — no generic advice. It does not cover state lodging-tax registration where that is separate, tax planning beyond the city levy, or hosts in cities with near-total bans, which the first phase screens out before you spend anything.
What you'll do, step by step
Free preview — these steps are open to read in full before you buy.
Phase 1: Confirm the city allows your rental
0/6Establish whether the property can be legal at all: the city's ordinance, the zoning designation, the permit cap, and the HOA and lease restrictions. Any hard no here ends the project before a dollar is spent.
- 0/530 min
- 0/530 min
- 45 min
- Optional1 hour
Phase 2: Assemble documents and life-safety hardware
5 stepsPhase 3: Self-inspect against the city checklist
4 stepsPhase 4: File the permit application
4 stepsPhase 5: Register for taxes and start hosting
4 stepsDetails
What you need first
A property you own or lease with a right to sublet, physical access to the unit for hardware installation and inspection, a government ID and proof of ownership or the lease in hand, and a card or account for fees. You need a computer, a printer, and a phone camera for GIS maps, forms, neighbor notices, and inspection photos.
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About the creator
I write playbooks about running and growing a business. Step by step, in the order things actually happen.
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