St. Louis Airbnb Regulations: Permits, Taxes, and HOA Limits

If you want to run an Airbnb in the City of St. Louis, the core rule is simple: you need a city permit before you take a single booking. St. Louis Airbnb regulations come from Ordinance 71729, passed in November 2023 and codified as Chapter 25.57 of the city code.¹ The ordinance sets who can get a permit, how the property must operate, what safety equipment it needs, and how the city collects lodging taxes. Fines run $500 per adjudicated violation, and each day a violation continues counts as a separate offense.²

Which Permit You Need

St. Louis issues two kinds of short-term rental permits, and the one that applies to you depends on whether you live in the property.

An occupied permit is for your principal residence. Because you can only have one principal residence, you can only hold one occupied permit.³

A non-occupied permit is for an investment property where you don’t live. One owner can hold up to four of these citywide.²

Caps on Non-Occupied Permits in Multi-Unit Buildings

For investment rentals, the city limits how many units in a single building can run as short-term rentals. The share shrinks as the building gets bigger:²

Two-unit buildings: both units can get non-occupied permits, but both count against the owner’s four-permit cap.
Three- or four-unit buildings: one non-occupied permit per building, with permitted units capped at 50 percent of the structure.
Five to 23 units: no new non-occupied permits once more than 25 percent of units already hold active permits.
24 or more units: cap drops to 12.5 percent of units.

These caps apply across different owners in the same building. If you’re buying a condo to list on Airbnb, confirm the building isn’t already at its cap before closing.

Properties That Can’t Get a Permit at All

The city won’t issue a permit for a property receiving tax increment financing or tax abatement, and it won’t issue one to an applicant with unpaid city taxes or other obligations.³ In neighborhoods with active TIF districts, that first restriction catches more buyers than they expect.

How to Apply

Applications go through the city’s permit portal at stlcitypermits.com, and the permit fee is $150.⁴ Before you start, pull together:

A valid Missouri driver’s license or state ID.
Recent utility bills or voter registration tying your name to the property address.
A floor plan showing room dimensions, exits, and the location of safety equipment.
A current City of St. Louis business license, which you upload through the portal’s dashboard.

You also have to name a short-term rental agent on the application. The agent is the person or company authorized to manage the unit and respond to problems around the clock.² If you self-manage, that’s you. Any false information on the application is grounds for immediate revocation.

After the Building Division reviews your paperwork, an inspector visits to confirm the property matches the floor plan and meets safety codes. The property has to pass the same inspection every year to keep the permit active.⁴ Denied applicants get a written explanation and 30 business days to appeal.²

Rules You Have to Follow Once You’re Permitted

The day-to-day operating rules are where most hosts trip up.

Two-Night Minimum, One Party at a Time

Every booking has to be at least two nights. Listing or accepting one-night stays triggers permit revocation.² Maximum guest count is set by the Building Commissioner for each specific unit, based on the residential code, and the number appears on the permit posted inside.¹ You can only rent to one party at a time. Splitting the unit between separate groups isn’t allowed.³

No Parties, No Food Service, No Exterior Signs

The unit can’t be rented or offered as a party venue, reception space, or meeting space.² You can’t provide food service of any kind, although leaving prepackaged snacks and drinks in the unit is fine.³ Nothing on the outside of the building can indicate it’s a short-term rental, except for a city-issued marker no larger than one square foot.

Posted Permit, Posted Rules, 24/7 Agent

Inside the unit, you have to post the permit with the agent’s name, address, phone, and email, the permit number, the maximum occupancy, and the maximum number of vehicles allowed at the property. You also have to post written house rules, and those rules must include a notice that guests are subject to the city’s noise ordinances.² The agent has to be reachable 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and is responsible for making sure the permit number shows up on every online listing where the property is advertised.

Safety Equipment the Inspector Will Check

Three items are required in every permitted unit, and the inspector verifies them at the first inspection and every annual renewal:³

Working smoke detectors inside and outside every bedroom.
Carbon monoxide alarms outside every bedroom.
A charged, properly maintained fire extinguisher on every habitable floor.

A dead battery or an expired extinguisher is the easiest way to fail inspection and delay your permit.

Lodging Taxes You Have to Collect

St. Louis treats short-term rentals like hotels for tax purposes. Two city lodging taxes apply to every booking:⁵

Convention and Sports Tax: 3.5 percent of the room charge.
Convention and Tourism Tax: 3.75 percent of the room charge.

That’s a combined 7.25 percent on every booking, administered by the city’s License Collector and owed on all temporary lodging, including stays booked through Airbnb and similar platforms.⁵ Some platforms collect and remit these for you, but confirm it in writing. The tax obligation is separate from your permit, and unpaid lodging taxes can create problems with the city even when your permit is otherwise in good standing.

Federal Income Tax

Rental income is taxable to the IRS whether or not a platform sends you a tax form. If you rent the space without providing hotel-like services, you report income and expenses on Schedule E. If you provide substantial guest services, you report on Schedule C and owe self-employment tax on net income.⁶ One narrow exception: if you rent your home for fewer than 15 days during the year and personally use it the rest of the time, you don’t have to report the rental income, but you also can’t deduct rental expenses for those days.⁷

Penalties and Revocation

Each adjudicated violation in municipal court carries a $500 fine, and ongoing violations count as a separate offense for every day they continue.² Three violation notices at the same property within 24 months triggers mandatory revocation, and the city will reject new applications for that property for up to 12 months. Revoked permits are posted publicly on the city’s website.

The Building Commissioner can also open a revocation review on the first complaint, without waiting for a pattern. If your permit is revoked, you have 30 business days to file a written appeal, and you get 30 days to cure violations before revocation becomes final.²

Platforms Need Their Own Permit

Ordinance 71729 also regulates the booking platforms. Any platform that lists St. Louis properties has to hold its own city permit, has to prompt hosts to include the permit number on every listing, and cannot complete a booking transaction for a property that doesn’t appear on the city’s official registry at the moment the fee is collected.² If the city revokes your permit, the platform has to pull the listing or risk losing its own permit to operate in St. Louis.

A City Permit Doesn’t Override Your HOA

If your property is in a homeowners association or condo complex, the governing documents can prohibit or restrict short-term rentals even when the city would issue a permit. Courts have generally required that such bans be clearly spelled out in the CC&Rs or bylaws rather than inferred from vague “residential use only” language, but associations can and do amend their documents to add explicit restrictions. Read the governing documents before you furnish and list the property. A valid HOA ban makes the city permit worthless.

1
City of St. Louis. Short-Term Rental Permits Frequently Asked Questions
2
St. Louis, MO. St. Louis Code of Ordinances – Short-Term Rental Ordinance
3
City of St. Louis. Short-Term Rental Permits
4
STL City Permits. Short Term Rental Application
5
City of St. Louis. Hotel/Motel Room Tax
6
Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 414, Rental Income and Expenses
7
Internal Revenue Service. Renting Residential and Vacation Property