HOUSTON, Texas – If you’re a short-term rental owner or thinking about becoming one, you’ve likely heard about Houston’s new ordinance approved last month that regulates these businesses within city limits.
Tune in Thursday at 6 p.m. to catch 2 Investigator Joel Eisenbaum as he heads into neighborhoods where residents are raising concerns about short-term rental homes. Find out how these rentals are affecting the community and what’s being done to tackle the issues.
Although the ordinance was approved in April, it won’t officially take effect until Jan. 1, 2026, giving short-term rental (STR) owners time to prepare. The city will start accepting applications for STRs on Aug. 1.
So, what does the ordinance entail? Let’s break it down.
First, it’s important to know how the city defines a short-term rental. An STR is a dwelling unit, or any part of a dwelling unit, that is rented out or offered for rent for fewer than 30 consecutive days.
There are exceptions, including boarding homes, hotels, bed and breakfasts, lodging facilities, alternate housing facilities, and buildings providing sleeping accommodations primarily for federal government departments or agencies in Texas, and leaseback arrangements.
This ordinance will enable the city to enforce regulations at STRs, such as noise and sound regulations, payment of hotel occupancy taxes, compliance with building and fire codes, and addressing criminal offenses. It also requires registrants to display a 24-hour emergency contact number and an approved certificate of registration. STRs are prohibited from advertising as event spaces, and applicants must provide proof of completion of human trafficking awareness training.
An STR registration could be denied if the application contains false, misleading, incorrect, or incomplete information, lacks proof of registration, or if the applicant had a revoked registration from the previous year.
The initial cost for registering your STR is $275, with an annual renewal fee of $275.
Operating without a certificate of registration could result in a fine ranging from $100 to $500 for each day of the violation. Additionally, the ordinance requires STR platforms, such as Airbnb and VRBO, to remove listings for non-compliant STRs within 10 days of notification from the city.
2 Investigates spoke with real estate attorney Patrick Sutton, the city of Houston’s ordinance, and said that although he’s not too familiar with the new policy here, he understands this is a common formality.
“Cities have long required leasing licenses. And that’s not controversial, because it is a widely accepted fact that tenants do not have the same incentives to preserve rental properties and be as quiet as owners," Sutton said.
Sutton fights leasing bans. Over the years, he has represented hundreds of Texas homeowners to protect their property rights.
“The right to decide how long someone stays in your house goes back 2,000 years. This is not new, but all of a sudden, cities and HOAs are deciding that they ought to seize control of that, and that doesn’t make any sense,” Sutton explained.
He added that although cities requiring short-term rentals to have a license is normal, it’s only the beginning for some cities going a lot further.
“Cities are going a lot further now. So, because we’ve had some success in challenging these flat-out short-term leasing bans, the cities are trying ‘death by 1,000 cuts,’ and here’s where we run into an equal protection problem, where they start saying, here’s the 100 different things you have to do to rent out your home for two weeks... and it doesn’t apply to any other kind of lease. Well, there’s no rational basis for that. So that’s a violation of equal protection," Sutton explained.
The city of Houston ordinance says that any SRT that is removed from the registration list will be notified, and once notified, will have 10 days following the receipt of the notification to remove the listing from platforms.
