Short Term Rental Regulations

[Abigail Schueler]

Hi all, I'm looking to get into short term rentals in Wisconsin (1-3 hours from the Madison area). I've been reading a lot about city and county ordinances and many of them aren't the most forgiving. For example many of them only allow a 6-7 day rental minimum, requires the owners primary residence or management company to be 25-30 miles from the property and permitting etc. I of course want to abide by these rules and run a legit business but I'm curious how strictly these are enforced–I know it probably varies by area. Do most of you follow the ordinances and get all of the permits or just take the risk?

[Kenneth Rolfe]

100% agree with all of the comments made regarding abiding by the rules!  And I’m with @Luke Carl, call the city and tell them what you’re planning to do.  Come prepared with questions.  This is a business, so look at every obstacle and try to come up with a solution (not to be confused with a short cut!).  I recently purchased a short term rental and ran into a similar regulation that required the owner or an agent to live within a certain distance from the property. I do not meet that requirement, but before I gave up on the area I did some homework and found a cleaning company that is willing to act as the agent.  I ran this by the city and they confirmed this would satisfy the requirement so I moved forward and found a property.

If you like a specific area, do your due diligence and if it works out great!  If not, move onto the next area.

Good Luck!