Austin, TX Short-Term Rentals: Host Platform Liability (2026)

Chapter 4-23, Article 2 applies to any platform that advertises, promotes, or books short-term rentals within Austin, defined broadly to include anyone who provides a means to advertise or facilitate STR bookings (Secs. 4-23-1(11), 4-23-21). Sec. 4-23-22 requires a platform to make every user include a license number in the listing's advertisement or promotion. Sec. 4-23-23 sets the delisting duty: once the director sends a written delist notice identifying the listing's web address and, if known, physical address, and stating the rental is unlicensed, the platform has 10 days to remove the advertisement, and must give the director a working email address that can receive delist notices.

Sec. 4-23-24 requires a platform to make hotel occupancy tax documentation available to each user showing the amount collected on the user's behalf, updated at least quarterly. Sec. 4-23-25 bars a platform from accepting a fee to facilitate a booking for any short-term rental that lacks a valid operator's license; a platform is presumed to comply with that ban if it satisfies both the license-number and delisting requirements in Secs. 4-23-22 and 4-23-23. These platform duties sit alongside, and are separate from, the operator-side licensing rules in Article 3, so a platform can face its own liability even when the host is separately at fault.