Hendersonville does not impose a host-presence (hosted-only / on-site host) requirement for permitted commercial-zone short-term rentals in the Old Town Commercial (OTC) and General Commercial (GC) zoning districts - those STRs may operate as fully unhosted rentals provided they hold the Engineered Site Plan, Use and Occupancy Permit, and business license. The host-presence concept enters the framework on the opposite side: an owner-occupied dwelling where the owner lives full-time and rents only a portion of the home is excluded from the STR definition entirely under the Hendersonville Zoning Ordinance, meaning such hosted arrangements operate outside the STR regulatory framework altogether (no permit required, no commercial-zone restriction). This is structurally different from Nashville (which imposes a hosted-only Type 1 vs. unhosted Type 2 distinction with permit caps) and Franklin (which requires owner-occupancy for all new residential-zone STR permits since December 2019).
Hendersonville's STR framework approaches the host-presence question differently from most Tennessee jurisdictions and from the Nashville/Franklin model. On the regulated side, permitted commercial-zone STRs in the Old Town Commercial (OTC) and General Commercial (GC) zoning districts may operate as fully unhosted vacation rentals - the operator is not required to live at the property, host on-site during stays, or maintain a primary residence on the parcel. The substantive controls are zoning-geographic (commercial only) and operational (Engineered Site Plan, Use and Occupancy Permit, business license, tax registrations) rather than presence-based. On the unregulated side, the Hendersonville Zoning Ordinance excludes from the STR definition any owner-occupied dwelling where the owner lives full-time and rents only a portion of the home. This is the FAQ language from the city: 'Residential homes where the owners live full-time and are only renting a portion of their home are not defined as Vacation Rental or Short-Term Rental.' Such hosted owner-occupied arrangements (a single rented bedroom in an owner-occupied home, an attached suite, or similar partial rentals) are not regulated by Ordinance 2016-16 at all - no Engineered Site Plan, no Use and Occupancy Permit, no commercial-zone restriction. This structural choice creates two clean lanes: hosted owner-occupied partial rentals operate freely citywide (subject to general municipal regulations, business license, and tax obligations); and unhosted commercial whole-home STRs operate under the full permit regime in OTC and GC only. Mixed arrangements (whole-home rental in a residential zone with the owner intermittently present, or hosted partial rentals styled as 'STRs') do not fit either lane and are typically treated as prohibited STRs in residential zones. The Hendersonville approach is structurally different from Nashville (which uses a Type 1 hosted vs. Type 2 unhosted distinction with permit caps for each), Franklin (which requires owner-occupancy for all new residential-zone STR permits since December 2019), and Murfreesboro (which combines commercial-zone allowance with limited residential STR permits). The Hendersonville structure trades flexibility for simplicity: hosted partial rentals are unrestricted, unhosted whole-home STRs are commercial-zone-only, and there is no middle ground.
Because Hendersonville does not impose a host-presence requirement on permitted commercial-zone STRs, there is no citation for 'absentee host' or 'unhosted operation' as a stand-alone violation at a properly permitted OTC/GC property. The host-presence question creates enforcement exposure in two ways. First, operators of residential-zone hosted partial rentals who scale up to whole-home rentals (rent out the entire dwelling rather than just a portion, even while maintaining a primary residence claim elsewhere) lose the FAQ exclusion and become subject to the residential-zone prohibition - the FAQ excludes only properties where the owner 'lives full-time and is only renting a portion of their home.' Renting the whole home or being absent during the rental converts the activity to a prohibited STR. Second, operators who claim hosted owner-occupied status to evade the commercial-zone requirement but actually operate as absentee landlords (using the home as a primary residence on paper, not in fact) face enforcement as misrepresentation and as unpermitted STR operation in a residential zone. The J and J Ventures matter at 540 Indian Lake Road and 107 Breakwater North did not involve a hosted owner-occupied claim - the properties were straightforward investor-owned whole-home rentals in residential zones, which the city pursued through municipal court convictions and permanent injunction in October 2024 (vacated and remanded on factual grounds February 17, 2026; underlying ordinance unchanged).
Other ordinances people look up for this city. Green dot = verified primary-source excerpt.
Hendersonville, TN
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