Farmington Hills does not codify an annual night cap on short-term rental operation (no 90-, 120-, or 180-night limit). Instead, the September 2023 ordinance restricts STR activity to owner-occupied dwellings where the host uses the property as a permanent primary residence, which functions as an implicit activity limit because the owner cannot simultaneously reside at the property and rent the entire dwelling year-round in absentia. The owner-occupied operator may host paying guests up to the full calendar year provided the host is also legitimately residing at the property; the home cannot be left vacant of the host while paying guests occupy it as a de facto whole-house rental. Pre-September-2023 registered non-owner-occupied STRs may operate without a night cap during the 5-year amortization window (through approximately September 2028), after which they must convert to owner-occupied or cease. HB 4722 of 2021, which would have constrained local night caps, never passed the Michigan Senate.
Unlike night-cap markets such as San Francisco (90 nights for unhosted), Portland OR (95 nights for accessory rentals), or Honolulu (180 nights for hosted), Farmington Hills has no codified per-year, per-quarter, or per-month night cap on STR operation. The September 2023 zoning amendment (Zoning Text Amendment 3, 2023) and the related Chapter 9 rental registration framework do not include a numeric night-cap clause. Instead, the operative limit on STR activity is the structural restriction to owner-occupied dwellings: the host must use the property as their permanent primary residence (verified through Michigan driver's license, utility bills, voter registration, and other indicia at initial registration and at each 3-year Certificate of Compliance renewal). Because a person can only have one permanent primary residence at a time, and because the dwelling cannot be simultaneously vacant of the host while paying guests occupy it as a de facto whole-house rental, the owner-occupied requirement functions as an implicit activity limit. Within the owner-occupied envelope, the host may host paying guests up to the full calendar year provided the host is also legitimately residing at the property - which in practice means hosted home-share style operation (rented bedrooms or accessory dwelling units while the host occupies the rest of the dwelling) or whole-house operation during short hosted absences (such as when the host takes a vacation). A pattern of extended absences (where the host is consistently elsewhere while paying guests occupy the entire dwelling) is incompatible with the owner-occupied designation and can result in reclassification as an unlawful non-owner-occupied STR subject to the residential-district ban. The 5-year amortization window for pre-September-2023 registered non-owner-occupied STRs (through approximately September 2028) does not include a night cap; those grandfathered operators may host up to 365 nights per year during the window, subject only to the underlying registration, Certificate of Compliance, taxation, and Chapter 17 (Nuisances) compliance. After the sunset, they too must convert to owner-occupied operation or cease. House Bill 4722 of 2021, the proposed Short-Term Rental Regulation Act that would have preempted local night caps along with local bans, passed the Michigan House in October 2021 by a 55-48 vote but never received a Senate floor vote and died at the end of the 2021-2022 legislative session. A successor package led by HB 5438 of 2024 was reintroduced but remains in committee as of early 2026. Until and unless a successor passes, Farmington Hills retains full authority to maintain the current framework and could in principle adopt an explicit night cap by ordinance amendment if it chose to.
Because Farmington Hills does not codify a numeric night cap, there is no codified violation for 'exceeding' a night limit. The operative enforcement risk is reclassification: an owner-occupied STR whose host is consistently absent while paying guests occupy the entire dwelling can be reclassified as an unlawful non-owner-occupied STR through evidence (neighbor complaints, utility usage patterns, vehicle/license-plate observations, social media posts) reviewed by Code Enforcement and the Building Division. Reclassification triggers cease-and-desist under Chapter 34 (the property is then deemed to be operating as a 'Motel' use not permitted in residential districts) and revocation of the Certificate of Compliance under Chapter 9. Continued operation after reclassification and cease-and-desist is a civil infraction with escalating per-day fines and is referrable for injunctive relief in 47th District Court. Pre-September-2023 grandfathered non-owner-occupied STRs that lapse in continuous registration during the 5-year amortization window forfeit their grandfathered status and become subject to the ban immediately, regardless of night count. Operators should not confuse the absence of a numeric night cap with permission for de facto absentee whole-house operation; the owner-occupied requirement is the operative control and is verified at each 3-year renewal. Future state legislation (a successor to HB 4722) could change this framework, but as of 2026 no such bill has passed both chambers.
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