Kirkwood, MO Short-Term Rentals: Night Caps (2026)

Kirkwood's zoning code treats short-term rental as a use-specific standard under § 25-36(k), not a separate license category with its own chapter. Section 25-36(k)(5) sets the night cap directly: rooms must be rented on a daily basis, for no more than 14 consecutive days, and for no more than 30 days total in a calendar year to any particular guest. That cap sits alongside a hard occupancy rule: § 25-36(k)(1) restricts short-term rentals to owner-occupied, detached single-family dwellings, and § 25-36(k)(2) requires the permitted owner to maintain the unit as a permanent residence and to be on the premises whenever a guest is staying there.

Bedroom and guest counts also scale by district: § 25-36(k)(3) limits the R-3, R-4 and R-5 Districts to two rented bedrooms and four overnight guests at a time, while § 25-36(k)(4) allows up to four bedrooms and eight guests in the R-1 and R-2 Districts. The code layers on an exterior-signage limit (one nonilluminated sign of two square feet or less), a one-rental-per-block cap measured between intersecting streets, and a minimum-age rule barring rentals to unaccompanied minors under 18. Because these are zoning use standards, they are enforced through the City's zoning and occupancy-permit process rather than a hotel-tax office, and a rental that exceeds the 30-day annual cap or rents to a guest for more than 14 straight days is operating outside its permitted use.