Dane County does not impose a county-wide annual night cap on short-term rentals. Wis. Stat. §66.1014 (the right-to-rent law) bars local governments from prohibiting rentals of 7+ consecutive days and forbids capping 6-29 day rentals below 180 days per year. State licensing under Wis. Admin. Code ATCP 72 kicks in once a property is rented more than 10 nights in a year.
Wis. Stat. §66.1014(2)(a) prohibits any Wisconsin political subdivision from enacting or enforcing an ordinance that bars the rental of a residential dwelling for 7 consecutive days or longer. For rentals of more than 6 but fewer than 30 consecutive days, §66.1014(2)(b) allows a local cap, but the cap may not be set lower than 180 days within a 365-day period, and the local government cannot dictate which season those days fall in. Dane County has not adopted a county-wide ordinance using this 180-day option for unincorporated areas; instead Chapter 10 (Zoning) regulates short-term rentals as Tourist Rooming Houses through use classifications and conditional use permits. Under Dane County's Residential Rental framework, the Transient/Tourist Lodging use covers stays not exceeding 29 consecutive days per registered guest, with up to 8 bedrooms and a maximum of 20 non-family guests at a time. State Tourist Rooming House licensing under Wis. Admin. Code ATCP 72 is mandatory once a property is rented more than 10 nights per year (the §66.1014(4) threshold), and Public Health Madison & Dane County issues that license. Note: the City of Madison sets its own caps (most non-owner-occupied STRs limited to 30 rental days per year) and is not covered by Dane County's unincorporated rules.
An unincorporated Dane County town cannot enforce a night cap below 180 days for rentals of 7+ days without violating Wis. Stat. §66.1014. Operating more than 10 nights per year without an ATCP 72 Tourist Rooming House license can trigger forfeitures under Wis. Stat. ch. 97 and license suspension. Conditional use violations under Chapter 10 (e.g., exceeding 29-day stays for transient lodging or 20-person occupancy) are enforced by Dane County Planning & Development through zoning citations.
Other ordinances people look up for this city. Green dot = verified primary-source excerpt.
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