Lake County, IL Short-Term Rentals: Night Caps (2026)

The Lake County Unified Development Ordinance, codified at Chapter 151 of the Lake County Code, defines residential use of a dwelling as occupancy of 30 days or more. The county has publicly clarified that 'the renting/leasing of any residential property in a residential zoning district in Unincorporated Lake County for less than a minimum 30-day period is considered a retail sales and service use, not a residential use, and is not allowed in those zoning districts' (Lake County notice on Short-Term Rentals Prohibition). There is no annual or per-month night cap analogous to the 30-night or 90-night limits seen in other jurisdictions because any single sub-30-day booking is itself a violation. Illinois grants home-rule status under Article VII §6 of the Illinois Constitution to municipalities over 25,000 (and others by referendum); home-rule cities within Lake County set their own STR night caps and many permit short-term stays subject to registration and a hotel/motel tax. There is no statewide STR preemption: SB 1735 (100th General Assembly) and SB 2564 (Short-Term Rental Tax Act, 103rd General Assembly) both failed to enact preemption language. State-level taxation of stays under 30 days is governed by the Hotel Operators' Occupation Tax Act (35 ILCS 145), which imposes a combined state rate of approximately 6% on the rental price; Public Act 103-0592 (FY 2025-28 Bulletin) requires hosting platforms such as Airbnb and Vrbo to collect and remit that tax effective July 1, 2024. Because sub-30-day stays are prohibited in unincorporated Lake County, the state hotel tax practically does not apply to those properties. Lake County does not separately impose a county-wide hotel/motel tax on STRs.