Apple Valley, MN Short-Term Rentals: Short-Term Rental Permits (2026)

Section 155.363 of the Apple Valley Code of Ordinances is a single sentence, added by Ordinance 1121, passed 6-8-23: no dwelling or portion thereof shall be used or allowed to be used as a rental unit for any period less than 30 consecutive days. The Apple Valley City Council, governing this Dakota County, Minnesota suburb, printed no permit, license, cap or exception in the section. The rule reaches a whole house, a single room, an accessory unit or any other portion of a dwelling. Both the owner who lets the unit be used and the person using it as a rental are within the wording, which says used or allowed to be used.

The rental registration chapter reinforces the point. Section 122.03, amended by Ordinance 1120, also passed 6-8-23, says Chapter 122 does not apply to, and registration under it does not authorize, any dwelling or portion of one to be used as a rental unit for any period less than 30 consecutive days. It adds that the city's zoning regulations prohibit renting a dwelling or any portion of it for a fee or other compensation to the owner, under a lease or contract, written or verbal, for any period less than 30 consecutive days. Registering a rental with the City therefore never converts a nightly or weekly rental into a lawful one.

Longer rentals are regulated differently. Under § 122.05 every residential rental property must be registered, with a form listing the owner, the rental manager, the address, and whether written leases and Drug Free/Crime Free Lease Addendums exist. Section 122.99 makes it unlawful to operate a property as a residential rental property without registering first. Hotels and motels are excluded from Chapter 122, so the prohibition in § 155.363 is aimed at dwellings.

Anyone weighing a short-term rental in Apple Valley should treat 30 consecutive days as the shortest lawful rental period, and should not look for a permit route in the city code.