Battle Creek, MI Short-Term Rentals: Short-Term Rental Permits (2026)

Chapter 818 is Battle Creek's lodging permit. It never uses the phrase "short-term rental"; instead § 818.03(i) defines "Hotel", "Motel", and/or "Tourist Home" as a building or group of buildings containing dwelling units (a bed and a bathroom) or rooms which provides accommodations for transient persons, and it sweeps in every building or structure kept, used, or maintained, or advertised or held out to the public, as an inn, hotel, lodging house or place where sleeping or rooming accommodations are furnished for rent, with or without meals. Section 818.03(n) defines a transient as a person lodging in and/or providing compensation for the use of those facilities. A dwelling rented to paying overnight guests is what that text describes.

Section 818.04(a) forbids operating without a permit and sets the term: the permit expires December 31 at least one year, but not more than two years, after the date of issuance. Section 818.04(b) lets the City impose reasonable conditions. Operators already running at the time the chapter was adopted received 120 days to apply and could keep operating while the application was considered.

The application starts with the owner submitting a completed form to the Community Services Department Code Compliance Division (§ 818.07(a)). The application is not complete until the accommodation or unit has been inspected under § 818.08 and every applicable fee is paid. The form asks for the owner's and any legal agent's contact details and date of birth, the street address of each accommodation, a description of the business, the number of units and the number with kitchenettes. The owner must designate a resident agent, defined in § 818.03(m) as a person who resides within Michigan and can act and accept service for the owner. Within five business days the Division tells the applicant of any deficiency, and an application left uncured for thirty days is deemed abandoned with the fee retained.

Renewal runs on a fixed clock. The City emails a reminder at least ninety days before expiration, and the renewal form with fees must be filed no less than sixty days before expiration to avoid late fees (§ 818.07(g)). The permit holder must also follow the § 818.15 rules, including a guest register kept for one year and posted egress and complaint-contact notices.