Franklin County, KY Short-Term Rentals: Short-Term Rental Permits (2026)

The Franklin County Fiscal Court treats a short-term rental as a conditional use in the zoning chapter. The use table lists short term rental non-owner occupied with a C, for conditional, in six district columns, and the code defines the use as a residential dwelling unit that is not owner-occupied and is rented for a tenancy of less than 30 consecutive days to transient guests, where no meals are served. Hotels, motels, bed and breakfast inns and boarding houses are excluded from that definition.

Because it is a conditional use, the Board of Zoning Adjustments decides it under § 155.105, which requires findings on street capacity, public facilities, compatibility with the district, no adverse effect on adjacent property, screening, signs and the Comprehensive Plan. Subsection (27) of § 155.089 then adds the standing conditions: a single rental contract at a time, an occupancy cap of two times the number of bedrooms plus four individuals, no food or alcoholic beverages prepared or served by the host, and no outdoor signage. A host who is not living in the unit must post phone, email and address contact information in a conspicuous location inside it, and every rental must provide an evacuation plan and smoke detectors in compliance with the Kentucky Residential Code.

After approval the host registers every year. Item (i) sends the annual registration form to the Department of Planning and Building Codes so it can confirm that the conditional use permit requirements, including smoke detectors, are still being met. The fee schedule in § 150.03(A) prints a Short term rental annual registration line of $250. Item (j) requires notice to the Planning and Building Codes Department when the rental ceases operations, which keeps the county's list of operating rentals current.