Janesville, WI Short-Term Rentals: Short-Term Rental Permits (2026)

Janesville's Code of General Ordinances has no chapter written for Airbnb or VRBO-style short-term rentals. The zoning code instead classifies paid room rentals inside an owner-occupied home as a bed and breakfast establishment, defined in Sec. 42-130 as an owner-occupied single-family residence with lodging rooms for rent and limited meal service to residents and lodgers only. Sec. 42-440(b)(1) lists bed and breakfast establishments for one to four boarders as a permitted use in the R1 Single-Family and Two-Family Residence District, so no discretionary review is required beyond normal zoning compliance.

Scaling up to five to eight boarders converts the use into a conditional use requiring Plan Commission review and a City Council-issued conditional use permit under Sec. 42-272. That larger tier carries seven listed conditions: a valid County Health Department permit, owner-occupancy of the dwelling, a ban on outside employees, a maximum of eight boarders documented on a floor plan filed with the Building Division, one parking stall per boarding room in addition to the two spaces required for the house itself, signage capped at four square feet with no illumination and under five feet tall, and a 14-consecutive-day cap on any single boarder's stay.

Because the conditional use process runs through the Plan Commission with notice to neighbors within 400 feet under Sec. 42-272(e), an operator advertising nightly stays to transient guests, rather than boarders under this bed and breakfast framework, falls outside any use the code recognizes.