Harrison County, MS Short-Term Rentals: Short-Term Rental Permits (2026)

01 of the Unified Development Code, added by Ordinance 2011HC186 on August 2, 2021, makes short-term rental use conditional on paperwork the county can inspect and revoke. The section states plainly that the Short Term Rental Permit and the County Tax Privilege "Business" License application must be made by the owner of the property, an agent or property manager can be named as a contact but cannot be the applicant of record. The code frames the whole list of requirements as "the minimum list of requirements necessary to obtain a Harrison County Tax Privilege 'Business' License and Short-Term Rental Permit," and warns up front that violations of the section draw a Cease and Desist Order under Section 1409 rather than a simple warning letter.

The first documentary requirement is a scaled site plan of the property showing the rented unit, the on-premises parking spaces, the maximum overnight occupancy by bedroom and bathroom count, and the required smoke and carbon-monoxide detectors. Later items in the same list, property-manager contact information, a garbage-receptacle contract, Mississippi sales-tax registration, house rules and a no-signage certification, round out the file the Zoning Officer reviews before issuing the permit. Because the ordinance sits in the UDC, it binds only the unincorporated county; Gulfport, Biloxi, Long Beach, Pass Christian and D'Iberville each administer their own short-term rental permitting.