Kent County, DE Short-Term Rentals: Short-Term Rental Permits (2026)

Kent County's Permitted Use Table lists short-term rentals as 'PC' in the AC, AR, RS1, RS5, RM and RMH Districts. Under § 205-53.A(2), a 'PC' designation indicates a permitted use with specific conditions of approval, meaning the county does not require the discretionary conditional-use review or public hearing that applies to a 'C' or 'CSP' use; the rental only has to satisfy the standing conditions written into § 205-68.I, part of the article the code calls Conditions of Approval.

Those conditions define what can legally be rented. The structure must be a legal residential unit, whether the principal dwelling, a room or area within it, or an approved accessory dwelling unit; an ECHO unit, tent, RV or travel trailer can never be used as a short-term rental. Only one listing is allowed per property, and the space listed must be habitable space as defined in the zoning chapter, so a listing cannot be split across a house and a separate detached unit to double up. Trash service for the property cannot be increased to accommodate the short-term rental, which limits how much turnover traffic the use can generate. The code separately defines a short-term rental as a furnished home or portion of a home rented on a daily or weekly basis and not treated as commercial lodging; a stay longer than 30 consecutive days falls outside the definition and these conditions do not apply.

Because the underlying use is by right, property owners do not file a conditional-use application with the Levy Court, but they remain subject to the general condition in § 205-66.D that all applicable state and local licenses or permits for the specific use must still be obtained and kept current.