Rochester, MN Short-Term Rentals: Short-Term Rental Permits (2026)
Short-term rental permit rules in Rochester, MN, also called Airbnb permits, vacation rental licenses, or STR registration, list the application steps, fees, and operating requirements for hosting.
Key Facts
- Definition
- Rental under 30 days
- Owner-occupied
- Registration only
- Non-owner-occupied
- Registration + inspection required
- Buildings with 3+ units
- Prohibited as STR primary use
- 5+ beds
- Requires separate lodging license
- Adopted
- Ord. No. 4466 §10, 4-18-2022
Summary
Rochester requires anyone operating a short-term rental, a dwelling rented for under 30 days, to hold a registration certificate under Code section 7-10-2(a). Owner-occupied units only need to register; every other short-term rental must be both registered and inspected, and multi-family buildings with three or more units can't operate as short-term rentals at all.
(a)No person shall engage in the activity of a short-term rental in the city without obtaining a registration certificate as provided in chapter 7-8-1. Single-family owner occupied short term rentals are required to be registered only. All other short-term rentals are required to be registered and inspected per section 7-9-12.(b)Short term rentals in multi-family buildings with three or more units would be prohibited as a primary use (these would be considered hotels). Structures with three or more units require building code classification change from an "apartment building" where occupants are primarily permanent in nature to "hotel/transient housing".
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: Code of Ordinances: Supplement 8 Update 1).
Full Breakdown
Section 7-10-1 defines a short-term rental as a dwelling unit, or part of one, rented for less than 30 days. It splits into two categories: an owner-occupied short-term rental, where at least one owner is present during the stay, and a non-owner-occupied short-term rental, where the owner is absent and the unit holds its own short-term rental certificate. Section 7-10-2(a) requires anyone engaging in short-term rental activity to hold a registration certificate; single-family owner-occupied short-term rentals need only register, while every other short-term rental must also be inspected under section 7-9-12.
" A structure that rents five or more beds gets classified by the health department as lodging or a hotel and must separately hold a lodging license. The application follows the same requirements as any rental registration: section 7-10-4 ties the application to section 7-9-4's identification and ownership disclosures, section 7-10-5 ties qualification to the standards in section 7-9-5(a), and section 7-10-6 routes investigation and issuance through section 7-9-6. Adverse action against a short-term rental license follows section 7-9-17, the same conduct-on-licensed-premises standard used for other rental registrations.
Violations & Fines
Operating a short-term rental in the city without a registration certificate is a violation of chapter 7-9, the same as any unregistered rental; each rented day without a certificate on file is a separate offense under section 7-9-12. A building with three or more units operating short-term rentals as a hotel without the required reclassification and, where applicable, a lodging license, faces the same adverse-action process as other unlicensed lodging operations.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need a license to run an Airbnb in Rochester?
Can I run a short-term rental out of a fourplex?
Does a short-term rental need a lodging license?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Rochester
How Rochester compares: Most Airbnb-Friendly Cities in America·Compare Rochester to another location·View the Minnesota short-term rentals overview
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