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

Sec. 26-334 of the Walworth County Code requires anyone offering a residential dwelling for rent for less than 29 consecutive days to first obtain a short-term rental license from the Land Use and Resource Management Department, with proof of the license and the property rules posted where guests can see it and produced on request. Rentals shorter than seven days are prohibited outright except in the B-5 zoning district, and a single rental of ten days or less in a calendar year needs no license at all. The article, adopted in 2018 and amended in 2019, applies throughout unincorporated Walworth County but exempts a full month's rental in February and properties already licensed as a hotel, motel, tourist court, lodging house or bed and breakfast under Secs. 74-131 and 74-262.

Applicants apply at least 30 days before first offering the property for rent, submitting the address and tax key, owner and designated-operator contact information, a copy of the State of Wisconsin tourist rooming house license, floor and site plans, a copy of the required property rules, and the county's license fee. The Department notifies neighbors within 150 feet once a license issues; licenses run July 1 through June 30, prorating short first terms for licenses granted after April 1.

Occupancy is capped at whichever is lower: the number allowed under the State tourist rooming house license, or, where the property runs on a private septic system, the number the POWTS was designed to serve. Every rental needs at least two off-street parking spaces with no on-street parking for guests, refuse containers no larger than two cubic yards picked up weekly, and posted property rules that include 10:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. quiet hours and a four-pet maximum.