St. Clair County does not require short-term rentals to be the owner's primary residence. No county ordinance limits STRs to owner-occupied homes. Any such restriction would come from a municipality that has adopted its own STR ordinance.
There is no St. Clair County rule limiting short-term rentals to a host's primary residence. Illinois has no statewide primary-residence mandate for STRs, and the county has not adopted an STR ordinance imposing one. In the unincorporated county, the relevant question is whether the zoning district permits the residential use and whether the occupancy permit and any tax obligations are met, not owner occupancy. Some Illinois municipalities do restrict STRs to owner-occupied or primary-residence properties; hosts inside a city should verify that city's ordinance, since it can differ block by block.
No county primary-residence penalty exists. Where a municipality requires primary-residence status, operating a non-owner-occupied STR there can void the city permit and draw fines.
Other ordinances people look up for this city. Green dot = verified primary-source excerpt.
St. Clair County, IL
St. Clair County has no rule against backyard composting. Statewide, Illinois bans landscape waste (leaves, grass, brush) from sanitary landfills under 415 I...
St. Clair County, IL
St. Clair County has no ordinance addressing artificial turf, so installing synthetic grass in an unincorporated yard is not prohibited. Drainage, setbacks a...
St. Clair County, IL
St. Clair County has no ordinance requiring or restricting native plants or prairie/naturalized landscaping. The only limit is the weed nuisance rule: plants...
St. Clair County, IL
St. Clair County has no rainwater ordinance. Illinois' Rainwater Capture Act allows capturing and reusing rainwater for non-potable uses statewide. Systems m...
St. Clair County, IL
St. Clair County imposes no countywide lawn-watering or drought restrictions. Any watering limits come from your water utility (largely Illinois American Wat...
St. Clair County, IL
St. Clair County Code Chapter 25 names specific weeds (ragweed, thistle, poison ivy, Johnson grass and others) and declares them a nuisance on unincorporated...
See how Fairview Heights's primary-residence-only rule rules stack up against other locations.
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