Unincorporated McHenry County does NOT require a vacation rental to be the owner's primary residence; its code expressly allows renting whether or not the home is a full-time residence or the resident stays on site. Woodstock bed-and-breakfasts, by contrast, must be operator-occupied.
The McHenry County UDO §16.08 definition applies "regardless of whether or not the DWELLING UNIT is occupied as a full time residence or whether or not the full time resident remains on the premise during the time that the DWELLING UNIT is utilized by guests." So non-owner-occupied and whole-home rentals are permitted in unincorporated areas within the annual caps. Municipal rules can be stricter: a Woodstock bed-and-breakfast operator "is required to reside in the B&B establishment," making that use owner-occupied.
There is no primary-residence violation for compliant unincorporated vacation rentals. Running a Woodstock B&B without an on-site resident operator violates the UDO and can void the license.
Other ordinances people look up for this city. Green dot = verified primary-source excerpt.
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Crystal Lake collects yard waste and food-scrap compost weekly at the curb from April 1 through November 30. Leaves and grass must go in biodegradable paper ...
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Crystal Lake and McHenry County have no ordinance specifically banning or approving residential artificial turf. Installations must still meet Unified Develo...
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Illinois' Homeowners' Native Landscaping Act bars community associations from banning native-species plantings that are kept free of weeds and don't encroach...
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Neither Crystal Lake nor McHenry County prohibits residential rain barrels or rainwater collection, and Illinois has no statewide ban. The McHenry County Sto...
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Crystal Lake uses a color-coded water-conservation system. During a declared 'Yellow' condition, odd-numbered addresses water on odd dates and even addresses...
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Crystal Lake Chapter 526 lists noxious weeds - burdock, ragweed, thistle, poison ivy, wild mustard and others - plus any unmanaged vegetation as nuisance gre...
See how McHenry County's primary-residence-only rule rules stack up against other locations.
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