Travis County does not restrict short-term rentals to a host's primary residence. Investor-owned and second-home STRs are permitted across unincorporated areas, consistent with Texas HB 1620 statewide preemption of ownership-status conditions.
Texas HB 1620 (2025) prevents Texas local governments from limiting STRs to primary residences or imposing ownership-tenure tests. Travis County never adopted such a rule for unincorporated areas. Investor-owned vacation rentals near Lake Travis, the Hill Country wineries, and Austin's edge are widely operated. Whole-home rentals, second homes, and LLC-owned properties qualify equally. Operators must still register with the Texas Comptroller for hotel occupancy tax under Tax Code Chapter 156 and comply with applicable building, septic, and access standards in unincorporated zones.
No primary-residence violations apply. Enforcement focuses on Texas hotel-tax compliance and septic-permit issues for high-occupancy rural STRs.
Pflugerville, TX
Pflugerville's Unified Development Code (UDC) Section 4.2 lists the residential zoning districts (SF-Suburban, SF-Mixed, SF-Urban, etc.) and Section 4.2.4 co...
Travis County, TX
Texas Senate Bill 4 (2017) prohibits sanctuary policies in Travis County, requires local jails to honor ICE detainers, and bans elected officials from limiti...
Travis County, TX
Texas HB 2127 (2023) preempted local paid sick leave mandates, voiding the Austin paid sick leave ordinance previously enjoined by the Texas Third Court of A...
Travis County, TX
Texas preempts local minimum wage laws under Local Government Code Chapter 229, leaving the federal $7.25 per hour rate as the floor for most private employe...
Travis County, TX
Travis County businesses pay the Texas franchise tax administered by the Comptroller rather than a local business income tax, and personal property used in b...
Travis County, TX
Hotels and short-term rentals in Travis County collect a combined hotel occupancy tax of roughly fifteen percent, including six percent state and up to nine ...
See how Pflugerville's primary-residence-only rule rules stack up against other locations.
Help us keep this page accurate. If you notice an error or outdated information, let us know.