McHenry County, IL Short-Term Rentals: Primary-Residence-Only Rule (2026)

020 defines VACATION RENTAL as a furnished dwelling unit, or portion of one, rented for more than twelve rental periods or more than ninety days per calendar year to guests staying fewer than thirty consecutive days, and the definition says this 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 while guests are using it. That single sentence is the county's answer to whether a vacation rental must be the operator's primary residence: it explicitly is not a factor, unlike the bed and breakfast use in the same section, which does require the operator to live on site.

What does trigger county oversight is volume and duration, not occupancy status. 030VV requires any dwelling unit or portion offered as a vacation rental for more than twelve rentals per calendar year, or more than ninety days per calendar year, to obtain a conditional use permit before occupancy begins, whether or not the owner ever lives there. 32-1 lists Vacation Rental as permitted subject to that standards section across the county's zoning districts, so the use is broadly allowed by right up to the 12-rental/90-day threshold and shifts to conditional-use review only once a property crosses it.

An investment property rented out full time as short-term lodging is treated the same as an owner's part-time vacation home under this framework; both are measured by the same rental-count and day-count test.