Saint Paul, MN Short-Term Rentals: Primary-Residence-Only Rule (2026)

645(a) of the Saint Paul Legislative Code sets the owner-occupancy trigger for short-term rental dwelling units citywide. In RL-H1 residential districts, a zoning lot may hold no more than one short-term rental dwelling unit unless the property is a duplex, triplex, or fourplex that is owner-occupied, with the owner in residence during the actual rental period, an investor-owned duplex with no resident owner is capped at a single unit. In every other zoning district, a lot may have one short-term rental unit, or up to fifty percent of its dwelling units to a maximum of four, without an owner-occupancy requirement, except that the special allowances for a two-unit owner-occupied duplex, three-unit owner-occupied triplex, or four-unit owner-occupied fourplex all still require the owner to be in residence during the stay.

A building owner who wants more than four short-term rental units on one lot must obtain a conditional use permit from the planning commission for that specific number of units. 645(a) is the land-use rule that determines how many units a property can legally operate as short-term rentals, and whether the owner must live on-site to unlock the higher counts. The rule was last amended by Ordinance 23-43 on October 18, 2023.