Woodbury's prohibition is framed around primary residence: a rental shorter than 30 days 'that is not the renter's permanent residence is prohibited.' In effect, transient lodging in a home is barred — the only short-stay arrangement that conforms is one where the occupant actually lives there. Licensed rentals contemplate 30-day-plus tenancies.
Woodbury's rule turns directly on permanent residence. The Rental Licensing Program FAQ states that 'the use of a property as a rental with a term shorter than 30 days that is not the renter's permanent residence is prohibited,' and that 'short-term rentals do not conform to Woodbury City Code.' This means a typical vacation-style STR — paying guests staying a few nights in a home that is not their residence — is not allowed. The city's licensing exemptions reinforce the residence focus: owner-occupied dwellings occupied by the owner and/or qualifying relatives 'that adhere to the definition of family' (Chapter 24) are exempt from rental licensing, and a contract-for-deed property is exempt while the vendee (buyer-occupant) lives there. Because Minnesota does not preempt local STR regulation, Woodbury is permitted to draw this line itself. The practical takeaway: Woodbury does not run an owner-occupied vs. non-owner-occupied STR permit system the way some cities do — it instead prohibits the short-term, non-resident rental outright, and channels everything else into either owner-occupancy (no license needed) or a licensed 30-day-plus tenancy.
A sub-30-day rental to someone whose permanent residence is elsewhere is a prohibited, non-conforming use subject to code-enforcement abatement. Misrepresenting an owner-occupancy exemption to avoid rental licensing, while actually operating transient lodging, exposes the owner to enforcement under the rental-licensing ordinance.
Other ordinances people look up for this city. Green dot = verified primary-source excerpt.
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Backyard composting is allowed in Woodbury and is one of the city's recommended ways to comply with Minnesota's landfill ban on yard waste. Residents may com...
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Woodbury does not publish a specific ordinance authorizing or banning residential artificial turf. There is no dedicated synthetic-turf code section, so inst...
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Woodbury allows native and pollinator-friendly landscaping. Native plantings, bee lawns and water-saving gardens are exempt from the eight-inch grass-height ...
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Woodbury allows and encourages rainwater harvesting. Rain barrels and rain gardens are promoted as ways to cut summer water use under the city's strict water...
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Woodbury enforces a year-round Lawn & Landscape Watering Policy. Residential properties may irrigate only two days per week based on an assigned irrigation z...
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Woodbury enforces an eight-inch height limit on weeds and grass as a nuisance, and requires property owners to control or eradicate noxious weeds. Noxious we...
See how Woodbury's primary-residence-only rule rules stack up against other locations.
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