Detroit, MI Short-Term Rentals: Registration Rules (2026)

Under Detroit City Code Chapter 8, Article XV (comprehensively amended October 29, 2024 and effective January 1, 2025, renumbering the prior Chapter 9, Article I provisions), every owner of rental property must register the property with BSEED before offering it for occupancy. Application is filed through BSEED's online portal and accompanies the $150 annual rental program fee, which under the 2024 amendments replaces the prior stacked city plus third-party inspector fee schedule (formerly approximately $1,000 in combined costs). BSEED issues a Certificate of Registration upon a complete application, and the dwelling must then pass a 15-point property condition inspection (focused on life-safety items such as smoke and CO alarms, electrical and plumbing safety, structural elements, and lead-paint hazards for pre-1978 dwellings) before BSEED issues the Certificate of Compliance that authorizes occupancy. Certificates of Compliance issued under the amended ordinance are valid for three years for residential rental properties. When a rental property is sold or transferred to a new owner, Sec. 8-15-81 requires the new owner to register the property in their own name. BSEED's Rental Compliance Map identifies registered properties; absence from the map typically indicates that the property is unregistered. STR operators marketing on Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking.com, or similar platforms are subject to the same registration requirement; the draft Short Term Rental Ordinance dated January 3, 2024 would, if adopted, add a separately numbered STR license tier above the Chapter 8, Article XV registration, but that draft has not been enacted.