Cincinnati, OH Short-Term Rentals: Repeat Violator Strikes (2026)

Section 856-15 of the Cincinnati Municipal Code builds a three-strikes threshold into short-term rental enforcement. Rather than letting the city manager act on a single complaint, the ordinance defines six categories of guest behavior, nuisances under Section 761-1-N, noise violations under Chapter 909, occupancy overages, illegal parking on private property, violations of the Title XVI Neighborhood Quality of Life Uniform Code, and criminal activity such as littering, trespass, public intoxication, vandalism, or lewd conduct, and states that three or more written citations or notices of violation for any one or combination of those behaviors by transient guests, in and around the rental, within any one-year period creates a rebuttable presumption that the short-term rental is being operated as a nuisance.

That presumption is the trigger for Section 856-25's suspension and revocation ladder: the city manager may suspend a registration if the operator does not correct the problem within fifteen days of written notice, and may revoke it if the operator fails to come into compliance within thirty days. Once a registration is revoked, Section 856-25(a)(6) bars reinstatement for twelve months, and bars the same operator, or any person with an ownership or controlling interest in the operator, from applying for a new short-term rental registration anywhere in the city during that same twelve-month window.

An operator can head off suspension or revocation before or after the fact by proving to the city manager's satisfaction that no violation actually occurred, or by submitting a compliance plan the city manager finds workable.