Oak Park, IL Short-Term Rentals: Repeat Violator Strikes (2026)

Every short-term rental in the Village of Oak Park must hold a license under Village Code § 8-40-2, renewed annually and issued only after a Village inspection confirms compliance with the standards in § 8-40-5, which require listing through a hosting platform, a minimum stay of 24 consecutive hours, a maximum stay of 182 days, at least $500,000 in homeowner's or host protection insurance, a written guest register open to Village staff, and posting of the license with a 24-hour contact number inside the unit's front entrance.

Section 8-40-7 sets the penalty schedule for anyone, owner, guest or other person, who violates the article: a first violation carries a $200 fine, a second carries $500, and a third or subsequent violation carries $750. Because each day a violation continues is treated as a separate offense, fines compound quickly for an unresolved problem such as an unlicensed listing or a guest register that is never produced. Unpaid fines become debts owed to the Village, collectible by any lawful means including a lien filed against the property.

Beyond the monetary schedule, § 8-40-7(D) makes clear that fines do not cap the Village's other remedies: an owner found to have violated the article can also have the short-term rental license revoked, suspended or denied renewal under Article 40's licensing provisions. That double exposure, escalating fines plus loss of the license itself, is what functions as Oak Park's repeat-violator strike system for short-term rentals; there is no separate numbered 'strikes' table in the code, the deterrent is built entirely from the fine ladder and the revocation clause.