West Des Moines, IA Short-Term Rentals: Repeat Violator Strikes (2026)

West Des Moines does not carve short-term rentals out of its rental housing chapter. Section 9-5-4(D) of the City Code defines a short-term rental as any dwelling or dwelling unit offered for a fee for thirty days or less, and it subjects that unit to the same Title 8, Chapter 2, Article A rental housing requirements as any other rental, plus Iowa Code chapter 423A and any requirements from the Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals, though the City does not add its own inspection fee for those state-required inspections.

That cross-reference pulls short-term rentals directly into the strike system built in section 8-2A-16(I). Under that section, the West Des Moines Police Department or Community Compliance staff notify the Building Official whenever a property owner racks up three or more nuisance violations within a rolling twelve-month period. Once notified, the Building Official can deny or revoke the issuance or renewal of one, some, or all of that person's rental certificates, and the section is written broadly enough to reach every certificate the same owner or entity holds citywide, whether or not each violation happened at the same address.

Violations of the International Property Maintenance Code count toward that three-strike total, since the code deems IPMC violations to be City Code violations for this purpose. Because a short-term rental's eligibility to operate flows through the same rental certificate required under section 8-2A-16(A), a revoked certificate shuts the listing down the same way it would a traditional lease, not merely a fine against the host.