Navigating the Legal Terrain of Short-Term Rentals

By Jed Collins
Legal & Policy Contributor, Staystra.com

At Staystra, we recognize that short-term rentals (STRs) live at the intersection of hospitality, housing policy, and local politics. In recent years, that intersection has become a legal bottleneck. Cities are legislating, counties are regulating, and homeowner associations are amending—with consequences that range from confusing to costly.

STR Law is our dedicated reference page for this evolving regulatory patchwork. While nothing here constitutes legal advice, everything here is designed to help you understand the rules that increasingly define where and how short-term rentals operate.

Our ambition is simple:

• To track local STR laws as they emerge—whether from city council chambers, zoning boards, or the occasional judicial bench; and
• To translate those laws into something more useful than a PDF full of semicolons.

This page will grow over time. We’ll update summaries of key ordinances, analyze pivotal legal decisions, and map out how different jurisdictions are drawing the line between residential peace and rental opportunity. In doing so, we aim to give hosts, investors, advocates, and planners a clear picture of how STR law is unfolding—both locally and nationally.

We’ll also be featuring guest contributors—lawyers, city attorneys, land use scholars, and even the occasional code enforcement officer—with firsthand insight into how STR policy is written, enforced, and challenged. Expect to see coverage of everything from constitutional challenges to occupancy limits, fire codes, permit lotteries, and the quiet redefinition of “residential use.”

Some of these laws will make sense. Others may not. But all of them matter. STR Law at Staystra exists to ensure you understand what’s being written—and rewritten—in your city, your county, or the one you’re planning to buy in.

This isn’t a place for legal shortcuts. It’s a place for legal clarity.

Welcome to STR Law.