Is short-term rental legal in Nashville, TN?
A short-term rental property (STRP) is a rental under 30 days. Nashville permits two types — owner-occupied and non-owner-occupied — under a zoning-based system that replaced the old 3%-per-census-tract cap on November 12, 2024.
Rules checked October 2026
Run the Nashville verdict on your facts
| What counts as a short-term rental | A short-term rental property (STRP) is a rental under 30 days. Nashville permits two types — owner-occupied and non-owner-occupied — under a zoning-based system that replaced the old 3%-per-census-tract cap on November 12, 2024. |
|---|---|
| Permit / license | STRP Permit (owner-occupied or non-owner-occupied) — issued by Metro Nashville Codes Administration |
| Fee | $313 per year |
| Renewal | Annual renewal |
| Primary-residence rule | No primary-residence rule as such — instead the permit type splits on owner occupancy, and new non-owner-occupied permits are confined to specific zoning districts with 100-ft buffers from schools, churches, parks and daycares. |
| Whole-home rental | Whole-home rentals are the standard permitted form once the correct permit type issues. |
| Night cap | — |
| Guests / occupancy | Occupancy capped by the permit (commonly 2 per bedroom + 2, max 12) |
| Minimum stay | None |
| Zoning | Zoning decides the non-owner-occupied type: the 2024 rewrite (BL2024-478) replaced tract caps with district eligibility + buffers. |
| Density / scarcity | No density cap found in the current rules |
| Fines | Operating unpermitted draws citations and fines — and a 1-year bar on reapplying for a permit at that address |
| Taxes | State sales tax + Metro occupancy tax accounts; the permit and taxes are separate steps. |
| Platform duties | Platforms collect state taxes; the permit is the host's own duty. |
| State layer | The Short Term Rental Unit Act (Tenn. Code § 13-7-601 et seq.) grandfathers units that were operating before a local ban and limits how far cities can go against them — but Nashville's permit regime and Sevier County's resort-area permits stand, and new bans still bind new units. |
What trips hosts in Nashville
- Guides still teaching the '3% of tract' rule are teaching deleted law (pre-November 2024).
- The 1-year reapplication bar after unpermitted operation is Nashville's real fine — price it before you list early.
The private layer still applies
These are the city's rules. Your HOA, condo board, lease or mortgage can say no on top of them — that layer is printed as a warning in the checker, never merged into the city's verdict.
Sources: Metro Code § 6.28.030 · Ord. BL2024-478 (2024 STRP rewrite). Rules checked October 2026.