Knoxville, TN short-term rental permit

What Knoxville asks of you

• Type 1 permits are available only to owner-occupants of the property being rented, in whole or in part, in residentially zoned neighborhoods.^[5]

• Type 2 permits are for owners of residential property in non-residential districts, and you do not have to live in the property to apply.^[5]

• Applications for short-term rental unit permits and their annual renewals are accepted and issued through the city's Business Tax Office.^[5]

• Under the state legacy clause, a property already used as a short-term rental before an ordinance took effect keeps the rules that applied when it started. That lasts until it is sold, transferred, left unused for thirty continuous months or in violation three times.^[1]

What Tennessee asks wherever you host

These rules apply at this address whatever the city decides.

• Tennessee's definition covers a residential dwelling rented for a fee, in whole or in part, for under thirty continuous days. Hotels fall outside it, as do bed-and-breakfast establishments.^[1]

• A local ordinance passed after a property began operating as a short-term rental does not reach that property. The rules in place when it started keep governing it. A sale or other transfer ends that protection. Thirty continuous months without rental use end it as well. Three separate breaches of a generally applicable local law have the same effect.^[1]

• A city with a permit or application process may suspend a property's use while it lacks a permit. That power holds only when the city's requirements are reasonable.^[1]