Ohio Airbnb Laws and Regulations: What Hosts Should Know When Renting
Ohio is one of the more active regulatory markets in the country for short-term rentals, and hosting here increasingly means welcoming guests who travel with pets. That’s where an exposure most hosts never price in comes in: a guest’s dog. A serious dog bite claim can run into the tens of thousands—the average paid claim reached $65,450 in 2025— and a standard Homeowners or Landlord policy typically caps or excludes dog liability in a rental context. That’s why Ohio hosts who allow pets should understand Pet & Animal Liability coverage and see what short-term rental insurance in Ohio actually covers.
True short-term rental insurance, like The Proper Policy, is a Commercial Homeowners policy built for guest turnover, rental income protection, and business-level liability, not a Homeowners or Landlord policy with a short-term rental endorsement bolted on.
See what actual short-term rental insurance covers in Ohio.
Ohio’s Avery’s Law & Short-Term Rental Hosts
Ohio’s House Bill 247, known as Avery’s Law, took effect on March 18, 2026, after being signed into law in December 2025. While the law primarily targets dog owners, it extends legal responsibility to anyone who houses or controls a dog.
What Ohio’s Dangerous Dog Law Means for Hosts Allowing Pets at Their Rental
- How Ohio Defines Dangerous and Vicious Dogs: Under Avery’s Law, a dog that attacks a person or another dog without causing serious injury is classified as a dangerous dog. A dog that kills or seriously injures a person is classified as a vicious dog. These designations are based on documented behavior, not breed.
- Who the Law Covers (Owners, Keepers, and Harborers): Anyone who houses, feeds, supervises, or exercises substantial control over a dog can be treated as a keeper or harborer under the law. For STR hosts, this means that if a guest brings a dog that has a prior dangerous or vicious designation, the host may carry legal responsibility for that animal while it is on the property.
- Mandatory Liability Insurance Requirement: Once a dog receives a formal dangerous or vicious designation from a court, dog warden, or animal regulatory body, the owner is required to maintain at least $100,000 in liability insurance. Annual registration fees of $100 apply to owners of designated dogs.
- What Avery’s Law Means for STR Hosts: If you allow pets at your rental, consider adding a guest screening step that asks whether any visiting dog has a prior dangerous or vicious designation. Guests are responsible for their dogs’ legal status and mandatory insurance under Avery’s Law—but that does not eliminate your exposure as the property’s keeper during their stay. Standard Homeowners and Landlord policies typically exclude dog-related liability claims in rental contexts.
Cincinnati, Ohio Airbnb Laws
Registration Now Required
Cincinnati, Ohio, has enacted Airbnb laws to track short-term rentals within city limits and protect both hosts and guests. Ohio short-term rental hosts must register their rental with the city, follow applicable fire and safety codes, and operate in accordance with federal and state laws, including Fair Housing regulations.
- Current street mailing address, contact phone number, emergency contact phone number, and email address for the operator and the responsible on-call contact.
- Current list of all hosting platforms the short-term rental is listed on
- A certification from the operator that said operator is the legal owner or legal tenant of the short-term rental and has prior authorization to operate as a short-term rental
- Certification that the short-term rental conforms to all building, safety, and fire codes
- Proof that the operator of the short-term rental is current on all tax and utility payments, including the short-term rental excise tax
- Acknowledgment of all applicable non-discriminatory fair housing laws and available training on the subject
Each permit is valid for three years following its approval, which is a longer term than most permits in the state.
Cleveland, Ohio Airbnb Regulations
Ordinance 561-2026 Licensing, Insurance, and Density Rules Effective November 28, 2026
Cleveland City Council passed Ordinance 561-2026 on June 1, 2026, after more than six years of debate, creating the city’s first enforceable short-term rental licensing program. The ordinance adds Chapter 686B to the city’s codified ordinances and amends zoning and transient occupancy tax provisions. Licensing and operating requirements take effect 180 days after passage, on November 28, 2026, replacing a 2016 framework the city was never able to enforce.
- Definition of Short-Term Rental: A dwelling unit rented to transient guests for not more than 30 consecutive days.
- Licensing & Registration: Once Chapter 686B is effective, no owner or operator may run a dwelling unit as a short-term rental without a City license. The fee is $150 annually. License terms run December 1 through November 30. Renewal applications must be filed by November 1.
- Application Requirements: Owner, operator, and local contact details, a dimensioned floor plan and parking plan, proof of at least $500,000 in liability insurance, proof that real estate and transient occupancy taxes are paid, a certificate of occupancy, and proof that the dwelling is lead-safe.
- Insurance Requirements: Proof of at least $500,000 in liability insurance, submitted with the license application.
- Point of Contact: Operators must designate a local contact available to respond to issues within one hour during guest stays.
- Density Limits: The ordinance caps how many short-term rentals may operate on a single block or within a single building.
- Zoning: The ordinance amends Cleveland’s zoning code to add short-term rentals as a defined use, replacing the permissive treatment in place since 2016.
- Signage & Advertising: The license number must be displayed on all listings and advertisements.
- Taxes: Cleveland short-term rentals are subject to the city transient occupancy tax and the Cuyahoga County lodging tax. Platform collection varies, so operators should confirm what their booking channel remits.
- Enforcement & Penalties: The ordinance creates penalties for operating without a license and allows revocation for repeated nuisance complaints.
- More Information: See Cleveland City Council’s summary of the June 1, 2026 meeting.
Columbus City, Ohio Vacation Rental Rules
Enacts New Airbnb Laws in the Wake of Community Pressure
Columbus, Ohio residents are starting to get annoyed with the large number of hosts that don’t properly care for and operate their rental business, prompting the City Council to enact new Airbnb Laws. Cathy Collins, support services administrator for the Department of Public Safety, said the biggest complaints her office gets are for big and loud parties, loud music or occupants, confrontations from guests, and parking and trash issues. So with the rise of complaints, the Columbus City Council has amended the Columbus City Code to improve the enforcement of short-term rentals and cut down on problematic hosts and properties.
In order to operate a short-term rental in Columbus, hosts are required to adhere to the following regulations:
- A valid permit shall be required for each dwelling approved as a short-term rental.
- A short-term rental host shall be either an owner or a permanent occupant.
- A short-term rental host shall provide written notice to a short-term rental guest of any known, non-obvious, or concealed condition, whether human-made or artificial, which may present a danger to the short-term rental guest, and shall designate a local 24-hour emergency contact person for the short-term rental.
- A short-term rental host must comply with RC 2933.52. Such compliance shall also include known, non-obvious or concealed surveillance equipment, including, but not limited to, digital video cameras/recorders/monitors, streaming video security cameras, audio recorders/monitors, or any other electronic means of secretly watching, listening, or recording. In the event a short-term rental host utilizes an indoor and/or outdoor interception device(s), or any specific or similar aforementioned device, the short-term rental host shall notify the short-term rental guest. In the event the short-term rental guest does not consent to the short-term rental host utilizing an indoor interception device(s), or any specific or similar aforementioned device, the short-term rental host shall immediately deactivate the indoor interception device(s) and shall not intercept, listen, monitor, record, or like thereof, any activity inside the short-term rental.
- A short-term rental host shall comply with the city of Columbus’s short-term rental excise taxes as required by Chapter 371.
- A rental for thirty (30) or more consecutive days by the same person(s) is not subject to short-term rental regulations or short-term rental excise taxes.
- No person or entity shall offer, list, advertise or market a dwelling with five guestrooms or less, located within the city of Columbus, on an entity’s website, for which such entity is compensated for facilitating or providing for a mechanism for a transaction, to rent or reserve the dwelling, in whole or in part, for less than thirty (30) days, to another person, without registering, listing, or accompanying a valid permit number, issued in accordance with this chapter and associated with the dwelling.
- No entity, via the entity’s website, shall provide for or facilitate a mechanism for a transaction between an owner or permanent occupant and another person to rent or reserve, in whole or in part, a dwelling with five guestrooms or less, located within the city of Columbus, unless the owner or permanent occupant has registered or otherwise provided to the entity a valid permit number, issued in accordance with this chapter and associated with the dwelling.
Ohio’s Short-Term Rental Taxes
Every Ohio host owes lodging tax somewhere. What you owe depends on how your property is defined, and that definition trips up a lot of owners.
Your local taxes come first. Counties, cities, and townships can each levy their own lodging tax, and in most Ohio short-term rental markets at least one applies. A Cleveland host, for example, pays a city lodging tax on top of a Cuyahoga County lodging tax. These apply no matter how big your property is, and they’re the ones owners most often miss.
The state tax is narrower than you’d expect. Ohio’s 5.75% sales tax applies to lodging furnished by a hotel, and Section 5739.01 of the Ohio Revised Code defines a hotel as a place with five or more rooms used for guests staying fewer than 30 days. A single house or condo with fewer than five guest rooms doesn’t meet that definition, so the state sales tax usually doesn’t apply.
That only settles the state tax, though. Section 5739.091 lets a county, city, or township widen its own definition to include places with fewer than five rooms, just for its own lodging tax. Many have. So you can sit outside the state sales tax and still owe your city and county in full.
The practical step is simple. Count your guest rooms, then call your county auditor and ask whether your local definition has been expanded. If Ohio sales tax does apply to you, you’ll also need a county vendor’s license.
One more thing worth checking: booking platforms collect and remit some of these taxes in some places and not others. Confirm what yours is actually handling rather than assuming it’s covered. The Ohio Department of Taxation has current state guidance.
Verify Your Short-Term Rental Insurance Today
Most hosts unknowingly have the wrong insurance for short-term renting—don’t wait until a claim to discover your coverage won’t respond! Schedule a quick 15-minute review to verify your protection and gain peace of mind for your property, liability, and business income.
Interested in a policy to protect you and your business from liability and damage claims? Proper Insurance is the nation’s leading short-term rental insurance provider, protecting homes in all 50 states and replacing inadequate Homeowners/Landlord policies.
Proper’s comprehensive coverage meets or exceeds standard short-term rental requirements with $1M Commercial Liability (CGL) and unmatched protection for your property and revenue. Additional custom coverages include guest-caused theft/damage, amenity liability (bikes, kayaks, hot tub, etc.), bed bugs, fleas, squatters insurance, and more.
Please note: The information provided is intended as a guide and may not be comprehensive or current. Regulations may change and could vary by area or situation. Always consult local authorities or a legal professional to ensure you have the most accurate information for your short-term rental property.
