Westland Short Term Rental Regulation: A Guide For Airbnb Hosts

Do you own a home in Westland, the Wayne County suburb west of Livonia and Garden City, and you're wondering whether you can put it on Airbnb? Well, the honest answer isn't a clean yes, and it's worth knowing why before you sink money into furniture and a lockbox.

Westland's zoning ordinance never uses the words "short-term rental." It does define a "lodging facility" as any unit rented to transient guests for less than 30 days, though, and that use only appears in the city's commercial districts, never in a single-family or mixed-residential zone. The one overnight-guest use the residential districts do allow is a bed and breakfast, with an owner living on site and guests limited to a week per month. On top of that, a separate rental registration ordinance still requires every rental dwelling in the city to register and carry a certificate of compliance, no matter how long the stay runs.

So this guide walks through what Westland's own zoning code and rental ordinance say in 2026: who can plausibly run a short-term rental here, what registering one costs, the taxes that stack on top, and how hard the city tends to push. Every figure below comes from Westland's own ordinance text, application forms, and city pages, or from Michigan's own statutes, checked in July 2026. If you're weighing a Westland property against a market with a clearer legal path, run the numbers through BNBCalc first.

What are short term rental (Airbnb, VRBO) regulations in Westland, Michigan?

Two documents decide almost everything here, and they don't talk to each other much. One is the City of Westland Zoning Ordinance, adopted October 21, 2024 and effective January 1, 2025. The other is Chapter 22, Article XV of the Code of Ordinances, the rental dwelling registration law.

Start with zoning, because it decides whether the use is even allowed on your lot. The ordinance defines a "lodging facility" as any establishment in which individual units are rented to transients for periods of less than thirty days. That category explicitly includes hotels and motels but excludes bed and breakfast operations, multi-family dwellings, and rooming houses.

Going through the ordinance's own use tables, "lodging facilities" show up only in Table 5.2, the Commercial and Mixed-Use Districts table. They never appear in Table 4.3, the Residential Use Table covering Single-Family (R-1, R-2), Mixed Residential (R-3), Townhouse, Garden Apartment, Mid-Rise, and Manufactured Home districts. That absence matters.

Reading the definitions plainly, an entire home rented out nightly, with no host on site and no breakfast served, fits "lodging facility" a lot better than it fits the one overnight use the residential table does list: bed and breakfast establishments. Sec. 8.13 spells those out:

• The operator has to live in the home, capped at five guest rooms.
• No separate cooking facilities are allowed for guests.
• A guest registry is kept and made available to the police department on request.
• Occupancy is capped at one week per month for any single transient guest.
• A 300-foot spacing rule keeps two such establishments from opening near each other, and the operator still needs a valid state registration or license on file with the city.

Put those facts together and Westland's own ordinance text leaves an unhosted, whole-home short-term rental with no clear route through zoning in a residential district. That's my own reading of how the definitions and use tables line up, not a court ruling. I couldn't find any enforcement action, lawsuit, or planning-department guidance that has tested this question against a real Westland listing. Keep that distinction in mind: the text reads as restrictive, but nothing suggests the city is actively hunting down individual Airbnb hosts over it.

None of that zoning question changes what sits above it. Michigan has no statewide law that preempts local short-term rental zoning, so a city like Westland can regulate, restrict, or effectively exclude the use through its own zoning code. A 2021 bill that would have barred outright zoning bans, House Bill 4722, passed the House but died without a Senate vote.

There's also no statewide short-term rental registry, so nothing at the state level substitutes for what Westland requires locally; our Michigan statewide guide maps that framework in full. For the county layer above Westland, our Wayne County guide covers how nearby cities in the same county have handled this differently, including at least one that has banned unhosted rentals outright.

Starting a Short Term Rental Business in Westland

Given that zoning ambiguity, the practical starting point isn't a business plan, it's a phone call to the Planning & Building Department before you buy anything. Confirm your lot's zoning district and ask directly whether the department would treat a whole-home nightly rental as a lodging facility on your specific parcel.

Assuming your plan survives that call, or you're structuring the property as an owner-occupied bed and breakfast instead, you still land in the same second gate: Westland's rental registration ordinance. Under Sec. 22-603(a) of the Code of Ordinances, "all rental dwellings shall be registered with the building division," full stop. I found no carve-out in the text for short stays versus long ones. Sec. 22-604(a) goes further: rental dwellings can't be occupied without a certificate of compliance, issued once the Building Official finds the property meets the city's building, mechanical, plumbing, electrical, and property maintenance codes.

That certificate runs three years from issuance under Sec. 22-604(f), and registration has to be renewed on the same clock. The city's own Rental Registration Application, revised July 1, 2026, lists current fees, as of that same July 2026 revision, of $250 for a single-family home, $325 for a duplex, $400 for a quadplex, and $60 per unit for an apartment building.

An older overview page on the same city website still shows lower numbers, $125 for single-family and so on. Do check which figure your application asks for before you budget, since the newer form is the one that decides what you pay.

One more wrinkle if you're eyeing an accessory dwelling unit instead of the main house. Westland's 2024 zoning update added an ADU provision, but it requires the owner to occupy either the ADU or the principal dwelling. It also bars renting or leasing the ADU "separately from the single-family dwelling on the same lot," so a plan to live in the house and rent out just the ADU doesn't clear that bar.

Short Term Rental Licensing Requirement in Westland

Since that three-year certificate is the whole license here, it's worth knowing exactly how the city gets you to it. Registration and inspection run through the Planning & Building Department at 36300 Warren Road, and the process starts with the application itself rather than a separate zoning permit.

Once you've submitted the form and fee, the Building Division then schedules an initial inspection. Sec. 22-605(c) puts three duties on you or your local agent before that date:

• Tell the tenant or occupant when the inspection is scheduled.
• Get permission for the inspector to enter if nobody's home.
• Personally accompany the inspector, unlocking the unit if needed.

Miss that coordination and you're looking at a rescheduling fee on top of the registration cost. All compliance inspections are supposed to wrap up within three months of registration unless the Building Official grants an extension, and re-registration has to happen before the existing certificate expires, not after.

Assuming you're pursuing the bed and breakfast route instead of a straight rental registration, the licensing path still shifts, this time to the Planning Commission rather than the Building Division alone. That means submitting scaled floor plans of every area used for the business, proving the home is your permanent residence, meeting the R-3 district's lot size and yard requirements regardless of which district you're in, and keeping a state registration or license on file under Sec. 8.13(f). Either way, don't skip the underlying building codes. A certificate of compliance under either path depends on passing the same building, mechanical, plumbing, and electrical standards the city applies to every rental.

Required Documents for Westland Short Term Rentals

Once you know which of those two paths you're on, the paperwork itself is still fairly short. A standard rental registration application asks for:

• The property address and property type (single-family, duplex, quadplex, or apartment count).
• The owner's name and entity type: individual, LLC, corporation, partnership, or trust.
• A driver's license or state ID for the owner or managing member.
• Contact information for a local agent, if the owner isn't handling the property directly.
• A signed acknowledgment of the "Notice to Owner of Rental Units," which spells out the inspection scheduling rules and the penalty section in plain terms.

For the bed and breakfast route, add the floor plans required by Sec. 8.13, proof the home is your permanent residence, and whatever registration or license the state requires for a lodging-style business, since the city won't issue local approval without it on file. Keep records of any prior code inspections too. An open Building, Fire, or property-maintenance violation can hold up a certificate of compliance either way, so it's worth clearing anything outstanding before you file rather than finding out mid-application.

Westland Short Term Rental Taxes

Assuming you clear the zoning and registration questions and are able to start hosting, there's still tax to sort out. Three layers can potentially apply to a Westland stay, though they don't all reach an ordinary single-family rental the same way.

Tax	Rate	Who collects it
State use tax	6%	Platform (Airbnb) or host directly
Wayne County accommodation tax	Unconfirmed for individual homes	Unclear, see below
Westland city income tax	None	Not applicable

The state layer is the one you can count on. Michigan's use tax applies to lodging under MCL 205.93a(1)(b) at 6% of the rent for stays of 30 days or less, and Michigan has no separate state sales tax layered on top of it. Airbnb's own Michigan tax page, read again as of July 2026, confirms it collects and remits that 6% automatically on every Michigan reservation of 30 nights or shorter. Vrbo does not. Book through Vrbo or take reservations directly, and you'll need to register through Michigan Treasury Online and remit the use tax yourself.

The county layer is genuinely murky, and I'd rather say so than guess. Michigan law lets counties levy accommodation taxes on hotels and motels, and a couple of statutes could theoretically reach lodging in Wayne County. Both, though, are structured around larger facilities. One applies a percentage assessment only to properties with 35 or more guest rooms; another layers a tiered rate specifically for what it calls "convention hotels." Neither reads like it was built with a single-family Airbnb in mind.

Airbnb's own Michigan tax page backs that up in a roundabout way. It lists a county-level accommodation tax it collects in Genesee County and a hotel-motel tax in Kent County, but no Wayne County line item at all. That's not proof Wayne County has nothing, only that I couldn't confirm it does. Check with the county treasurer's office directly if you want certainty here, rather than taking either absence as an answer.

The city layer is the easy one. Westland doesn't appear on the Michigan Department of Treasury's own list of cities that administer a local income tax, a list that's limited to Detroit plus 23 smaller cities like Flint, Highland Park, and Hamtramck. Your rental income is still ordinary taxable income on your federal and state returns, of course, same as any other rental.

Does Westland strictly enforce STR rules? Is Westland Airbnb friendly?

Given how vague the zoning picture is, the honest answer is that nobody's tested it in public yet, at least not that turned up in any search. That's a real difference from what's happening one township over. Nearby Wayne County communities have moved more aggressively against unhosted short-term rentals in the past year, in at least one case ending up in federal court over it. That context is worth keeping in mind even though Westland's own record looks quiet by comparison.

What Westland does have is real teeth on the books, aimed at rental housing generally rather than short-term rentals specifically. Skip the registration requirement and you're looking at a municipal civil infraction under Sec. 22-607: up to a $500 fine plus court costs on the first offense or any later one, and unpaid fines can become a lien on the property.

Zoning violations carry their own penalty under Sec. 19.1, up to $500 or 90 days in jail, or both, with every day a violation continues counting as a separate offense. Sec. 19.2 goes further still and declares a zoning violation a "nuisance per se," which lets a court order it abated outright rather than just fined.

Watch out for the gap between "nobody's enforcing this yet" and "this is definitely fine." A rental registration violation is a low bar to trip, since it doesn't require anyone to argue about what a lodging facility is, just whether you registered. A neighbor complaint to the Ordinance Department is the most likely way either question ever gets tested against an actual Westland Airbnb, and once that happens, the city has both ordinances available to use.

How to Start a Short Term Rental Business in Westland

Given everything above, working through these in order saves you from paying a fee before you know whether the underlying use is even viable.

1. Call Planning & Building before you commit to anything. Confirm your zoning district and ask directly how the department treats a whole-home short-term rental versus a bed and breakfast on your parcel.
2. Decide which path you're pursuing. A hosted bed and breakfast has a defined route through Sec. 8.13. An unhosted whole-home rental does not, so weigh that risk into your purchase price.
3. Check for open code violations through the Building Division before you apply, since an unresolved issue can hold up your certificate of compliance.
4. Submit the Rental Registration Application, along with a valid driver's license or state ID, entity documentation if you're not an individual owner, and local agent information if you won't be managing the property yourself.
5. Schedule and prepare for the initial inspection. Notify any current tenant of the date, arrange access if nobody will be home, and plan to accompany the inspector yourself.
6. Get your certificate of compliance and register for state use tax through Michigan Treasury Online if you'll be taking direct bookings or listing on Vrbo.
7. List the property, keeping in mind that Airbnb collects and remits the state's 6% use tax automatically, while Vrbo does not.
8. Diarize your renewal date. The certificate expires three years from issuance, and re-registration needs to happen before that date, not after it.

Who to contact in Westland about Short Term Rental Regulations and Zoning?

Whichever step trips you up, three city offices and one state agency cover almost every question.

Planning & Building Department, for registration, certificates of compliance, zoning questions, and ADU applications:

• Address: 36300 Warren Road, Westland, MI 48185
• Phone: 734-467-3210 (general); 734-467-3216 (rental inspections specifically)
• Email: [email protected] or [email protected]
• Hours: Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
• Director: Mohamed Ayoub

Ordinance Department, a separate office that handles complaints and code enforcement, including the kind a neighbor would file:

• Address: 7300 N. Merriman, Westland, MI 48185
• Phone: 734-713-3733
• Email: [email protected]
• Fax: 734-396-1052
• Hours: Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Office of the Mayor, for anything that needs to go above department level:

• Address: 36300 Warren Road, Westland, MI 48185
• Phone: 734-467-3200
• Email: [email protected]
• Mayor: Kevin Coleman

Michigan Department of Treasury, for state use tax registration and filing:

• Portal: Michigan Treasury Online
• Guidance: the state's own use tax page

For Wayne County's own accommodation tax office, contact the county treasurer directly, since I couldn't confirm from an official source whether it reaches an individually owned Westland rental.

What do Airbnb hosts in Westland on Reddit and Bigger Pockets think about local regulations?

Since I couldn't find a thread built specifically around Westland, what follows is my read of the wider Wayne County conversation rather than a survey, so weigh it accordingly. Most of what comes up when hosts search this county concerns the city of Detroit itself, which runs its own separate licensing scheme with a $500 annual fee and a 90-day cap. Those rules don't apply once you cross into Westland or any of the other suburbs.

That mix-up is common enough to be worth flagging on its own. Hosts researching "Wayne County Airbnb rules" online frequently land on Detroit-specific coverage and assume it describes the whole county, when Westland, Livonia, Garden City, and Dearborn Heights each run their own separate ordinances. A few threads do reflect genuine caution about Detroit-area suburbs more broadly, given how quickly a neighboring city changed its own rules in 2025.

The pattern that does show up consistently, across whichever suburb hosts are discussing, is that registration gets skipped more often than zoning gets tested. People who bought a house, furnished it, and started hosting without registering as a rental dwelling are the ones who eventually get caught, usually off a neighbor complaint rather than a proactive sweep. Remember that the registration requirement doesn't care what the zoning question resolves to. It applies either way, and it's the easier of the two rules for the city to enforce.

For anyone weighing Westland against other Wayne County suburbs, or against the wider Michigan market, the numbers can look very different a few miles away in either direction. It's worth running more than one address before you commit to this one.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can you legally run an Airbnb in Westland, Michigan in 2026?

There's no dedicated short-term rental ordinance in Westland, but the zoning code's own definitions make an unhosted whole-home rental hard to place in any residential district, since "lodging facilities" only appear in the city's commercial-district use table. A hosted bed and breakfast has a defined path under Sec. 8.13, with an owner living on site, a five-room cap, and guests limited to a week per month. Either way, the rental dwelling registration ordinance applies regardless of stay length, so registration and a certificate of compliance come first.

How much does it cost to register a short-term rental in Westland?

The city's Rental Registration Application, revised July 1, 2026, lists $250 for a single-family home, $325 for a duplex, $400 for a quadplex, and $60 per unit for an apartment building. That fee covers an initial and a final inspection; missed appointments and extra re-inspections cost more. Registration and the certificate of compliance it produces are valid for three years, so renewal falls due on that same three-year clock.

What taxes apply to a short-term rental in Westland?

Michigan's 6% state use tax applies to any stay of 30 days or less, and Airbnb collects and remits it automatically, while Vrbo does not. Westland has no city income tax, so your rental income is only taxed at the state and federal level beyond that use tax. A Wayne County accommodation tax may or may not reach an individually owned home; Airbnb's own collection list shows no Wayne County line item, though that isn't confirmation either way.

What happens if you rent out a Westland property without registering it?

Failing to register a rental dwelling is a municipal civil infraction under Sec. 22-607, carrying up to a $500 fine plus court costs for the first offense or any later one, and unpaid amounts can become a lien on the property. A separate zoning violation carries its own penalty of up to $500 or 90 days in jail, with each day a violation continues counted as a new offense.

Is a bed and breakfast the same thing as a short-term rental in Westland?

Not quite, and the difference matters for zoning. Westland defines a bed and breakfast as a use where the owner lives on site and serves guests breakfast, capped at five rooms and one week of stay per guest each month. An entire home rented out nightly with no host present fits the ordinance's separate "lodging facility" definition instead, and that use has no listed path in any residential district.

Last verified: July 2026. Every ordinance, tax rate, state law, and contact detail in this guide links to or comes from its official source.