Nashville, Tennessee Short-Term Rental Regulation: A Guide For Airbnb Hosts

Do you own a place in Nashville, Tennessee and you're weighing whether to put it on Airbnb or Vrbo? Well, the good news is that yes, you can. Nashville and Davidson County share one consolidated Metro government, and that government has run an actual short-term rental permit program since 2015, which puts it ahead of plenty of Southern cities that are still arguing about whether to allow this at all. Live in the home yourself and the path is genuinely open. Rent out a place you don't live in, though, and Metro only allows it in a specific list of zoning districts, not just anywhere in town.

That's the catch, and it's worth making concrete before you get attached to a number on a listing site. A Short Term Rental Property permit runs $313 a year whether it's new or renewed, and it comes with real strings attached: $1,000,000 in liability insurance, a hard cap of four sleeping rooms, an occupancy formula that tops out at 12 people, and three separate layers of tax stacked on top of every booking. None of that is optional, and skipping it doesn't save you money so much as it trades a small fee now for a real fine later.

So let's walk through what it takes to do this properly in 2026: who qualifies for a permit and who doesn't, what the application and the paperwork involve, the tax layers that attach to every stay, how Tennessee's own state law protects your right to operate (and where it stops protecting you), and how seriously Metro Codes enforces any of it. Every figure below comes from Metro Nashville's own pages or the Tennessee Department of Revenue, checked in July 2026. Assuming you're also weighing a Nashville property against a market with an easier path to an entire-home license, run both through BNBCalc first.

What are Short-Term Rental (Airbnb, VRBO) Regulations in Nashville, Tennessee?

Before those numbers mean anything, you need the actual legal picture, and that starts with a definition Metro cares about more than most first-time hosts expect. Under Metropolitan Code § 6.28.030, a "Short Term Rental Property" is a residential dwelling unit with no more than four sleeping rooms that's rented out, advertised, or listed through an online marketplace for transient occupancy. Rent it for fewer than 30 consecutive days and it's short-term. Cross that 30-day line and it's ordinary landlord-tenant law instead, no STRP permit required.

Metro splits the permit into two genuinely different tracks, and which one applies to you depends entirely on where you sleep at night. An owner-occupied (OO) permit covers a unit where the owner lives, either the whole unit or, at minimum, a bedroom and a bathroom within it. A not-owner-occupied (NOO) permit covers a unit the owner doesn't live in at all, and that's the category most investors picture when they think "Airbnb business." Both permit types share the same underlying rules: a $1,000,000 liability insurance minimum, a maximum of four sleeping rooms, a 24-hour minimum booking, and a hard rule that only a natural person, not an LLC or a trust, can hold an owner-occupied permit.

Where the two tracks diverge is zoning, and this is the part that catches people out. An owner-occupied STRP is permitted as an accessory use in essentially every zoning district that allows residential use at all. A not-owner-occupied STRP is a different story entirely, since new NOO permits go out only as a "use permitted with conditions," and only in a defined list of commercial-adjacent and downtown zoning districts. Think mixed-use corridors, office districts, general commercial zones, and the various Downtown Code areas, not ordinary neighborhoods. Ordinary single-family, two-family and multi-family residential zoning is off that list entirely for any brand-new NOO permit. That's not a technicality worth arguing around. It's the entire shape of Nashville's market.

Starting a Short-Term Rental Business in Nashville, Tennessee

That zoning split is exactly why "starting a short-term rental business" in Nashville means something different depending on which side of it you're on. If you're planning to live in the property yourself, an owner-occupied permit is realistically available on almost any residential lot, and the business model looks like what you'd expect: rent out the whole place while you travel, or rent out a spare room while you stay put. Only one OO permit is issued per lot in single-family and two-family zoning, and if it's a two-family (duplex) property, ownership of both units can't be split. One person has to own both, and one of the two units has to be that person's actual primary residence.

If your plan was to buy an investment property purely for nightly rentals, though, expect a much narrower door. New non-owner-occupied permits only go to properties in that specific commercial-adjacent zoning list, so an ordinary house on an ordinary residential street can't get a fresh NOO permit today, regardless of how good the numbers look on paper. Existing NOO permit holders in residential zones can still renew, since the rule only blocks new applications, but those permits aren't transferable if the property sells. Sell the house and the next owner starts from zero in a zoning district that likely won't qualify. That's a meaningful, one-way shrink in Nashville's investor-rental inventory, not a loophole anyone should plan around. If that door is closed on the property you're eyeing, BNBCalc Markets is worth a look before you write the market off entirely, since it'll show you which nearby Tennessee zip codes still have an open path to an entire-home license.

There's one more wrinkle specific to new non-owner-occupied permits: Metro Code § 17.16.070 bars a new NOO permit within 100 feet of a church, a school or its playground, a park, or a licensed daycare and its playground. Metro Council can waive that buffer for a specific property, but only after a public hearing and 21 affirmative votes, and even then it's approved property by property rather than for a whole block. Four properties on 28th Avenue North got exactly that waiver in March 2024, which tells you it happens, just not casually.

Worth knowing before you get too far into planning: this zoning-based system replaced an older rule that capped non-owner-occupied permits at 3% of single-family and two-family units per census tract, a cap that got tangled up in a multi-year lawsuit (Anderson v. Metro) over whether it was constitutionally vague. Metro rewrote the whole scheme around zoning districts instead once that litigation ran its course, and the zoning-list version is what's in force today. If you've read an older guide describing a percentage cap by neighborhood, that version is gone. For the county's broader picture beyond city limits, the Davidson County guide covers unincorporated areas that fall outside Metro's zoning list entirely.

Short-Term Rental Licensing Requirement in Nashville City, Tennessee

Assuming your property clears that zoning test, the actual permit process is administered by the Metro Department of Codes and Building Safety in three stages. First, sensitive identity documents get emailed directly to the department rather than uploaded through the public portal: for an owner-occupied permit, two documents from one approved category (Tennessee driver's license, state ID, Davidson County voter registration, an IRS tax form, or vehicle registration) plus two from a second category (auto or homeowner's insurance, a pay stub, a bank statement, or an employer letter). For a not-owner-occupied permit held by an LLC or other entity, you instead submit documents linking the applicant to that entity, typically the operating agreement or articles of organization.

Second comes the paperwork Metro calls "document preparation," and it's more involved than a single form. You'll need a floor plan of every floor showing rooms, windows, doors and smoke detector locations, since UL217-certified smoke alarms are required in every sleeping area and in every room along the path of egress. For single- and two-family homes, a state-licensed architect, engineer, or home inspector has to certify the property complies with the fire and safety requirements in Metro Code § 6.28.030.A.5.b and .B.5.b; multifamily buildings get an actual Fire Marshal inspection instead. You'll also need proof of $1,000,000 in homeowner's fire, hazard and liability insurance (Airbnb's own host coverage can satisfy this), a notarized "true and accurate" affidavit, and written notification to every adjacent property owner, sent by certified mail or hand-signed, before you ever file. Only once all of that is assembled do you complete the online application through ePermits.

The fee is $313, payable in cash, check, or card (card payments carry a 2.3% processing surcharge), and it's due once your application is approved rather than at the time you file. A granted permit runs 365 days from issuance and has to be renewed every year for the same $313 fee, along with fresh proof of insurance and Hotel Occupancy Tax payment. Permits are non-transferable, full stop: sell the property, move the LLC's ownership around, or change how title is held, and the permit dies with the old ownership structure. It can also be revoked outright if the zoning administrator finds three violations of any generally applicable Metro ordinance tied to the property's operation as a rental, after 15 days' written notice and with a right of appeal to the Short Term Rental Appeals Board.

Skip the permit entirely and the penalty isn't just a fee you can write off as a cost of doing business. Operating without one carries a $50 court-imposed fine, with each day of operation counting as a separate offense, plus a mandatory waiting period before you're even eligible to apply again: one year if Metro's own zoning administrator makes the finding, six months for a lapsed renewal, or three full years if a court makes the finding instead. That last one is the number that should give anyone pause. Three years locked out of legally operating is a real cost, and it dwarfs the $313 you were trying to avoid.

Required Documents for Nashville, Tennessee Short-Term Rentals

Given what a three-year lockout costs you, it's worth having the full paperwork checklist in one place before you start assembling it, rather than discovering a gap mid-application. Nashville's application draws from a few different document families depending on your permit type and ownership structure:

• Proof of identity and residency. Two documents from Group A (Tennessee driver's license, state ID, Davidson County voter registration, an IRS W-2 or 1099, or current vehicle registration) and two from Group B (auto, life, or homeowner's insurance, a pay stub, a bank statement, or an employer verification letter), all current and matching the property address.
• Entity documentation, if a not-owner-occupied permit is held by an LLC, corporation, or trust rather than an individual, linking the applicant to that entity through an operating agreement or articles of organization.
• Current property tax receipt, proving all property taxes are paid, plus (for renewals) proof that room, occupancy, and sales taxes are current.
• Floor plan and safety certification, showing every room, window, door, and smoke detector, along with either a licensed architect/engineer/home inspector certification (single- and two-family homes) or a Fire Marshal inspection (multifamily buildings).
• Proof of $1,000,000 liability insurance, homeowner's fire, hazard, and liability coverage in that amount, which Airbnb's own host guarantee can satisfy if you provide the profile page showing it.
• Neighbor notification proof, a signed acknowledgment or certified mail receipt sent to the owner of every adjacent property before you file, not after.
• A notarized "true and accurate" affidavit, plus an Owner Authorization Form if someone other than the owner will apply or operate the permit on the owner's behalf.

Every one of those has to land as a PDF in the ePermits system, so scan everything before you sit down to apply rather than mid-application. Do check that documents from Group A and Group B are genuinely from different categories, since two utility-style documents from the same group won't satisfy the requirement even if both are current.

Nashville, Tennessee Short-Term Rental Taxes

Assuming you get through all that and are able to start hosting, there's still tax to deal with, and Nashville stacks three separate layers on top of nearly every stay. Two different governments administer them, so the thresholds and remittance rules don't line up cleanly between the three.

Tax	Rate	Collected by
State sales tax	7%	Tennessee Department of Revenue
Davidson County local sales tax	2.75%	Tennessee Department of Revenue
Metro Hotel Occupancy Privilege Tax	7% + $2.50/night flat fee	Metro Nashville Finance (or the state, if booked through a marketplace)
Business tax (if applicable)	Tiered, see below	Metro Nashville / Davidson County Clerk

The sales tax piece changed recently, and it's worth flagging since a lot of older guides still quote the wrong number. Davidson County's local option sales tax rose from 2.25% to 2.75% effective February 1, 2025, a voter-approved surcharge that funds Metro's transit program. Combined with the flat 7% state rate, that puts Nashville's current combined sales tax at 9.75%, not the 9.25% still floating around plenty of 2024-era write-ups. This applies to the full sales price of a stay, meaning the nightly rate plus cleaning fees, pet fees, and guest booking fees, all of it.

The Hotel Occupancy Privilege Tax is Nashville's own local charge, and it climbed too: Metro Council raised it from 6% to 7% effective July 1, 2023, on top of a flat $2.50-per-night fee that didn't change. Combined with the 9.75% sales tax, a guest is looking at roughly 16.75% in combined tax plus that nightly fee, before you've charged a single dollar for the room itself. Guests who stay 30 consecutive days or more stop owing it after day 30, and government agencies are exempt when the agency itself pays.

What determines whose job it is to collect all this is fairly simple, mind you. Since January 1, 2021, a short-term rental unit marketplace like Airbnb or Vrbo remits both the sales tax and the local occupancy tax directly to the Tennessee Department of Revenue on your behalf, for any booking made through that platform. You only need to collect and remit either tax yourself if you rent the unit outside a marketplace, say to a neighbor directly or through your own booking site.

Business tax works on a separate track, based on your gross annual income rather than on a per-booking basis:

• Under $3,000 a year: no license needed at all.
• $3,000 to $99,999 a year: a minimal-activity license, $15 in the general services district or $30 in the urban services district, renewed annually.
• $100,000 or more a year: a full Business Tax License from the Davidson County Clerk, plus an actual return filed with the Department of Revenue. That $100,000 threshold was raised from $10,000 back in 2023.

If you run the rental through an LLC or corporation rather than as an individual, franchise and excise tax applies on top of that, based on the entity's net worth and net earnings respectively. None of it applies to an individual owner operating in their own name.

Tennessee Wide Short-Term Rental Rules

All of those numbers sit inside a state framework that's worth understanding on its own, because it's why Nashville can't simply ban this business the way some cities elsewhere in the country have tried. Tennessee's Short-Term Rental Unit Act, enacted in 2018, sets a real preemption test: a local government generally can't prohibit the use of property as a short-term rental unit, or regulate one based on its classification, use, or occupancy, unless it can show by clear and convincing evidence that the regulation is the least restrictive way to protect public health and safety. Metro's zoning-district approach to non-owner-occupied permits leans on the Act's second, broader exception instead, which lets a city apply an ordinary land-use, noise, or nuisance law to short-term rentals the same way it applies to any other residential use.

The state law does carve out a short list of things any Tennessee city can still restrict outright, regardless of that test. A local government may always limit or prohibit a short-term rental used for:

• Housing a registered sex offender
• Running an unlicensed residential treatment facility
• Selling illegal drugs
• Selling alcohol without the required permit
• Operating as an adult-oriented business

Beyond that narrow list, the Act sets its own safety floor too, requiring a $500,000 minimum liability insurance policy and compliance with the state's fire sprinkler, smoke alarm, and carbon monoxide alarm standards under Title 68, Chapter 120. Nashville's own $1,000,000 requirement sits well above that floor, which the Act allows, since it's a stricter version of a safety standard rather than a ban dressed up as one.

There's also a legacy protection worth knowing about if you're buying a property that's already operating as a rental. From what I can tell going through the University of Tennessee's own summary of the Act, a short-term rental that was already in use before a given local restriction took effect generally keeps legacy status under it, meaning that specific restriction doesn't apply retroactively to that property. That status ends, though, if the property is sold or transferred, if short-term rental use stops for 30 continuous months, or if the property racks up three violations of generally applicable local law with no appeal rights left. For a look at how this plays out beyond Nashville's own line, the Tennessee statewide guide covers the framework county by county, and the Franklin guide and the Murfreesboro guide both cover nearby Middle Tennessee markets with meaningfully different local rules.

Does Nashville, Tennessee Strictly Enforce STR Rules?

Yes, and the state's own legacy-clause protections don't do much to soften that, since they only protect what was already legal to begin with. Nashville had roughly 7,000 active short-term rental permits citywide as of July 2, 2025, and District 17, one of the city's densest short-term rental corridors, alone accounted for 1,077 of them, second only to District 19. More tellingly, Metro Codes' own STRP Chief told local news that 98% of permitted operators are in compliance, which suggests the real enforcement gap in Nashville isn't sloppy permit holders. It's unpermitted listings that never entered the system at all.

Enforcement itself is complaint-driven, run through hubNashville (also reachable at 311 or 615-862-5000), and once a complaint comes in, the department has to notify the permit holder in writing or by email. Metro also takes the complaint process seriously enough that it's required by state law to warn every complainant up front: a knowingly false complaint against a short-term rental provider is punishable as perjury under Tennessee Code § 39-16-702, a detail cited straight from Metro's own page and one that cuts both ways for hosts and neighbors alike. Three documented violations tied to the rental's operation, with no appeal rights remaining, is what triggers revocation, and Metro has stood up an actual Short Term Rental Appeals Board to hear those disputes, seven members with a four-member quorum, that's been issuing board orders on a regular cadence through 2025 and into 2026. This is not a rubber-stamp process nobody uses.

Watch out for the compounding structure of the penalties, too, because that's where casual non-compliance gets expensive fast. A $50-a-day fine sounds almost trivial next to a nightly Airbnb rate, until you remember every day of unpermitted operation is a separate offense, and a court finding on top of that locks you out of a new permit for three full years. Combine that with the fact that new non-owner-occupied permits are already restricted to a specific zoning list, and getting caught operating without one in a residential zone doesn't just cost you a fine. It can end your ability to ever hold a legal permit on that property again.

How to Start a Short-Term Rental Business in Nashville, Tennessee

Given everything above, the order you tackle these steps in matters more than it might seem, since the early ones determine whether the later ones are even worth doing.

1. Confirm your zoning eligibility first. If you plan to live in the unit, an owner-occupied permit is available almost anywhere residential. If you don't, check your property's zoning against Metro's District Land Use Table before you assume a non-owner-occupied permit is even possible.
2. Check the 100-foot buffer if you're pursuing a new non-owner-occupied permit, since proximity to a church, school, park, or licensed daycare can block the application outright without a Council-approved exemption.
3. Line up $1,000,000 in liability insurance and confirm whether your existing homeowner's policy, or Airbnb's own host coverage, actually satisfies it.
4. Notify every adjacent property owner in writing, by signature or certified mail, before you file anything else, since Metro requires this proof up front rather than after the fact.
5. Get your floor plan and safety inspection done, either a licensed architect, engineer, or home inspector certification for a single- or two-family home, or a Fire Marshal inspection for a multifamily building.
6. Assemble your identity, tax, and (if applicable) entity documents, then submit everything through ePermits.
7. Pay the $313 fee once approved, and keep in mind it's due at approval, not at filing, and it's non-refundable either way.
8. Register for sales tax and business tax as needed, understanding that your marketplace generally handles sales and local occupancy tax automatically, while business tax registration is on you once you clear $100,000 in gross annual sales.
9. Diarize your renewal date. Permits run 365 days and renewal needs the same $313 fee plus fresh proof of insurance and tax payment, and a lapsed renewal costs you a six-month waiting period before you're eligible again.

Who to Contact in Nashville, Tennessee about Short-Term Rental Regulations and Zoning?

Whichever step trips you up, a handful of Metro offices split this work between them, and knowing which one owns your particular question saves a genuinely annoying amount of time on hold.

Metro Codes and Building Safety Department

This is the office that issues, renews, and revokes every STRP permit, and it's the right first call for anything about your application itself.

• Address: Metro Office Building, 800 President Ronald Reagan Way, 1st Floor, Nashville, TN 37210
• Phone: 615-862-6500
• Hours: Monday through Friday, 7:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. (closed weekends)
• General questions: [email protected]
• Application documents and correspondence: [email protected]
• Renewals: [email protected]

Metro Planning Commission

Reach out here specifically for questions about Specific Plan (SP) or Planned Unit Development (PUD) zoning conditions, since those can override the standard permit rules for a given property.

• Phone: 615-862-7190
• Email: [email protected]

Nashville Fire Department, Fire Marshal's Office

The Fire Marshal's Office handles multifamily building inspections and reviews the fire and life safety side of any STRP application.

• Address: Fire Prevention Office, 63 Hermitage Ave, Nashville, TN 37210
• Phone: 615-862-5230

Metro Nashville Finance, Collections Office

This office administers the Hotel Occupancy Privilege Tax, including registration and monthly returns.

• Phone: 615-862-6151
• Email: [email protected]
• Mailing address: Metro Nashville Finance Collections, P.O. Box 305172, Dept. 168, Nashville, TN 37230-5172

Davidson County Clerk, Business Services

Reach out here for the Business Tax License once your gross sales cross the $100,000 threshold.

• Address: Howard Office Building, 700 President Ronald Reagan Way, Suite 101, Nashville, TN 37210
• Email: [email protected]

For anything general, hubNashville and 311 (or 615-862-5000) route to the right department either way, so it's a reasonable place to start if you're not sure which office actually owns your question.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can you legally run an Airbnb in Nashville, Tennessee in 2026?

Yes, in two different ways depending on where you live. If you occupy the unit yourself, an owner-occupied permit is available in nearly every residential zoning district. If you don't live there, a not-owner-occupied permit is only available for new applicants in a specific list of commercial-adjacent and downtown zoning districts, not standard residential zones. Either way you need a $313 annual permit from Metro Codes, $1,000,000 in liability insurance, and compliance with the occupancy, safety, and tax rules that apply to both permit types.

How much does a Nashville short-term rental permit cost?

The permit fee is $313, due once your application is approved rather than when you file it, and it's non-refundable either way. Renewal costs the same $313 each year, along with fresh proof of liability insurance and Hotel Occupancy Tax payment. Card payments carry an additional 2.3% processing surcharge. Given that the fee doesn't come back if you're denied, confirm your zoning eligibility and the 100-foot buffer rule, if it applies to you, before you submit anything.

What happens if you operate a short-term rental in Nashville without a permit?

Operating without a permit carries a $50 fine imposed by a court, with each day of operation counting as a separate offense, so the total can climb fast. On top of that, you also face a mandatory waiting period before you're even eligible to apply for a permit again. Metro's own zoning administrator can impose a one-year wait, a lapsed renewal costs six months, and a court finding locks you out for three full years. That three-year lockout is the number that should change your behavior here.

Can investors get a new non-owner-occupied short-term rental permit anywhere in Nashville?

No, only in a defined list of commercial-adjacent and downtown zoning districts, not in standard single-family, two-family, or multifamily residential zones. Existing non-owner-occupied permits in residential zones can still be renewed, but they can't be transferred if the property is sold, so that inventory shrinks over time rather than staying available to new buyers. A 100-foot buffer from churches, schools, parks, and licensed daycares applies to any brand-new non-owner-occupied application as well.

What taxes apply to a short-term rental stay in Nashville?

Three layers generally apply: a combined 9.75% sales tax (7% state plus 2.75% Davidson County, current since February 2025), Metro's 7% Hotel Occupancy Privilege Tax plus a flat $2.50-per-night fee, and, for larger operators, business tax once gross annual sales hit $100,000. If your booking comes through a marketplace like Airbnb or Vrbo, that platform generally collects and remits the sales tax and hotel occupancy tax for you automatically, so remember to check that it's actually doing so rather than assuming it.

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