A residential street of houses and flats where short-term lets sit beside ordinary homes — A street read as a register: one property, one jurisdiction, one set of rules.

Find the rule that applies to this let, in this place

The Key Register is an independent guide to short-term rental rules, licensing and compliance by city, state and country. It follows one backbone: jurisdiction, host and property type, registration and licence, zoning and primary residence, operating limits, taxes, safety, noise and parking, platform requirements, renewals and compliance.

Start with short-term rental rules, explained, or open an entry below. Every guide opens with a rule card: the jurisdiction and stage, the question it answers, the evidence level and the first check. Rules are labelled with their place and date throughout, and no guide is legal advice for a specific property or host. Verify the current rule with the official municipal code or registration portal before acting.

Find a jurisdiction in the register

These are register entries, not listings for rent and not bookings. Open a jurisdiction to read its registration, limits, taxes, and enforcement rules, each labelled with its place and date.

The EU short-term rental framework France New York City California Texas Florida United Kingdom Canada The Gulf

Walk the register

Entry 01 Registration and licensing systems What registration is, how a licence is obtained and kept, and what happens to a listing without one. 18 guides Entry 02 Night caps and day limits How night caps are counted, how hosted and unhosted caps differ, and what happens when a cap is reached. 14 guides Entry 03 Primary-residence requirements What counts as a primary residence, how it is proved, and how renter hosting and landlord permission fit in. 12 guides Entry 04 Tourist and occupancy taxes Transient occupancy and lodging taxes: who collects, who remits, how filing works, and where platform collection stops. 16 guides Entry 05 Platform obligations What platforms must verify, display, report and remove, and how those duties reach the host. 13 guides Entry 06 Zoning and building-level restrictions Residential zones, condo and HOA rules, tourist zones, and allocation systems such as lotteries. 15 guides Entry 07 Enforcement and penalties Fine scales, repeat-violation escalation, complaint-driven and data-driven enforcement, and revocation. 11 guides Entry 08 Safety and habitability standards Fire and carbon monoxide alarms, gas and electrical checks, inspections, and guest-capacity limits. 14 guides Entry 09 Insurance and liability Host insurance duties, where platform cover stops, and added-insurance mandates. 10 guides Entry 10 Rental income tax How rental income is treated, the 14-day exception, reporting forms, and mixed-use apportionment, in general terms only. 12 guides Entry 11 Preemption and state-local conflicts When a state law overrides a local rule, and how Idaho, Indiana and Florida conflicts change host strategy. 9 guides Entry 12 The EU short-term rental framework Regulation (EU) 2024/1028, member-state rollouts, and Ireland as the lead example, with its register opening 1 December 2026. 17 guides Entry 13 France Loi Le Meur in full, the 90-night principal-residence cap in Paris, Lyon, Bordeaux and Nice, registration, and taxes. 16 guides Entry 14 New York City Local Law 18, Office of Special Enforcement registration, the host-present rule, the two-guest limit, and fines. 13 guides Entry 15 California Los Angeles home-sharing, San Francisco certification and its 90-night cap, San Diego tiers and lottery, and SB 346 disclosure. 19 guides Entry 16 Texas Austin Type 1 and Type 2 licences with 2026 platform verification, Houston registration, San Antonio permits, and state posture. 14 guides Entry 17 Florida State preemption, the DBPR licence, Miami zoning, Orlando and Kissimmee, and the local rules that survive preemption. 12 guides Entry 18 United Kingdom England registration, the London 90-night rule, Scotland licensing, planning permission, and the Wales position. 15 guides Entry 19 Canada British Columbia rules and deduction denial, Vancouver taxes, Toronto and Ottawa principal residence, and Ontario fire rules. 14 guides Entry 20 The Gulf Dubai holiday-home licensing, Abu Dhabi rules, Saudi regulation, and short-stay levy comparisons. 11 guides

View all 275 guides

How this register works

A host checking a registration document against a checklist at a desk

Three rules. First, no invented numbers and no compliance promises: figures come from a municipal code, official portal or primary legislation, are attributed, and carry the date they were checked; worked examples use round numbers and are labelled illustrations. Second, jurisdiction is labelled on every rule: a rule for Paris is not a rule for Los Angeles, and a platform duty is not a host duty, never blended. Third, corrections are published, not buried: the corrections page records what changed and why.

This site does not recommend a platform, property manager, insurer or service, does not run a directory, and does not generate leads. It explains the system so a reader can judge a listing, a licence application or a professional's advice well, and routes property-specific decisions to the official portal or a qualified adviser in the relevant jurisdiction.

How a rule is filed

The backbone runs in order, and the entries follow it: a jurisdiction is named, the host and property type are fixed, registration or licence is checked, zoning and primary residence are tested, operating limits are counted, taxes are separated from platform collection, safety and neighbour rules are checked, platform duties are noted, and only then is compliance claimed, and only with the evidence to show it.

Name the jurisdiction first, and read its own code, not a summary of another city's code.
Fix the host and property type before counting nights, because caps turn on both.
Separate registration, licence, tax registration and platform verification: four different steps.
Keep licences, tax filings, safety checks and platform notices with the property.
Re-check before renewal, because a cap, fee or registration system can change between lets.