DuPage County Board members are set to vote Tuesday on a proposal that would specifically regulate short-term rental properties in unincorporated areas on a yearly basis.

Currently, the county allows rentals of 30 days or more but not short-term rentals. Among municipalities, suburban towns have varying restrictions on residences that host guests through internet-based short-term rental platforms such as Airbnb and Vrbo. The Naperville City Council, for instance, decided in 2020 to ban short-term rentals.

“We’ve chosen in this proposed text amendment to allow them and regulate them,” said Paul Hoss, who heads the county’s planning and zoning administration.

There are “approximately anywhere from 65 to 300 short-term rentals in unincorporated DuPage County at any one time,” Hoss estimated last month. Officials say they’ve been made aware of them through complaints.

“The only time that we hear about short-term rentals is typically when the property owner who has a short-term rental calls and complains and says that someone is damaging their own property … or if there are parties that just get out of hand,” Hoss said.

The proposed amendment to the county zoning ordinance would require registration, an annual inspection and an annual fee.

“So this is going to be an opportunity to not only regulate but generate some funds as a result of it,” said county board member Sam Tornatore, who chairs its development committee, during a preliminary discussion this summer.

The county board is expected to determine the fee amount at a later date. Approving the text amendment is the first step, and officials would develop an ordinance next.

The county plans to put the money collected from the fee into a fund that “would then be used as part of our long-term housing strategies, to loan money out for low-interest loans, construction loans, other things associated with our housing program,” Hoss said.

As part of an initiative to expand affordable housing, the county has eased various zoning requirements. County Board Chair Deb Conroy also has unveiled a 2026 budget plan that would dedicate $5 million from any 2025 surplus funds to launch a down-payment assistance program for first-time homebuyers.

The inspections of short-term rentals would ensure compliance with county building code, health department code, stormwater and zoning ordinances, or “any other applicable ordinance or code promulgated by DuPage County or state or federal statute.”

Another provision would not permit the occupancy of more than five people who are unrelated by blood or marriage. However, a short-term residential rental property owner would be permitted to seek a special event permit to allow exceptions to the regulations on a temporary basis.

Hoss said if someone wanted to have more than five people unrelated by blood or marriage, because there was an event going on, that individual could ask for a special event permit, bring it to the development committee, and “give us more detail.”

https://www.dailyherald.com/20251012/news/dupage-county-looks-to-regulate-short-term-rental-properties-with-annual-fee-inspection/