Portland Oregon Rental Permit Guide 2026: ASTR Requirements, the 95-Night Cap, and Owner-Occupancy Rules

Portland has built one of the most intentional short-term rental frameworks in the country, and it is a framework built around a clear policy goal: keep residential neighborhoods residential. If you live in your home and want to share it with travelers, Portland will work with you. If you want to run a whole-home vacation rental as an investment property without living there, Portland is not the market for you.

Understanding this distinction from the start saves a lot of wasted time and money. I have talked to investors who bought Portland properties intending to Airbnb them full-time, only to discover after closing that the city's rules made that impossible. This guide explains exactly what Portland allows, what it does not, and how to stay compliant if you are an eligible host.

Portland's Fundamental STR Rule: You Have to Live There

Portland only permits what it calls Accessory Short-Term Rentals (ASTR). The word "accessory" is doing a lot of work there. It means the short-term rental is secondary to the primary use of the property, which must be your actual primary residence.

To qualify, you must live in the property as your primary residence for at least 270 days of each year. That is nine months minimum. Renting an entire dwelling unit short-term without a resident living there for at least 270 days per year is not allowed in Portland's residential zones. Period.

Portland enforces this with a hard documentation requirement: your Oregon driver's license or Oregon ID card must show the property's address as your residence. City staff check Oregon DMV records as part of the application review. If your ID shows a different address, your application will not be approved, no matter what other documentation you provide. Out-of-state owners and investors who do not live in Portland cannot get a Portland ASTR permit.

The 95-Night Unhosted Cap

Within the owner-occupancy requirement, Portland draws a further distinction between hosted and unhosted nights.

Hosted nights are stays where you remain in the dwelling with your guests. There is no annual cap on hosted nights. You can host guests every night of the year in your home as long as you are present and your ASTR permit is valid.

Unhosted nights are stays where guests occupy the property while you are away. Portland caps these at 95 per calendar year. Once you hit 95 unhosted nights in a calendar year, you must stop accepting unhosted bookings for the rest of that year.

Tracking this number accurately is one of the most important compliance tasks for Portland hosts. If you use both Airbnb and VRBO, or accept some direct bookings, you need a consolidated count across all channels. A booking log that automatically tracks which nights were hosted versus unhosted is the only reliable way to manage this.

Type A and Type B Permits: Which One Do You Need?

Portland issues two types of ASTR permits, differentiated primarily by how many bedrooms you want to rent.

Type A ASTR Permit

The Type A permit is for hosts renting up to 2 bedrooms to a maximum of 5 guests. It is the simpler of the two options. The application requires your Oregon ID information, proof of the property as your residence, and evidence that you have notified your neighborhood association and nearby neighbors. The applicant handles the neighbor notification directly before submitting the application.

Type B Conditional Use

The Type B permits renting 3 to 5 rooms. It involves a more extensive review process, including a conditional use land use review, a public hearing process, and neighbor notifications that the city sends on your behalf. Type B applications are more expensive and take longer to process. The additional revenue potential from having 3 to 5 rentable rooms is real, but so is the application complexity.

Portland Business License Requirement

All Portland ASTR operators must also hold a Portland Business License. This is a separate requirement from the ASTR permit and is administered by the Revenue Division rather than the Bureau of Development Services.

The good news for smaller hosts is the income threshold exemption. If you earn less than $50,000 per year before expenses from your STR, you are exempt from paying the Business License Tax. However, you are not exempt from the annual filing requirement. You must still file an annual exemption request to document that your income falls below the threshold. Skipping the filing, even if you owe nothing, is a compliance failure.

Taxes for Portland Short-Term Rental Hosts

Portland has a layered tax structure for short-term rentals. The combined rate works out to approximately 13 percent of your rental rate, plus a $4 per night Tourism Improvement Fee.

The breakdown is: 6 percent City of Portland Transient Lodgings Tax, plus 5.5 percent Multnomah County transient lodging tax, plus 1.5 percent Oregon state lodging tax.

For Airbnb and VRBO bookings, the platforms collect and remit Portland city taxes and Oregon state taxes automatically. For direct bookings, you are responsible for collecting and remitting these taxes yourself. You need to register with the City of Portland Revenue Division for a Transient Lodging Tax account if you accept direct bookings.

Enforcement: Portland Takes This Seriously

Portland ramped up STR enforcement significantly starting in 2023 and 2024. The city created a dedicated STR code enforcement team and an online registry where neighbors can look up whether a given property is permitted. Fines start around $1,000 for a first offense and escalate for repeated violations. A revoked permit comes with a two-year waiting period before you can reapply.

The city's enforcement strategy focuses on two things: properties operating without a permit, and properties that have a permit but are exceeding the 95-night unhosted limit. Both are active enforcement priorities.

There is ongoing discussion in Portland about reducing the 95-night unhosted cap to as low as 30 nights. That has not happened yet as of early 2026, but it is worth watching. Any host operating at the full 95-night cap should be aware that the margin could shrink.

The Registration Number in Your Listing

Portland requires your ASTR permit number to be visible in all advertisements for your rental, including Airbnb, VRBO, and any other platform or direct booking site. The city maintains a public Portland Maps registry where anyone can verify whether a listed property is permitted. Listing without a permit number is an easy enforcement trigger.

What Trips Up Portland Hosts

The most common compliance failure for Portland hosts is exceeding the 95-night unhosted cap without realizing it. Hosts who take a few weeks of vacation during the year, or who do extended work trips, can burn through unhosted nights faster than expected. Without a tracking system, it is easy to cross the line.

Second most common is the permit renewal. Portland ASTR permits require renewal, and the residency requirement is re-verified at renewal. If your Oregon ID address has changed since your original application, your renewal will flag.

Third is the Business License annual filing. Hosts who owe nothing still need to file. It is an easy thing to skip and an easy way to get a compliance notice.