—For regulated-market hosts

PreArrive for regulated-market hosts.

You host in a city with active short-term rental regulation: Miami, Miami Beach, Nashville, New Orleans, Austin, NYC, Scottsdale, Asheville, Charleston. The legal posture matters more here.

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01Who this is for

If this sounds like you.

You operate in a market where short-term rental rules are real and enforced: permits, occupancy caps, noise ordinances, zoning limits. A guest who breaks a rule is not just a cleaning problem. It can become a code problem.

You are not looking for legal advice. You are looking to run a tidy operation and to be able to show good faith if anyone asks.

02The job to be done

What you're actually trying to do.

The job to be done is to demonstrate good-faith compliance and to hold a traceable acknowledgment that each guest agreed to the house rules, including the ones derived from local law. When the rules around you are strict, a signed record is part of operating responsibly, not an extra.

What changes with PreArrive

  • Every guest signs a timestamped acknowledgment of local-rule-derived house rules
  • A two-event audit trail and content hash behind each stay
  • City-tuned house-rules starting points for your market
  • A record of good-faith effort, kept for years
Recommended plan
Solo $9/mo

For the independent host running one listing year-round.

Solo at $9/mo removes the volume caps and adds branding when you want it. That is enough for most single-property regulated-market hosts. Operators with a portfolio should look at Host or Pro instead.

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03Why a signed acknowledgment

The city wants a record, not a rule.

Whatever your scale, the failure mode is the same. The host has the rule written down and a folder of photos — and the AirCover claim still comes back with nothing. That's the disclosure–acknowledgment gap: your listing proves the rule existed, but not that the guest agreed to it, and a platform cannot defensibly charge a card on disclosure alone.

PreArrive collects the acknowledgment half: a line-by-line, timestamped record, signed before check-in, with a two-event audit trail and a content hash. You cannot build that after a stay, which is the whole point of doing it before one.

Page 1 of a PreArrive signed-acknowledgment certificate — vellum paper, double border, signed sample Open the sample certificate PDF
Many cities run Host Compliance (Granicus): what that means for you

A lot of regulated markets contract with Host Compliance, now part of Granicus, to scan listings and monitor short-term rental activity on the enforcement side: flagging unpermitted listings, occupancy limits, and complaint patterns. You cannot control what a city scans, but you can control your own file. A per-reservation, signed acknowledgment that each guest agreed to your local-rule-derived house rules is exactly the kind of good-faith record you want on hand if enforcement ever asks how you run the property. Confirm your own city's current requirements with the municipal source; the guides below link each one.

04Start here

Where the rules are real, the record needs to be too.

Build a packet once, send it on every reservation, get a signed PDF certificate back. Free covers one property; Solo at $9/mo is sized for this segment. The certificate is evidence, not a verdict — it makes your case legible to AirCover, an insurer, or a small-claims clerk.

  1. 1

    Start free, no card

    Sign in with email or Google. Free covers one property.

  2. 2

    Build your packet

    House rules, fees, arrival notes. We seed the starter list, you edit.

  3. 3

    Send on every reservation

    One link to the guest. PDF certificate back in your inbox once they sign.

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05City guides

Short-term rental rules, market by market.

Plain-language summaries of the local STR landscape in the cities where the rules are real and enforced. Each page carries a market-tuned house-rules angle and a "confirm with your city" line — none of these is a substitute for current municipal guidance.

Miami, FloridaLayered city, county, and zoning rules — registration and business-tax receipts are common, and enforcement is real. Miami Beach, FloridaOne of Florida’s strictest STR markets — short-term rentals are restricted by district, with active code enforcement. Nashville, TennesseeOwner-occupied versus non-owner-occupied permits — the type of permit matters more than the address. New Orleans, LouisianaResidential STRs are tightly restricted; commercial-zone permits exist but are scarce and closely watched. Austin, TexasA typed permit system, density caps, and an active enforcement program — type, not address, sets the rules. New York City, New YorkUnder Local Law 18, most stays under 30 days require host presence and registration with the city. Scottsdale, ArizonaState law permits STRs; the city layer adds party-house, noise, and occupancy enforcement on top. Asheville, North CarolinaPermitted in some zones and restricted in others — homestays and whole-house rentals follow different rules. Charleston, South CarolinaA strict separation between commercial and residential STRs, with rules that vary by historic district. Joshua Tree, CaliforniaSan Bernardino County STR permits, occupancy caps, and quiet-hours rules that desert hosts know well. Savannah, GeorgiaSTR certificate required, with per-ward density caps in the historic district and active enforcement. San Diego, CaliforniaA four-tier STRO license system (whole-home and host-occupied tiers) with hard caps in the coastal zone. Denver, ColoradoPrimary-residence requirement and licensed-only — whole-home STRs are not allowed unless the host lives there. Portland, OregonAccessory Short-Term Rental permit — types A and B vary by whether the host is on site, with a permit-required model. Key West, FloridaTransient rental licenses are tightly capped; whole-home STRs of less than 30 days are restricted to specific certified properties. Boston, MassachusettsOwner-adjacent residency requirement and a citywide registration program — investor-owned whole-home STRs are largely off the table. Chicago, IllinoisShared Housing license required, with primary-residence and non-primary tracks plus block-by-block opt-out registries. Atlanta, GeorgiaSTR licensing administered by the Department of City Planning — a permit-required model with a two-property cap per licensee. Phoenix, ArizonaArizona state law preempts most city STR bans; Phoenix layers on licensing, sales-tax registration, and a 24-hour complaint contact. Seattle, WashingtonA two-unit cap per operator (one primary + one secondary), with separate STR operator and platform licenses. Los Angeles, CaliforniaThe Home-Sharing Ordinance — primary residence only, 120-day cap unless an Extended Home-Sharing permit applies. San Francisco, CaliforniaPermanent-resident rule plus a 90-night cap on unhosted stays; the Office of Short-Term Rentals enforces aggressively. Orlando, FloridaA two-tier system — home-share (host-present) vs. commercial dwelling-unit (zoned districts only). The split decides everything. Palm Springs, CaliforniaA capped vacation-rental permit program with a 32-stay-per-year limit per property and active code enforcement. Honolulu, HawaiiA 90-day minimum stay applies to most STRs outside resort-zoned areas; bed-and-breakfast home permits are tightly capped and verified against owner-occupant residency. Tampa, FloridaA registration-required model with type-based rules — bed-and-breakfast, transient public lodging, and short-term residential are tracked separately, and the zoning code splits them by district. Sedona, ArizonaArizona state law (ARS §9-500.39) preempts most bans, so Sedona leans hard on registration, sales-tax permits, and a 24-hour response standard for nuisance complaints. Park City, UtahNightly Rental business license required, with HOA and condo restrictions stacking on top — many Park City buildings forbid STRs outright, regardless of the city license. South Lake Tahoe, CaliforniaA capped Vacation Home Rental permit program with occupancy limits tied to bedrooms, defensible-space fire rules, and a voter-approved phase-out of investor-held permits. Big Bear Lake, CaliforniaSan Bernardino County’s mountain resort STR program — Transient Private Home Rental permits, occupancy caps tied to septic, and snow-and-fire seasonal expectations. Hilton Head Island, South CarolinaA permit-required model with hurricane-season notice rules and a strict noise ordinance backed by Beaufort County code enforcement. Nags Head, North CarolinaOuter Banks weekly-rental tradition — the Town of Nags Head enforces against parking violations, occupancy, and trash on turnover Saturdays. Galveston, TexasA registration-required STR model with hotel occupancy tax collection at the city + state + island-district levels, and distinct seaward vs. landward zoning rules. Maui, HawaiiMaui County’s tightly-restricted STR/TVR program — most non-resort properties cannot legally rent below 30 days, and Lahaina is in a separate recovery posture. Bend, OregonA three-type STR system (Type 1 host-occupied, Type 2 unhosted within a defined area, Type 3 unhosted resort) with 250-foot minimum spacing between Type 2 listings. Las Vegas, NevadaJurisdiction matters more than address: the City of Las Vegas, unincorporated Clark County, and the Strip casinos each carry different STR rules — and a recent state law sets a floor. Washington, DC, District of ColumbiaOwner-occupied only: STRs must be the host’s primary residence, with separate license classes for hosted (year-round) versus unhosted (capped nights per year). Aspen, ColoradoA three-tier permit system (lodge-exempt, owner-occupied, and classic short-term residential) with a cap on the third tier — new classic-STR permits are not being issued. Breckenridge, ColoradoLicense classes tied to zoning overlays: Zone 1 (resort) is broadly permitted, Zone 2 (transitional) is capped, and Zone 3 (neighborhood) is largely restricted. Mammoth Lakes, CaliforniaTOT-certificate-driven permit system in a mountain-resort town, with stricter standards in single-family-residential zones than in lodging-overlay districts. Jackson, WyomingTown and Teton County both restrict residential STRs sharply — short stays are largely confined to lodging-overlay districts and designated resort areas. Pigeon Forge, TennesseeA tourism-built economy where short-term rentals are broadly welcome — the practical bar is local business licensing plus state and city occupancy tax compliance. Provincetown, MassachusettsA seasonal Cape-tip market: registration is required, and the rule that bites most hosts is the state Department of Public Health certificate inspectors actually enforce. Kauai, HawaiiA Transient Vacation Rental (TVR) regime tied to visitor-destination areas: outside those areas a non-conforming-use certificate is the only legal path, and they are not being issued. Philadelphia, PennsylvaniaTwo license classes — Limited Lodging (owner-occupied, 30-night cap when host is away) and Visitor Accommodation (unhosted, commercial-zoning required) — set what is allowed where.

06Keep reading

Related, if you're going deeper.

How it worksFrom a packet of rules to a signed PDF certificate, in four stages. PricingFree covers one property; Paid tiers start at $9/mo when you outgrow the caps. Airbnb house rules templateA free, copy-pasteable starter rules and fee schedule. For hostsThe three host profiles PreArrive is built for.