Short-Term Rentals in Beltrami County, Minnesota

A real permit system, tiered by size: Types A/B/C and fees from $200 to $5,000

Beltrami County's short-term rental ordinance took effect July 1, 2022, giving existing operators a 90-day window to get permitted, and it created a genuinely tiered structure rather than a single flat license. Rental classification runs Type A (up to 3 bedrooms, maximum occupancy up to 8 people), Type B (4 or more bedrooms and/or occupancy up to 12), and Type C (maximum occupancy of 13 or more) -- with application fees of $200, $400, and $800 respectively. Separately, the ordinance sets permit fees in three tiers: Tier 1 at $1,000, Tier 2 at $2,500, and Tier 3 at $5,000, with any after-the-fact application (permitting a rental that was already operating without one) charged at double the normal fee. On top of the county permit, operators also need a license from the Minnesota Department of Health, a separate state-level requirement. The ordinance further requires quiet hours from 10:00 p.m. to 8:00 a.m. and a guest-record system compliant with Minnesota law, both enforced through Environmental Services.

Except in Bemidji and Northern Township, where short-term rentals are banned outright

The single most important fact for a buyer evaluating a Beltrami County property for short-term rental potential is jurisdictional, not financial: the county's own permit system does not govern land inside the city of Bemidji or Northern Township. Those two jurisdictions are instead governed by the Greater Bemidji Area Joint Planning Board (JPB), a separate planning authority, which after roughly six months of meetings, reviews, and public hearings voted 4-1 in 2018 to prohibit short-term home rentals -- commonly Airbnb or VRBO listings for stays under 30 days -- across both the city of Bemidji and Northern Township entirely. The JPB had imposed a moratorium on new rentals while it studied the issue, driven by neighbor complaints, and its ultimate decision was an outright ban rather than a licensing regime: the four short-term rental units already operating at the time were grandfathered in, but that exemption is narrow and non-transferable -- it lapses if the property changes ownership, or if the unit accumulates three ordinance violations.

This means a property inside Bemidji city limits or Northern Township cannot legally be turned into a new short-term rental at all, regardless of what Beltrami County's own tiered permit system would otherwise allow just outside those boundaries -- there is no path to a new Type A/B/C permit inside JPB jurisdiction, only the shrinking pool of pre-2018 grandfathered units, which themselves are one ownership change or three violations away from losing that status.

What this means before you buy with rental income in mind

Before assuming a Beltrami County property can be rented short-term, determine which authority actually governs it: if the parcel sits inside the city of Bemidji or Northern Township, confirm with the Greater Bemidji Area Joint Planning Board whether the property is one of the surviving grandfathered rentals (and, if so, its ownership and violation history) rather than assuming a new permit is available -- it generally isn't. For property elsewhere in the county, confirm with Beltrami County Environmental Services which occupancy tier (Type A/B/C) and permit fee tier (1/2/3) the specific property would fall into, and budget for both the county permit fee and the separate Minnesota Department of Health license. Because this is an area of active local regulation -- the JPB's ban has been in place since 2018 and the county's own permit system is newer, dating to 2022 -- reconfirm current status with the applicable office rather than relying on an older description or a booking platform's own listing approval, which does not verify local legality.