Short-Term Rentals in Ramsey County, MN: St. Paul Rules

Ramsey County has no zoning or licensing authority of its own -- every short-term rental rule in the county comes from the specific city. St. Paul, the county's largest city and rental market, runs the most developed program: separate host and platform licenses, an insurance requirement, and a cap on rental units per building. Every other city in the county, including White Bear Township, sets its own separate rules that don't carry over from St. Paul's.

This page covers what's specific to Ramsey County. For the general explanation, see the national guide.

St. Paul: separate host and platform licenses, since 2017

St. Paul has allowed short-term rentals citywide since December 2, 2017, and the city issues two distinct kinds of license rather than one blanket approval: a Short-Term Rental Host License for the individual renting out a unit, and a separate Short-Term Rental Platform License required of the booking companies themselves -- Airbnb, Vrbo, HomeAway, and similar services -- that facilitate the rental. A host applies for and holds the host license; the platform's own license is a separate obligation the booking company carries, not something an individual host needs to worry about directly, but it does mean a platform operating in St. Paul without its own license is itself out of compliance.

The host license carries a $45 fee and requires the operator to carry liability insurance of at least $300,000 covering the short-term rental use -- a standard homeowner's policy often excludes this kind of use, so confirming coverage with an insurer before listing a property is a genuine, checkable step. Operating a short-term rental in St. Paul without the required license is a petty misdemeanor under city ordinance, not merely a civil fine, which is worth knowing before assuming a soft or informal rental arrangement carries no real legal exposure.

A cap on units per building, and a real enforcement gap worth knowing about

St. Paul caps the number of short-term rental dwelling units allowed within a single building, typically at four units, with a conditional-use process available for a property that wants to exceed that number. For a buyer considering a multi-unit building specifically for short-term rental income, this cap is a real constraint on the business model at scale, not just a per-unit licensing formality -- confirm the current cap and any conditional-use path directly with the city's licensing office before assuming a larger building can be fully converted to short-term rental use.

It's also worth being realistic about enforcement: local reporting has specifically noted that St. Paul's regulation of short-term rentals has fallen short of the city's own stated expectations, suggesting a meaningful number of properties may operate without full compliance in practice even under an on-paper licensing regime. That cuts two ways for a buyer -- it means an existing, unlicensed short-term rental you're considering purchasing may be generating revenue today without the paperwork to back it up, and it means relying on 'this is how the current owner has always run it' is a materially different thing from confirming the property's actual license status and compliance history with the city directly.

None of this is countywide -- every other Ramsey County city sets its own rules

Consistent with the hub's finding that Ramsey County government exercises essentially no zoning authority of its own, there is no county short-term rental ordinance -- St. Paul's rules described above apply only inside St. Paul. Other cities in the county have adopted their own, separate approaches: Roseville, for example, has passed short-term rental rules reported to be more restrictive on location and rental counts, including, in some cases, minimum-stay requirements as long as 30 days that would functionally prevent a true short-term rental operation. White Bear Township, the county's one remaining self-zoning unincorporated government (covered on the hub), would set its own rules independently as well, separate from both St. Paul and any other city. For a property anywhere in Ramsey County outside St. Paul, confirm the current short-term rental ordinance directly with that specific city or with White Bear Township -- St. Paul's rules, or their absence, do not carry over.

Separately, both St. Paul and Ramsey County levy local lodging taxes on short-term rental income, which must be collected from guests and remitted -- a tax obligation distinct from the licensing requirements above, and one that applies regardless of which city's specific STR ordinance governs a given property.

Short-Term Rentals in Ramsey County, Minnesota

St. Paul: separate host and platform licenses, since 2017

A cap on units per building, and a real enforcement gap worth knowing about

None of this is countywide -- every other Ramsey County city sets its own rules

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