Short-Term Rentals in Hocking County, Ohio: A Countywide Ordinance Nears Adoption

Why this ordinance exists: safety complaints, not a revenue push

Hocking County's push toward a countywide short-term-rental ordinance grew out of specific, documented safety concerns rather than a general desire to cap growth or raise revenue. County officials and residents raised reports of cabins being rented without smoke detectors, carbon monoxide detectors, or fire extinguishers, and county EMS and local fire departments told the county that some cabin rentals -- often down long, unmarked, or unpaved private drives typical of Hocking Hills' terrain -- weren't reliably accessible in an emergency. The county's Zoning Commission responded by drafting a comprehensive, nine-page Short-Term Rental Ordinance addressing those specific gaps, working through revisions over roughly two years and reaching at least a sixth working draft.

That safety-first framing sets Hocking County's approach apart from short-term-rental regulation built primarily around permit caps or lodging-tax enforcement software elsewhere in Ohio: the core of Hocking's draft ordinance is about verifying a rental cabin is physically safe and reachable, not about limiting how many permits exist countywide.

What the draft ordinance requires

As drafted in the Jan. 29, 2026 version the Zoning Commission recommended to the Board of County Commissioners on Feb. 12, 2026, the ordinance would require an annual permit (with a $50 fee), a mandatory site inspection before a permit is issued, $1,000,000 in liability insurance coverage, a Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) background check for the operator, a compliance check from the County Health Department, and specific standards covering driveway access, parking, landscaping, and general safety features -- consistent with the emergency-access and fire-safety complaints that drove the ordinance in the first place. The draft also includes a one-year compliance grace period after any effective date, giving existing rental operators time to come into compliance rather than facing immediate enforcement.

At the Feb. 12, 2026 meeting, the Zoning Commission also asked the county prosecutor to add a clearer statement of the ordinance's legal authority and to review its enforcement provisions -- a sign the commission wanted the ordinance on solid legal footing given some pushback from short-term-rental owners concerned about how the new rules could affect their businesses, even as first responders and the Ohio Realtors reportedly supported the proposal.

What to check before buying for short-term rental use here

As of this review, the Board of County Commissioners had not yet confirmed final adoption of the ordinance -- the draft had been forwarded for legal review, and the final adopted version (if and when it's approved) could differ from the January 2026 draft summarized here. Before buying a Hocking County property specifically for short-term-rental income, confirm directly with the county Zoning Commission or Commissioners Office whether the ordinance has been adopted, in what form, and what its current permit fee, insurance, and inspection requirements are. If the parcel sits inside the City of Logan rather than unincorporated county or township land, check Logan's own separate short-term-rental ordinance (adopted in late 2024, with its own fee structure and occupancy-certificate requirement) instead, since city and county rules here are genuinely separate systems. Either way, factor in Hocking Hills' combined lodging tax -- reported around 13.25% -- as a cost layered on top of whatever permit fee applies.