St. Louis Pauses Short-Term Rental Regulations

5/5/2025

Days before the city of St. Louis was set to enforce its new short-term rental regulations, Mayor Cara Spencer announced Tuesday that the new ordinance is on pause after a lawsuit. Before the court halted the new law, STR owners called the licensing process extremely stressful. The ordinance calls for inspections, business licenses and public hearings. The city passed short-term rental regulations in 2023, and the law officially kicked in last fall, but there was a grace period until early May. A class-action lawsuit filed by an STR owner in April claims the city’s law is unconstitutional, citing the Hancock Amendment, which “prohibits a municipality ‘from levying any tax, license, or fees … without the approval of the required majority of the qualified voters of the’ municipality,” stated the lawsuit.

KMOV (MO) (04/29/25) Jon Kipper