City of Buchanan

Short-term rentals are not allowed in single-family residential districts. They are permitted only in specific designated areas of the city under Ordinance 2025.09/443 ^[2] — primarily the downtown corridor and certain non-single-family residential zones. A map of the allowable locations is included in the ordinance PDF itself.

The 2025.09/443 ordinance grandfathered the existing short-term rentals that were properly registered and actively listed as of the March 2025 moratorium date, and permitted a limited additional number of new STRs in the non-single-family areas ^[4]. Because allowable locations are defined by reference to the Unified Development Code districts ^[3], investors must confirm parcel-level eligibility with Community Development before relying on any property for STR use.

Click to open the Unified Development Code & Zoning Map page.

Submit a completed rental registration application in person at 302 N. Redbud Trail or by mail to the Community Development Department with the $120 annual STR fee ^[5]. Registration runs on an annual July cycle. Before applying, the city recommends contacting staff to confirm the specific property’s eligibility under the designated-area map ^[5].

Fees published on the city’s Residential Rental Registration Program page ^[5]. Operating without registration in a designated STR area, or operating an STR in a prohibited district, is a code-enforcement violation under Chapter 14, Article IX and the Unified Development Code.

Inspections are conducted under the International Property Maintenance Code (IPMC) and cover basic equipment, light and ventilation, heating, sanitation, and fire safety ^[5]. New registrations are inspected on a biennial cycle; there is no separate inspection fee.

The city publishes its inspection checklist so owners can self-assess before a scheduled visit.

Buchanan’s STR framework was built in three steps across 2025:

• March 2025 — Ordinance 2025.03/441 established a city-wide residential rental registration program (Chapter 14, Article IX of the city code) and imposed a temporary moratorium on new STR registrations while the city studied long-term regulation ^[1].
• October 10, 2025 — Ordinance 2025.09/443 replaced the moratorium with a designated-area STR framework, restricting STRs to specific zones defined on an accompanying map and grandfathering existing registered STRs ^[2][4].
• December 15, 2025 — Unified Development Code (UDC) replaced the 2003 zoning ordinance with a form-based code. The UDC aligns STR use permissions with the 2025.09/443 designated locations ^[3].

For current operators, the practical implications are straightforward: register annually, stay within the designated-area map, and expect the UDC’s form-based standards to govern any physical changes to the property (signage, accessory structures, exterior modifications).