Village of Shoreham

Shoreham’s 2023 Zoning Ordinance governs the residential zoning districts within the 0.3-square-mile Village. The Village does not publish a district-by-district STR permissions summary, and the Zoning Ordinance is hosted as a PDF on the Village document center rather than in machine-readable form. ^[3] That means parcel-level STR permission cannot be reliably derived from the website alone.

The practical path for an investor is:

1. Pull the parcel’s zoning district from the Village or from the Berrien County GIS parcel viewer.
2. Read the applicable Article/Section of the 2023 Zoning Ordinance (PDF on the Village site under Government → Ordinances).
3. Email the Village Clerk with the parcel address, stating you intend to operate a short-term rental, and ask for a written zoning opinion before making an offer.

The Shoreham Short-Term Rental Ordinance is indexed as AA-1 in the Village’s Charter & Ordinances index and was adopted in 1995. ^[2] It is listed on the Village Ordinances page and accessed via the Document Center. Because the ordinance predates the modern Airbnb/Vrbo era, investors should read it in combination with:

• The 2023 Zoning Ordinance — which determines whether STR is an allowed use in the specific zoning district of the parcel ^[3].
• The 2005 Rental Inspection Ordinance (HH-1) — which applies to all Village rental units regardless of stay length ^[2].
• The 2018 Schedule of Fees (D-1) — which would list any STR-related application or inspection fees. This document is on the Village site but is not available in summary form ^[4].

Before advertising or booking a Shoreham STR, obtain the Clerk’s written confirmation that your operation complies with all three.

Every rental property in Shoreham — short-term or long-term — is subject to the Village’s 2005 Rental Inspection Ordinance (index HH-1). ^[2] The ordinance establishes the Village’s rental-inspection program; specific inspection cadence, failure re-inspection cost, and the inspection checklist itself are set by the Village and carried in the Schedule of Fees (D-1, 2018) ^[4].

The practical path for any Shoreham rental owner is:

1. Contact the Village Clerk to confirm whether the property is already in the rental registry and to request an inspection date.
2. Bring the inspection into compliance with the 2024 Property Maintenance Code (index B-05), which the Village adopted December 12, 2024 ^[2].
3. Confirm smoke/CO detectors and egress per the Michigan Residential Code.

Shoreham publishes rental- and inspection-related fees in the Schedule of Fees (D-1, 2018). The document is on the Village Ordinances page but is not available in summary or table form on any public HTML page. ^[4] Because fee amounts were last codified in the 2018 schedule and the Village’s document center is the authoritative source, do not rely on third-party estimates.

Penalties for rental-related ordinance violations are handled under the 2024-7 Municipal Civil Infractions Ordinance (index B-07), adopted December 12, 2024. Civil-infraction fines are the Village’s general enforcement mechanism and can apply to rental-registration, inspection-compliance, noise, nuisance, and property-maintenance violations ^[2].

Shoreham updated its Noise and Nuisance ordinances on September 17, 2025 (2025-3 and 2025-4) and its Fireworks Ordinance dates to 2014 (index JJ-1). ^[2] STR hosts and long-term landlords are equally responsible for tenant conduct under these ordinances, and violations are enforced under the Municipal Civil Infractions Ordinance (B-07, 2024).

• Noise Ordinance (2025-3) — governs amplified sound, construction noise, and nuisance-level noise at all hours.
• Nuisance Ordinance (2025-4) — property- and use-based nuisance rules (trash, junk, odor, etc.).
• Fireworks Ordinance (2014, JJ-1) — limits discharge of consumer fireworks to days-before/day-of/days-after certain national holidays, consistent with Michigan’s Fireworks Safety Act.

Best practice for STR hosts: include the current noise/nuisance/fireworks language in your house rules, list the Village Clerk’s number for resident concerns, and retain the current 24/7 contact number on file with the Village so complaints reach you first.

Even within a small village like Shoreham, Michigan state-level and Berrien County-level transient-lodging taxes apply to any short-term rental (stay under 30 days).

• 6% Michigan Use Tax on rentals of 30 days or less — collected and remitted to the Michigan Department of Treasury. Airbnb and Vrbo collect this automatically for platform bookings; direct bookings are the operator’s responsibility.
• 5% Berrien County Accommodations Excise Tax on transient (<30-day) lodging, administered by the Berrien County Treasurer. This is in addition to the state use tax. ^[5]

Register with the Michigan Department of Treasury for a Use Tax license and with the Berrien County Treasurer for the accommodations tax before accepting any direct booking. Platform-only hosts should still confirm their platform is collecting both taxes correctly for the Berrien County jurisdiction.