Short answer: Clayton and the Central West End sit a mile apart but follow different rules. The Central West End is in the City of St. Louis, where the permit law is on hold by court order but a 3% short-term rental license fee and the 7.25% hotel tax apply. Clayton allows short-term rentals only in a few older downtown buildings, with two city permits. YourSTRManagement manages short-term and furnished monthly rentals in both areas.
Two governments, one trip across Forest Park
The Central West End is a neighborhood in the City of St. Louis. Clayton is its own city in St. Louis County and has been the county seat since 1877, per the city's history page. A condo on Euclid and a condo on Forsyth answer to different codes, different tax offices and different permit desks. Start by checking which side of the city line your property is on.
Central West End: the City of St. Louis rules
The city passed Ordinance 71729 in November 2023. It created two permits: an occupied permit for your primary residence and a non-occupied permit for everything else. The city's permit page lists the main terms:
- One owner can hold non-occupied permits for no more than four units in the city.
- Multi-unit buildings have caps. A building with 5 to 23 units can have up to 25% non-occupied rentals, and one with 24 or more can have up to 12.5%.
- No permit for a listing with a minimum stay under two nights.
- Smoke detectors inside and outside every bedroom, carbon monoxide alarms outside bedrooms, and a charged fire extinguisher on each habitable floor.
- A $500 fine per adjudicated violation, and three violation notices in 24 months can cost you the permit.
Then came the lawsuit. The city's court order page says an April 22, 2025 order stopped enforcement. The city paused applications, inspections, permit issuance and permit fees. The application portal still says applications are paused. We set CWE homes up to the written standard anyway, so they're ready to apply when the order lifts.
St. Louis taxes and the 3% fee
The License Collector's hotel tax page says the city's 7.25% room tax (3.5% plus 3.75%) applies to "transient home rentals" booked through sites like Airbnb. Returns are due 20 days after each calendar quarter. Late payers owe 2% interest and a 1% penalty per month.
In February 2026 the mayor approved Ordinance 72095. It requires every short-term rental operator to hold a short-term rental business license and pay a fee of 3% of rent, quarterly. That fee carries out Proposition S, which voters passed in 2024. The court order page still lists the Prop S fee as paused, so confirm current collection with the License Collector at (314) 622-4528 before you file.
Clayton: downtown only, older buildings only
Clayton banned short-term rentals for years. In August 2025 it adopted Ordinance 6941, now Section 405.370 of the city code. The rules are tight:
- Only in the Central Business District. No short-term rentals in residential zoning districts.
- The building must predate 1955, have under 20,000 square feet, have at least two stories, and have four or fewer total dwelling units. The rental unit has to be on an upper floor.
- No rental property within 500 feet of another one.
- You need a conditional use permit approved by the Board of Aldermen and a short-term occupancy permit for each unit. The occupancy permit lasts one year and ends when the property sells, though a third-party operator can manage it.
- Minimum 48-hour stays, a maximum of eight guests, renters 21 or older, and no events.
- A Clayton business license, $1M in liability insurance, one off-street parking space per unit unless waived, and a local contact who can respond within an hour.
- Fines run $200, $500 and $800 for first, second and later violations, and each day counts separately.
Most Clayton homes and condos won't qualify. If you own an upper-floor unit in an older downtown building, we'll check the 500-foot rule and walk the permit path with you. For a house in a residential zone, ask the city's planning department how its rules treat furnished stays of 30 days or more before you list.
Who books here
The Washington University Medical Campus sits on Forest Park's east edge where the Central West End meets the Grove. Per WashU Medicine, it covers 186 acres and includes Barnes-Jewish Hospital, St. Louis Children's Hospital and Siteman Cancer Center. WashU's Danforth Campus is across the park. Clayton draws county court and government business.
That mix means traveling nurses, residents on rotation, patients' families and visiting faculty. Many stay a month or longer. In St. Louis, a guest who stays more than 31 days in a calendar quarter is exempt from the hotel tax, per the License Collector. Furnished monthly stays can be the better fit for CWE condos while nightly permits are on hold.
How we help
We confirm which rules apply to your address, get the unit to the safety and permit standard, and track the court case and the 3% fee. Then we run the listing, pricing, guest screening, messages, cleaning and repairs, and send you a monthly statement. Our standard fee is 15% of booking revenue.
We've hosted 8,000+ stays over 5 years with a 4.8 star average rating, and we carry $1M in liability and $100K in damage coverage. See our St. Louis page and services, or contact us or call (689) 407-2095. We reply within one day.