🎯 Strisker: Bulletin - Memphis, TN
The council takes up stricter STR terms alongside its CFO, CAO confirmations and confronts a permitting gap that leaves most rentals unregistered
Memphis Weighs Tougher Short-Term Rental Rules After Rise in Rental-Party Shootings
The council takes up stricter STR terms alongside its CFO, CAO confirmations and confronts a permitting gap that leaves most rentals unregistered
Photo by Joshua J. Cotten on Unsplash
Memphis short-term rental operators are facing the prospect of a tighter regulatory regulations as the Memphis City Council takes up stricter short-term rental terms at its regular session.
The measure appears on the same agenda where the council will confirm Mayor Paul Young's picks for chief financial officer and chief administrative officer, and finalize two city charter referendums for the November 3 ballot.
Memphis Committee Meeting Agenda
July 21, 2026
Sponsored short-term rental ordinance in committee agenda document for July 21, 2026 | Source: https://memphistn.gov/
What Prompted the Push
The renewed attention traces back to a March 2026 council resolution sponsored by Councilman Philip Spinosa Jr. and Council Chairwoman Jana Swearengen-Washington which asked Mayor Young's administration to strengthen enforcement and report back within 90 days with recommendations and any ordinance amendments it deemed necessary.
That resolution followed a run of violence tied to rental-party gatherings including a fatal December 2025 shooting at an East Memphis rental (a January incident in High Point Terrace that wounded four people with one of them fourteen years old) and a deadly Valentine's Day shooting in Sherwood Forest. The current proposal is the administration's answer to that request.
The Enforcement Gap Behind the Debate
City presenters told the council in March that roughly 90% of Memphis short-term rentals operate without the permit the city requires which is a figure that helps explain why enforcement rather than brand-new licensing has driven the conversation.
Complicating matters, many older rentals are grandfathered and shielded by Tennessee's state short-term rental law which generally requires three warnings before a city can take punitive action. To close the gap, the city has been working with the nonprofit SafeWays and an outside technology firm to identify and monitor unpermitted listings.
What the Current Rules Already Require
Under the existing framework which is codified as Chapter 5-44 and effective since July 1, 2023, operators must hold a city permit costing $300 initially and $150 to renew each year, carry at least $1 million in liability coverage, and name a responsible party within 50 miles who can reach the property within two hours.
Listings which is a requirement platforms such as Airbnb and Vrbo support through their regulation tools must display the permit number while operating without a permit currently carries fines of up to $50 per day per unit. Whether the pending measure raises those figures or adds new obligations will become clear once the ordinance text is read into the record.
⦾ Measure: Ordinance amending No. 5856 to add subsection 8-1, covering STRs reported as a "public nuisance"; sponsored by Councilman Philip Spinosa Jr.
⦾ Stage: On July 21, 2026 committee agenda; ordinance number not yet assigned
⦾ What it does: Codifies Tennessee HB 1050 (signed May 21, 2025); routing nuisance complaints to Planning and Development and enabling permit revocation
⦾ Nuisance trigger: Three or more unrelated incidents on one parcel within 24 months (sexual, drug, assaultive, or firearm charges) or 36 months (property or juvenile charges) plus a further qualifying incident after notice
⦾ Statutory damages: $1,000 to $50,000, payable to same-zip-code property owners claiming value loss where the operator was under a prior abatement order
⦾ Unchanged rules: $300 initial/$150 renewal permit, $1M liability, responsible party within 50 miles, permit number on listings
⦾ Night cap: None
⦾ Platform responsibility: Partial (permit number display only)
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