By Jasmine Ruth Albatana in Legislation — 13 Jul 2026

🎯 Strisker: Bulletin - Washington, DC

Bowser's Illegal Occupancy Enforcement Amendment Act would make guests who refuse to check out trespassers and let police remove them

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DC Bill Would Strip Overstaying Guests of Any Right to Remain in Short-Term Rentals

Photo by Jorge Alcala on Unsplash

Short-term rental operators in Washington, DC would be able to call police on guests who refuse to check out under legislation Mayor Muriel Bowser transmitted to the Council of the District of Columbia on Friday, July 10.

The Illegal Occupancy Enforcement Amendment Act of 2026 which is introduced by Chairman Phil Mendelson at the mayor's request states that a transient guest of a short-term rental has no right to remain once the booking ends and it treats anyone who stays on as being without lawful authority to be there.

The bill leaves DC short-term rental licensing, night caps, and platform obligations entirely untouched, which makes it one of the narrowest STR measures the District has produced.

**Illegal Occupancy Enforcement Amendment Act of 2026:** Official legislation outlining proposed updates to D.C.'s short-term rental laws, including provisions allowing police to remove guests who remain after their booking has ended. | Source: https://mayor.dc.gov/

How the DC short-term rental law would change

The mechanics run through two existing statutes:

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Section 107 of the Short-Term Rental Regulation Act of 2018 already provides that a transient guest is not a tenant under the Rental Housing Act of 1985 and the new bill extends that language explicitly to vacation rentals while adding a subsection requiring guests to exit the premises at the conclusion of the rental unless the host grants permission to stay.

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The second amendment reaches DC's unlawful entry statute wherein a paragraph is added that deems a person who remains in a hotel, motel, or similar transient lodging past the term of a reservation or who fails to make a contractually required payment and to be without lawful authority to remain. Unlawful entry on private property is a misdemeanor carrying up to 180 days in jail and a fine as emphasized by the mayor's office who said the change gives the Metropolitan Police Department the tools to remove overstaying guests.

Legislation Fact Sheet for the bills introduced recently by Mayor Bowser | Source: https://mayor.dc.gov/

Who the bill affects

DC hosts could already point to the 2018 law to argue their guest was never a tenant but officers responding to a refusal-to-leave call had no clean statutory hook, and the practical result was a standoff.

Roughly 5,000 short-term and vacation rentals operate in the District under a Department of Licensing and Consumer Protection framework that requires a primary residence, a basic business license endorsement, a 30-night ceiling on any single stay, and a 90-night annual cap on unhosted vacation rentals. A duty this bill does not alter is the display of a valid license number of listings on Airbnb, Vrbo, and Booking.com.

Timeline

Operators gain nothing immediately from the measure which has to move through Council passage, mayoral approval, a 60-day period of congressional review, and publication in the DC Register before it carries any weight. It arrives alongside Bowser's Short-Term Rental Regulation Amendment Act of 2026 that has been introduced in March to let renters host and to consolidate the license categories so DC Airbnb hosts now have two open bills to follow rather than one.

“This legislation is about creating a fairer, more predictable housing system that protects tenants, while giving housing providers the confidence to continue investing in our neighborhoods.”
- Mayor Bowser

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Compliance Snapshot

⦾ Status: Introduced July 10, 2026; no Council bill number assigned at publication
⦾ Effective date: Council passage, mayoral approval, 60-day congressional review, DC Register publication
⦾ Registration required: Yes, unchanged (DLCP short-term or vacation rental endorsement)
⦾ Night cap: Unchanged (90 nights/year unhosted; 30 continuous nights per stay)
⦾ Penalty exposure: Falls on the guest. Unlawful entry on private property is a misdemeanor, up to 180 days imprisonment plus fine
⦾ Platform responsibility: None added; licence-display duties unchanged
⦾ Enforcement mechanism: MPD removal of guests deemed without lawful authority to remain

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Watch for: A Council hearing date and whether the overstay provisions get folded into the pending Short-Term Rental Regulation Amendment Act rather than moving separately.

Check @pashleytv's reel **here** on recent D.C. squatter case to explain Illegal Occupancy Enforcement Act and how the proposal would allow police to remove individuals who remain in short-term rentals after their booking has ended.

The proposed "Illegal Occupancy Enforcement Act" would amend the District's short-term rental law to clarify that guests have no lawful right to remain after their reservation ends.https://t.co/V5Kig5C4CH
— 7News DC (@7NewsDC) July 11, 2026

1) Comp Plan amendments shouldn't take several years to draft and pass. Unfortunately, the current Comp Plan process is taking entirely too much time.

2) OP can't take years to study potential zoning changes. They should move expeditiously to upzone areas the Comp Plan allows.
— DC YIMBYs 🏗 (@dcyimbys) July 8, 2026

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