Cleveland's 10% cap counts your whole condominium as one denominator
Cleveland's 10% cap counts your whole condominium as one denominator
2026-09-15 · Ohio · Regulation
Buried in Cleveland's new short-term rental chapter is a provision that turns a condominium building into a single regulatory unit and its owners into competitors for a fixed number of licences. Section 686B.07(a) of the Cleveland Codified Ordinances, enacted by Ordinance No. 561-2026 on June 1, 2026, reads:1
“Density Limitation. In any residential district, short-term rentals are limited to at least one or no more than 15% 10% of the total residential units on the block or in a multi-unit building, whichever is greater.”
The desk copy attached to the council file is a redline; 15 percent is struck through and 10 percent inserted. The operative figure is 10 percent.
How the arithmetic lands
For a detached house the denominator is the block. For a condominium or apartment building it is the building. In a 30-unit Cleveland condominium, three units may hold a short-term rental licence. In a 12-unit building, the “at least one” floor means one unit qualifies even though 10 percent of twelve is 1.2. In a 100-unit building the number is ten.
There is no allocation mechanism in the ordinance. The chapter does not say the licences go to the first applicants, to a lottery, or to anyone the association designates. It says only that the number may not be exceeded.
The variance test names the neighbours
An owner who cannot fit inside the cap may seek a variance from the Board of Zoning Appeals. Among the factors the ordinance directs the BZA to weigh, at § 686B.07(b)(8), is whether
“in a multi-unit building, whether a majority of the residents and/or tenants support the variance.”
That single clause makes the membership of a condominium association a relevant constituency in a neighbour's licence application — a role no Ohio condominium statute contemplates and most declarations never addressed.
The density provisions take effect 180 days after passage, on or about November 28, 2026.
The quota is a municipal ceiling, not a permission. Our Ohio short-term rentals page covers what a declaration can independently forbid.
Three problems this creates for a board
First, scarcity without a rule. Ohio's Condominium Property Act gives a board authority to adopt rules governing the use of units and common elements, and R.C. 5312.06 requires that a planned-community association's rules be reasonable. Neither statute tells a board how to ration a municipal licence quota it did not create. A board that stays silent will get first-come-first-served by default, decided at the counter of the Department of Building and Housing. A board that acts will be allocating something valuable among its own members, which is exactly the kind of decision that attracts a challenge. Our Ohio fining authority page covers the procedural discipline that makes an association rule defensible.
Second, the variance clause drags the association into a member-versus-member dispute. If the BZA is weighing whether “a majority of the residents and/or tenants support the variance,” someone will be asked to produce that majority. Expect requests for the association's membership roll, for a board letter of support or opposition, and for minutes of any meeting where it was discussed. A board that takes a position is taking sides between owners; a board that refuses to take one may find its silence characterised either way. Decide the posture before the first request, and decide it as policy rather than case by case.
Third, the cap does not limit what your declaration already limits. A 30-unit building whose declaration bans rentals of less than one year has a quota of three and a permitted number of zero. The city's licence does not override the covenant, and the covenant does not stop the city issuing the licence. Both are true at once, and the owner holding the licence will not believe it.
What to settle this autumn
Count your own denominator. “Total residential units” in a mixed-use building is not the same as total units. If ground-floor commercial space is excluded, the quota is smaller than owners assume. Get the number right before anyone relies on it.
Put the association's position in writing. Whether the board supports, opposes or abstains on variance applications, a standing written policy applied uniformly is defensible; an ad hoc letter signed by one officer is not.
Check whether your documents distinguish short-term rental from leasing at all. Many Ohio declarations regulate “leasing” with a minimum term and say nothing about transient occupancy as a separate category. Under Cleveland's scheme those are now two different regulatory states for the same unit, with different city registrations attached. An association whose documents collapse them will struggle to explain which rule an owner broke.
Watch the grandfathered units. Section 686B.07(d) exempts qualifying pre-existing limited-lodging operations from the cap. Those units come off the top. In a building with two grandfathered operators and a quota of three, exactly one licence remains for everyone else.
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