Which Chicago buildings allow short-term rentals?

Question

Hi, my spouse and I have looked at a variety of buildings for owner-occupant homes.  Thing is, we travel a lot (long periods of time!)  and one of the questions we always ask is whether a building allows rentals, specifically shorter than 1 year lease rental and/or shorter than 6 month rental.    Areas we are seeking:   Gold Coast, Loop, Old Town, Lincoln Park, would consider Wicker Park, Bucktown, Lakeview.

To be clear, we are not interested in Airbnb.  We just want to know that if we leave town for 3 months, we can sublet the unit to travelling nurses, or corporate travelers, etc.  For short-term rentals, shorter than 6 months, there are so few buildings out there allowing this.  Whereas, finding a building that allows a 6 month rental is not that difficult.   My question is:   do any of you out the in the BP universe know of any buildings in the areas above that allow lease terms shorter than 6 months?

Melissa Rios · Answer

@Jonathan Klemm -  yes I am definitely interested in multi-unit properties.  I am not sure I can get my spouse on board with that yet.

Regarding your other question, yes we're looking at condo buildings.  For example 1211 N LaSalle allows shorter lease terms, but it's an old building in which units sometimes need work, and I'm not sure it's the right investment for us at the moment.    In searching for newer buildings with similar HOA policies allowing shorter-term leases, we just can't find much.   @Henry Lazerow do you know any high rise or midrise buildings downtown, Gold Coast or surrounding areas that allow 3 month leases? (proper lease, not Airbnb). Or perhaps your colleagues at Fulton who focus on rentals might know?

The purpose of the investment is to have something that can be used as an owner-occupant home now, but long-term investment rental property well into the future.   We want to be able to leave town for 3-6 months, lease it out, and come back to the unit if/when returning to Chicago.

Jonathan Klemm · Answer

@Melissa Rios - I personally don't have the building knowledge to know which buildings allow shorter-term rentals.  I am sure it would be in each building's HOA by-laws but I am not aware of any source that aggregates that data.

Assuming you are referring to condo buildings, have you considered trying to find a 2-4 unit building in those areas, then if you are an owner occupant the CLTO (Chicago landlord-tenant ordinance) wouldn't apply and you could rent out as you please.

Jonathan Klemm · Answer

@Melissa Rios - Love the idea of going on 3-6 month vacations and renting on your unit while you're gone....you can travel-arbitrage!

Sounds like you are on the exact right path.  Keep searching Chicago on the MLS for buildings that allow AirBnB and then act fast when the right one comes up.

Henry Lazerow · Answer

There are condo buildings that allow airbnb but its going to be smaller low rise buildings (no elevator, doorman, etc.) and you will have to email or have your realtor email a lot to find them. It will not be the newer condo buildings unless they just do not have the rule YET and you can bet once more owners move in they will have rent rules of some sort put in place. I find the condos that work for rentals from cashflow perspective tend to be the low rise smaller buildings but with nicely updated units.

The other option of course is buy a multi unit. Then you can do whatever you want with your personal unit. I travel a lot and put my personal unit on airbnb. It works out great. Because I own the whole building I also have areas to store all my personal belongings while it's active on airbnb.

Which Chicago buildings allow short-term rentals?

Most Popular Reply