Rent by the night. Not by the year.
And say so on paper.
A short-term rental agreement fixes check-in and check-out, caps the headcount, sets the fees and your cancellation policy — and states on its face that the stay is a licence to occupy, not a tenancy.
- Licence, not a tenancy
- Permits & taxes flagged
- ESIGN & UETA valid
How it works
From answers to a signed rental agreement — in about two minutes
- 01
Name the host and the guest
Who is letting the property, who is staying, and the address. The lead guest named here is the person you can hold to the agreement.
- 02
Set the stay, the money and the rules
Check-in and check-out with times, the occupancy cap, the total charge, cleaning fee and deposit — then your house rules and cancellation policy in your own words.
- 03
E-sign & download
The guest signs before they arrive — legally valid under ESIGN/UETA — and you keep the signed copy with the booking record.
Last updated August 19, 2026
Written by LawLease EditorialReviewed by LawLease Legal Team
By length of stay
How long is the stay?
A short-term rental agreement is for transient stays — nights and weeks, a guest whose home is somewhere else. Once someone is actually living at the property, the length of the stay starts to matter far more than the title printed on the document.
- RL
Residential lease agreement
Anything long enough to be someone's home. Past about a month, this is usually the honest document.
Learn more - RR
Room rental agreement
You live in the home and rent one room to a longer-term occupant.
Learn more - SA
Sublease agreement
You hold the lease and are handing the place to someone else for a while.
Learn more - RA
Roommate agreement
Co-tenants on one lease, dividing rent and chores between themselves.
Learn more - LA
Lease amendment
Change a lease that is already signed — the rent, the term, a name on it.
Learn more
What is a short-term rental agreement?
A short-term rental agreement is the contract between a host and a guest for a transient stay — a weekend, a week, a fortnight — at a furnished property that is not the guest's home. It fixes the dates and the times, caps how many people may stay, sets the total charge and the cleaning fee, takes a refundable deposit, and puts the house rules and the cancellation policy in writing before anyone arrives.
Its most important clause is the one saying what the stay is not. The agreement grants a licence to occupy, not a lease, and creates no tenancy. That matters on the day a guest will not leave: an occupant with a tenancy has eviction rights and a court timetable behind them, and a licensee does not. Booking-platform terms do not do this job for you — they govern your relationship with the platform, not your relationship with the guest. It is also called:
- Vacation rental agreement
- Holiday rental agreement
- Short-term lease agreement
- Guest agreement
- Transient occupancy agreement
- Nightly rental contract
Stay running a month or more, or the guest treating the place as home? That is likely a tenancy whatever the form is called — use a residential lease agreement and set the terms honestly instead.
Legal considerations
Two things decide how much this document is worth, and neither is entirely in your control. The first is the licence characterisation. Stating that a stay is transient occupancy rather than a tenancy is what gives a host any footing if a guest overstays — but whether it holds turns on local law and on how long the guest has been there. Past roughly thirty days, many jurisdictions treat the occupant as a tenant with full eviction protection no matter what the agreement is titled. Write the short stay you actually mean.
The second is regulation, and it is mostly municipal rather than state-level. Registration schemes, permit numbers, night caps, primary-residence requirements and lodging taxes are set city by city and change often — a number of major cities have restricted short-term letting sharply in recent years. Those obligations fall on the host, not the guest, and signing this agreement does not discharge any of them. Check your city before you list, not after.
A licence
to occupy — the document states the stay creates no tenancy
~30 days
is where many places start treating a guest as a tenant instead
Host's duty
registration, permits and lodging taxes sit with you, not the guest
- Check your city before you list
- Short-term letting is regulated locally: registration numbers, permits, night limits, primary-residence rules and lodging taxes. Requirements differ between neighbouring towns and change often. This agreement puts the obligation on the host, because that is where the law puts it.
- Your HOA, lease or mortgage may forbid it outright
- Before any city rule bites, check the documents you are already bound by. Condo and HOA rules commonly ban short lets, your own lease may prohibit subletting, and some mortgage and insurance terms restrict letting the property commercially.
- A long enough stay becomes a tenancy
- Duration is the clearest driver. Once a guest has been in occupation for something like a month, many jurisdictions grant tenant status and the eviction process that comes with it — regardless of the document's wording. If the stay is that long, use a lease.
- Ordinary home insurance usually will not cover it
- Most homeowner policies exclude commercial or paying-guest use. Hosts generally need a short-term rental endorsement or a dedicated policy. Platform guarantees are not insurance, and they rarely cover everything a host assumes they do.
- Write the cancellation policy yourself
- This is the clause guests dispute most. State the refund at each cut-off, say plainly whether the cleaning fee is returned, and cover what happens if you are the one who has to cancel. Vague policies tend to be read against the person who wrote them.
- Take a deposit and document the condition
- Photograph the property at changeover and keep dated records. A refundable deposit with an itemised deduction list is far easier to defend than a charge raised after the guest has gone with nothing to point at.
How to write a short-term rental agreement
Six steps take an empty listing to a signed agreement. The first one decides whether you may let the property at all — do it before you take a booking, not after you have taken the money.
City rules, building rules and your own contracts, in that order. Any one of them can stop the plan.
- City registration, permit or licence number, where one is required
- HOA, condo or lease restrictions on short-term letting
- Insurance and mortgage terms that cover paying guests
Free sample short-term rental agreement
Here's the format before you start. Read it through, then build your own version through the guided form and download it as a PDF.
Short-Term Rental Agreement
1. PARTIES AND PROPERTY. This Short-Term Rental Agreement (the “Agreement”) is entered into between (“Host”) and (“Guest”) for a short stay at (the “Property”).
2. NATURE OF THE STAY. The Property is provided for temporary, transient vacation occupancy only. This Agreement is a licence to occupy, not a lease; it creates no tenancy, and the Property is not Guest’s residence. Guest shall vacate at the end of the stay, and any holdover is without Host’s consent.
3. STAY. Check-in is from ; check-out is by . Occupancy is limited to persons; exceeding it is a material breach.
4. PAYMENT. The total rental charge for the stay is , plus a cleaning fee of , payable in advance. Any applicable lodging or occupancy taxes are additional where Host is required to collect them.
5. SECURITY DEPOSIT. Guest has paid a refundable security deposit of , returned within a reasonable time after check-out less deductions for damage beyond normal wear, missing items, extraordinary cleaning, or unpaid charges, with an itemised list of any deductions.
Letting your place?
Real humans read every message — whether it's about pricing, local permit rules, or what to do when a guest won't leave.