Bay St. Louis, MS Airbnb & Short-Term Rental Regulations 2026

Regulation Overview

A historic beach town on the Mississippi Sound favored by second-home and vacation-rental buyers for its walkable downtown and antebellum architecture; the city only began regulating short-term rentals in 2024, and explicitly declined to cap the number of permits.

The city requires registration and periodic inspection with an annual fee but has explicitly stated there is no cap on the number of STR permits, and no owner-occupancy or zoning-ban rule was found.

Mississippi State Law

State preemption: No state preemption is currently in effect. Multiple 2025 bills that would have barred local STR bans and/or created a statewide zoning/building-code framework for STRs (SB 104, HB 109, SB 1162) did not pass — SB 1162 was defeated on the Senate floor — so Mississippi cities and counties retain full local control over STR bans, caps and zoning as of this research date.

Statewide rules: Mississippi has no statewide STR license. Senate Bill 2805 (2025 Regular Session, in force since July 1, 2025) expanded the statutory definition of "hotel" to include third-party booking/facilitation platforms (e.g., Airbnb, VRBO), requiring those platforms to collect and remit local hotel/tourism taxes the same way traditional hotels do.

Taxes: Mississippi's 7% statewide sales tax applies to the gross proceeds of short-term rentals (including cleaning fees). Cities and counties may additionally levy a local tourism/lodging tax, typically in the 1%-3% range, on top of the state rate.

2025–2026 legislation: SB 2805 (2025), reclassifying booking platforms as "hotels" for local tax-collection purposes, is already in force. Broader statewide preemption/regulatory-framework bills (SB 104, HB 109) were still being discussed in year-end 2025 legislative tracking but had not passed as of this research date.

Bay St. Louis Rules

Governing jurisdiction: City of Bay St. Louis (Planning & Zoning).

• Bay St. Louis adopted its first short-term-rental ordinance, No. 669-08-2024, in August 2024, after operating for years with no local STR-specific rules.
• Registration carries a $100 annual fee and requires the property to pass periodic inspection.
• The city has explicitly said there is no cap or quota on the number of STR permits it will issue — unusual among Gulf Coast markets that have moved to regulate.
• The application window opened in mid-September 2024, registration acceptance began October 1, 2024, and active enforcement began January 1, 2025.
• The ordinance was framed by the city as balancing guest/neighbor protection with a fair, unrestricted market for rental owners and operators.

Not confirmed

We could not verify the following against a primary source. Confirm each with the jurisdiction before you rely on it:

• Whether any zoning districts are excluded from STR eligibility.
• Occupancy limits and minimum-stay requirements.
• Specific penalties for noncompliance.
• The exact local tourism/lodging tax rate.

Buyer Due Diligence Checklist

Before you write an offer on a short-term rental here:

• Get a written determination from the governing jurisdiction for the specific parcel. Verbal guidance from anyone else is not diligence.
• Establish which jurisdiction governs — city, town, village and unincorporated county can differ sharply within a few miles.
• Ask whether an existing permit transfers on sale. In many markets it does not, and a listing marketed as a running short-term rental may convey nothing of the sort.
• Read the HOA or condo covenants during your inspection period. Private covenants bind even where the jurisdiction permits the use.
• Model revenue against the legal occupancy cap, not the bedroom count.

Frequently Asked Questions