The city of South Haven is creating a new mechanism to help the owners of short-term rentals register and operate their properties while waiting for city approval of their licenses.

Speaking to the city council this week, South Haven City Manager Kate Hosier said under the new STR rules, the deadline for licenses is fast approaching, but the city isn’t ready yet.

“We are barreling towards May 1, which requires all short-term rentals to be registered under the new scheme,” Hosier said. “This has caused us to, one, have a bottleneck…We’ve only gotten through about 20% of the short-term rentals that are registered.”

So, they’re creating new conditional licenses. City attorney Dave Eberle explained.

“The proposed solution would allow a short-term rental to be issued a conditional license if, as of March 17, 2025, they were a registered STR within the city, they submit a complete licensing application and zoning compliance determination and licensing fee,” Eberle said. “That would allow staff to essentially administratively issue a conditional license.”

Eberle said there will be a way to terminate a conditional license if the STR falls out of compliance with local rules or fails an inspection. The conditional licenses can last as long as two years while the city gets caught up with its new registration system.

The council this week voted to introduce an ordinance amendment to allow for the change.