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Category: Legal & Regulations
By: Prayas Choudhary
Reply by Prayas Choudhary:
Yes, dealing with the same thing. A few notes from my research: **Insurance:** Regular homeowner's insurance does NOT cover STR activity. You need a specific policy. I use **Proper Insurance** — they specialize in STR coverage and my $1M liability policy is about $1,200/year. Worth every penny for the peace of mind. **Quarterly tax filing:** It's annoying but manageable. Airbnb still collects the 4.5% Airbnb tax automatically. The quarterly filing is for the city Hotel Accommodation Tax (4.6%). Your Airbnb earnings dashboard has the data you need — just download it quarterly. **Registration:** Just renewed mine online. It took 15 minutes and cost $125. The 2-listing cap is the real kicker for people who were scaling. Some hosts I know are forming LLCs to work around it but I'd talk to a lawyer before going that route.
Reply by Prayas Choudhary:
I'd strongly recommend joining the **Chicago Short-Term Rental Alliance** group on Facebook. There's a lot of shared resources there and the group has a lawyer who does periodic Q&A sessions about compliance. Also, keep records of EVERYTHING. The city is doing random spot-checks and the fines for non-compliance are $5,000 per violation. Not worth the risk.