But, \u201cdue to unexpected technical challenges and to allow sufficient time for testing and feedback,\u201d the \u201cgo-live\u201d date was pushed to October 1, city officials announced<\/a> this month. Despite the registration delay, enforcement is still set to begin January 1, 2026. <\/p>\n \n Administration and Regulatory Affairs Public Information Officer Billy Rudolph, whose department worked with the City Attorney\u2019s Office to craft the regulations, said it was ambitious to try to get the registration program live in a three-month time frame. <\/p>\n \u201cWe wanted to give folks as much time as possible,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re working with multiple vendors and there\u2019s a little bit of a challenge trying to put together the payment process, so we\u2019re making sure that\u2019s refined. We are engaged with stakeholders to refine some of the application questions to make sure we\u2019re making that process as simple as possible.\u201d <\/p>\n A registration database won\u2019t stop people from having parties, Rudolph acknowledged, but it will provide Code Enforcement and Houston police officers with emergency contact information and create accountability for the owners and operators who don\u2019t want to pay fines or get shut down. <\/p>\n Sebastien Long\u2019s company Lodgeur<\/a> leases more than 100 rental units in Houston. Long has offered feedback from the operator side throughout the process and shown a willingness to cooperate with city regulations, but says there are several problems with the registration form as it stands today. <\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019ve tried to do things in there that were agreed upon and removed from the ordinance,\u201d Long said. \u201cI don\u2019t know if that\u2019s because they\u2019re trying to pull a fast one or if they just don\u2019t know what they\u2019re doing. It’s frustrating.” <\/p>\n Long joined forces with the Houston Apartment Association to submit some potential revisions. An email with some of the suggestions from Lodgeur\u2019s general counsel is attached at the bottom of this story. <\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve tried to collaborate and help them make the form more efficient, but we\u2019re also pushing back very strongly for the form to reflect what the ordinance is actually asking for,\u201d Long said. <\/p>\n
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This apartment on Main Street is hosted by Lodgeur as a short-term rental.<\/p>\n
Photo by Lodgeur
<\/p>\n \n Long has hosted more than 10,000 guests at his apartment properties, including business travelers, professional athletes, and cancer patients and their families, since the company launched in 2019. <\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re not party houses; we\u2019re part of Houston\u2019s hospitality and housing infrastructure,\u201d he said at a council meeting in April. \u201cWe don\u2019t want bad actors giving us a bad name. That\u2019s why we support [the ordinance] in principle.\u201d<\/p>\n The $275-per-unit registration fee is particularly challenging for multifamily rental operators; Long will end up paying close to $40,000 a year, and the fees won\u2019t fund boosted enforcement. They\u2019ll go toward a contract with Houston\u2019s third-party vendor Granicus to maintain the registration database. The company\u2019s \u201cHost Compliance\u201d software costs about $1.6 million, according to city documents. <\/p>\n \u201cIt doesn\u2019t improve public safety; it\u2019s just driven by a contract that they signed with a third party,\u201d Long said of the registration fee. <\/p>\n Short-term rental operators also pay hotel occupancy taxes based on revenues, which are split between the state of Texas, Harris County, and the City of Houston for tourism purposes. <\/p>\n Under the new ordinance, short-term rental operators must pay the annual registration fee, list an emergency contact who must respond to complaints within an hour, and take a free training course on human and sex trafficking. The city can remove all short-term rentals from booking sites for a particular owner or operator if at least three of their registrations have already been revoked in a two-year period. <\/p>\n Violations are punishable by fines of up to $500. Each day any violation continues will be punishable as a separate violation.<\/p>\n Long said he has asked for some leeway on whether the application must be in the name of the owner versus the operator. Rudolph said the owner\u2019s name has to be on the registration to confirm his or her knowledge that the property is being used as a short-term rental. <\/p>\n Rudolph said he\u2019s received significant feedback from owners and operators but has had limited interaction with residents since the ordinance passed. He encouraged residents to follow updates on the website<\/a> and be reminded that enforcement doesn\u2019t begin until January. <\/p>\n \u201cI think we\u2019re going to see enforcement be more effective,\u201d Rudolph said. \u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s an across-the-board solution. We\u2019re probably still going to run into issues that we can\u2019t anticipate right now, and I think revisiting the ordinance to address any issues that come up is a possibility.\u201d <\/p>\n Data presented earlier this year shows that Houston has about 10,500 short-term rentals.\u00a0 <\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/001-3550_main_st-apt_6423-houston.webp\")
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