How to rent my house monthly

Renting your house by the month is its own kind of rental. It is longer than a weekend stay and shorter than a yearly lease, and the rules that apply depend on three things: where the house is, how you advertise it, and how much you do for the person living there. This page puts the public rules a homeowner usually needs in one place, with a link to each source.

General information, not legal or tax advice. The sources were checked on 29 September 2026, and rules change.

1. Find the line where your house is

Some local rules separate short stays from longer ones at around 30 days. They do not all draw the line in the same place, and there is no single national rule. Two examples show how much the wording matters.

Los Angeles

The City of Los Angeles Home-Sharing Administrative Guidelines (second edition, revised and effective 28 September 2026) define a short-term rental as a rental unit rented, in whole or in part, “for transient use of 30 consecutive days or less.” Only short-term rentals are subject to the Home-Sharing Ordinance and must have a valid Home-Sharing Registration.

Read that closely. In Los Angeles the cut-off is more than 30 consecutive days, so a rental of exactly 30 consecutive days is still a short-term rental. Longer stays are not outside the document altogether, either: its definition of a listing separately mentions rental units available for stays of more than 30 consecutive nights.

Florida

Florida Statutes §509.013 (2025) sets out the state’s lodging definitions. A transient public lodging establishment is one rented to guests more than three times in a calendar year for periods of less than 30 consecutive days, or advertised or held out to the public as regularly rented for periods of less than 30 consecutive days. A nontransient public lodging establishment is rented, or advertised as regularly rented, for periods of at least 30 consecutive days.

The statute then excludes some homes from both definitions. One exclusion covers an owned one- to four-family dwelling house or dwelling unit that is rented for periods of at least 30 days or 1 calendar month, whichever is less, and is not advertised or held out as regularly rented for periods of less than 1 calendar month, provided no more than four rental units within a single complex of buildings are available for rent.

Notice that advertising counts as well as length. A house rented by the month but advertised as regularly rented for shorter stays does not meet that exclusion.

Everywhere else

Those are two examples, not a rule for your city. Before you list, look up your city or county’s rules on rentals and short-term rentals, and find out where its line falls and how it counts the days. If your home is in a condominium or has a homeowners association, read those rules too. Then set your minimum stay, and the way you describe the rental, to match.

2. Know how the rent is taxed

For federal income tax, the main reference is IRS Publication 527 (2025), Residential Rental Property. The points that matter most for a monthly rental:

• Rent is income. In most cases you must include in your gross income all amounts you receive as rent.
• The 15-day exception won’t apply. If you use the property as your home and rent it less than 15 days during the tax year, you don’t include that rent in your income. A month-long rental is past that exception. If you use the place as a home and rent it 15 days or more, you include all your rental income and divide your expenses between rental use and personal use.
• A deposit is income only if you keep it. A security deposit you plan to return at the end of the lease isn’t income when you receive it. If you keep part or all of it because the tenant doesn’t live up to the terms of the lease, include the amount you keep in your income for that year. A “security deposit” that is to be used as the final payment of rent is advance rent.
• Advance rent counts when you receive it. Rent paid before the period it covers is included in the year you receive it, whatever period it covers and whichever accounting method you use.
• What you provide changes the form. If you provide basic services such as heat, light, and trash collection, you normally report rental income and expenses on Schedule E. If you provide substantial services primarily for your tenant’s convenience, such as regular cleaning, changing linen, or maid service, you report on Schedule C, and you may have to pay self-employment tax on that rental income. So the same house can be reported differently depending on whether the month includes weekly cleaning.
• The house depreciates; the land doesn’t. Residential rental property is depreciated under MACRS GDS using the straight line method over 27.5 years. You can’t depreciate land. If you turn your own home into a rental, its basis for depreciation is the lesser of its fair market value or its adjusted basis on the date you convert it.

That is federal income tax only. State and local taxes are separate questions, answered where your house is. A tax professional can tell you how these rules apply to your year.

3. Tell your insurer before the first guest arrives

In a 12 March 2026 press release, the Insurance Information Institute (Triple-I) said that standard homeowners insurance typically does not cover commercial activities, including renting out a property on a short-term basis, and that failing to notify insurers can result in denied claims, reduced liability coverage, higher deductibles, or even policy cancellation. For two- and multi-unit buildings with a shared master policy, it adds that one owner’s rental activity can increase premiums or alter policy terms for all residents.

That release is about short-term rentals. It does not say how a policy treats a month-long stay, and policies differ. The sensible step is the one Triple-I recommends anyway: tell your insurance professional what you plan to do, including how long each stay will be, whether the house is furnished, and whether you will live there between guests. Then ask what your policy covers and whether you need additional coverage.

4. Set it up as a month, not a weekend

• Choose the minimum stay from your local rule, not from habit. Count the days the way your rule counts them. A booking platform’s idea of a month may not match your city’s: Airbnb’s help page on monthly stays describes stays of 28 nights and longer, while in Los Angeles anything up to 30 consecutive days is a short-term rental.
• Write the agreement down. Put the dates, the rent and when it is due, the deposit and what it can be kept for, who pays which utilities, and the house rules in writing. Whether you keep any of a deposit turns on those terms, so they are worth being specific about.
• Decide what you will do during the stay. Regular cleaning and fresh linen are a pleasant offer. Under Publication 527 they can also move your reporting from Schedule E to Schedule C, so decide with that in mind.
• Record the condition of the house. Photos at move-in and move-out, with dates, are what you will point to if a deposit is ever in question.

Sources

• Internal Revenue Service, Publication 527 (2025), Residential Rental Property: irs.gov/publications/p527
• City of Los Angeles, Department of City Planning, Home-Sharing Administrative Guidelines, second edition, revised and effective 28 September 2026: planning.lacity.gov (PDF)
• The Florida Senate, 2025 Florida Statutes, §509.013 Definitions: flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2025/509.013
• Insurance Information Institute, “Short-Term Rentals Pose Insurance Risks for Homeowners and Multi-Unit Dwellings,” 12 March 2026: iii.org
• Airbnb Help Center, Host monthly stays: airbnb.com/help/article/2729

Checked 29 September 2026.