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New Orleans short-term rental license: the one-per-square rule, the lottery and what “operator present” means

Sergej Sitki · founder of ReceptionGO and host
Published November 1, 2026 · 5 min read

General information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change often and vary by state, county and city — confirm your situation with the local agency or a CPA.

A non-commercial short-term rental in New Orleans is allowed only if your city square does not already have one (or a bed and breakfast). When more than one eligible person applies, the city draws a lottery. The operator has to be present for the bookings. You cannot hold the license and live elsewhere. Commercial short-term rentals are a separate, much tighter permit.

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New Orleans did not cap short-term rentals with a night limit. It capped them with the map. One non-commercial license or one bed and breakfast per city square, and a lottery when two neighbors both want it. The license that comes out of that drawing is a hosted one: the operator is present when guests are. Whole-home investor rentals are the commercial category, and they are not what the quarterly lottery is handing out.

NSTR, in one page

A short-term rental here is lodging for less than 30 consecutive days, to one party. Hotels, motels and licensed bed and breakfasts are something else. For a non-commercial license the city’s April 2026 checklist is the real application, and it is long on purpose:

• The square has no existing NSTR and no bed and breakfast.
• Zoning is on the allowed list (a long set of historic and mixed districts — check the checklist, do not guess from the neighborhood name).
• The owner is a person, a trust or an LLC in good standing, everyone is over 18, and no owner already holds another STR permit. You cannot sit on a commercial license and apply for a non-commercial one in the same name.
• One dwelling, no more than three guest bedrooms, and at least one bedroom for the owner or operator, shown on a floor plan.
• An operator license already issued or applied for, a signed promise to be present, a nuisance plan, a complaint-response plan, the training course, and a passport-style photo for the operator card.
• Evacuation plan, smoke and carbon-monoxide detectors, extinguishers, a parking site plan, a sanitation plan with enough carts, and a filed Healthy Homes application.
• No unpaid fines, taxes or fees, and no open electrical, mechanical or work-without-permit violations.

The lottery calendar

The city publishes the year in advance. For the cycle posted in November 2025 and still the one linked from the STR office:

If a square has only one eligible application, there is no drawing for it. If it already has a license, there is no application to file. Drawings are streamed. The order drawn is a waiting list if the winner does not pay within five days.

After you have the license

Presence is an operating condition, not a story for the application. The guest still needs to know the occupancy, the trash rule and who to call — and you want their name on file because the license is personal. Noise complaints are how squares get political; the practical side is noise and party rules. Hotel-motel tax in New Orleans is its own registration on top of the license. Platform collection is partial, as it is everywhere — occupancy tax guide. How the lottery compares with caps in other cities is in short-term rental laws by city.