Bexar County

Operating rules

Primary residence

No

Min stay (nights)

—

Max nights / year

—

Max occupancy

—

Zoning-restricted

No

Cap on licenses

—

Zoning: Texas counties generally cannot impose zoning on unincorporated land, so unincorporated Bexar County has no STR zoning restrictions. STRs inside a city (chiefly San Antonio, but also incorporated suburbs) are governed by that city's ordinance. San Antonio caps Type 2 (non-owner-occupied) STRs at no more than 12.5% (one-eighth) of the single-family/duplex/triplex/quadraplex units on a block face in residential districts, with at least one Type 2 permitted per block face regardless of density; exceeding the cap requires a Board of Adjustment special exception.

• County record is intentionally thin: at the county level STRs are allowed with only a Hotel Occupancy Tax obligation; substantive land-use rules exist only inside municipalities.
• No statewide Texas STR preemption law is in effect as of 2026-07-11. Preemption/STR bills (e.g., SB 1888, filed in the 86th session) have been proposed in prior sessions but were not enacted as statewide law.
• The '5% short-term rental tax' listed on Bexar County's Community Venue page is a short-term MOTOR VEHICLE rental-car tax under Tex. Local Gov't Code ch. 334 — confirmed against the Texas Comptroller venue motor-vehicle-rental page (Bexar County 5%, applies to cars/vans/SUVs/light trucks) — NOT a tax on STR lodging.
• The Type 2 density cap is a CITY (San Antonio) restriction, not a county restriction; it does not apply in unincorporated Bexar County.

Enforcement

Active enforcement

yes

Fines

No county-level STR enforcement mechanism (Bexar County has no STR ordinance). HOT non-compliance is enforced by the City of San Antonio (which collects the county HOT through Avenu Insights): delinquent tax accrues a 5% penalty on the first day of the second month following the reporting period, plus an additional 5% penalty on the first day of the third month (penalty never less than $5.00), and interest at 10% per year (0.833% per month) beginning the second month. Inside San Antonio, the City separately enforces STR permit violations under its STR ordinance (permit denial/revocation, code enforcement, Board of Adjustment for density exceptions).

Notes

Enforcement is a city, not county, function. San Antonio raised STR permit fees ($100 -> $300/$450) and toughened enforcement via Ordinance 2024-06-13-0433 (June 13, 2024). Platforms (Airbnb/VRBO) that remit to the State now also remit City HOT on operators' behalf, but operators must still file monthly City and County HOT reports through Avenu Insights even when $0 is due. County involvement is limited to receiving remitted HOT via the City.