Renting your Pentwater cottage by the week? You need a license on the door

A summer cottage on Hancock Street or out toward Pentwater Lake is a fine thing to rent out by the week — but the Village of Pentwater wants it done by the book, and the rules inside the village line are stricter than the open countryside out in Pentwater Township. Within village limits you need a short-term rental license, and it is not a formality you file once and forget.

The license runs for the calendar year and is tied to that one specific house — you cannot move it to another property, and a new owner cannot just inherit it. It has to be posted where a renter can see it, on the front door or a window within about five feet of the door, so anyone staying there knows the place is on the books. Printed right on it is the maximum number of people allowed to sleep there, and going over that number is itself a violation.

A few other lines in the ordinance catch people off guard. No camping on the lot — you cannot park an overflow tent or camper in the yard to stuff in extra guests beyond the house’s limit. And the cottage has to actually pass muster under the village zoning rules and the state building, electrical, plumbing, and fire codes before a license is granted; a charming old place that was never wired or vented to code can be turned down.

The teeth are at the back end. Each day a violation continues counts as its own offense, and if a single rental racks up three separate incidents in one year — the noise calls, the over-packed weekends — the village can revoke its license outright. For a place that lives on summer rental income, losing the license is the part that stings, so the smart move is to register early and keep the house quiet.