The Silver Lake Rental You're Buying Runs on a Permit That Expires Every Year

Drive the roads around Silver Lake in Golden Township and look for a small card in a front window. Each permitted short-term rental in the township has to display its permit card where it can be seen from the road. The card lists a permit number, an expiration date, a maximum number of occupants and a number of parking spaces. Those four lines describe what a Mears-area rental cottage can earn more accurately than the listing does.

That matters to anyone buying near the dunes this winter. The rental income in a listing comes from a permit good for one year, and the township decides how many people and cars that permit allows. It also comes with an application due before most spring buyers have even closed.

The Permit Is Good for One Year

Golden Township regulates rentals through the Golden Township Short-Term Rental Ordinance, adopted in 2017 and amended in 2019. The township's annual application identifies it as Ordinance No. 52. The ordinance says an application has to be submitted "each year to the Zoning Administrator no later than January 31," and that "an approved permit shall be good for one year."

Under the ordinance, a short-term rental is a single-family or two-family dwelling, or an accessory building, rented for thirty days or less between April 1 and November 1 each year. The 2026 window ends November 1, and the next deadline after that is January 31.

The ordinance does not say whether a permit passes to a new owner when a property sells. The permit goes to whoever applied, and it runs one year. If you're buying a cottage that already has a booking calendar, ask the zoning administrator directly how a sale affects the current permit. Don't assume the seller's card covers you.

What a Permit Costs Now

The fee went up sharply. An older version of the township's application lists a $150 fee. On November 11, 2025, the Golden Township board voted unanimously to set the short-term rental permit fee at $1,000 for 2026. The ordinance says the township sets the fee, reviews it every year, and does not refund it if an application is denied.

Last year's fee vote came in November. Because the ordinance calls for an annual review, treat $1,000 as the latest figure and not a promise for 2027. When you run the numbers on a rental, count the permit as a yearly cost that can change.

The Township Sets Occupancy by Measuring Rooms

Every listing near the dunes says how many people the cottage sleeps. Golden Township does its own math. The ordinance says no sleeping facility "shall be occupied as to provide less than 300 cubic feet of air space per occupant, exclusive of bathrooms, toilet rooms, and closets." It defines a sleeping facility as any room that meets state egress code and has a bed, hide-a-bed, futon, cot, bunk bed or anything else normally used for sleeping.

Here's how that works on paper. A 10-by-12-foot bedroom with an 8-foot ceiling holds 960 cubic feet of air, which comes to three occupants at 300 cubic feet each. A bunk room under a low attic ceiling holds less air than its floor space suggests, so it may count for fewer sleepers than the listing photos imply. The current application asks for each dwelling's bedrooms, bathrooms, number of floors, basement access and maximum occupancy, along with a site plan showing room sizes. The township calculates occupancy from those room dimensions.

Lot Size Caps the Parking

Parking also scales with the land. The ordinance sets a maximum number of off-street spaces by lot size:

A space has to be nine feet wide and twenty feet long, and it can't sit in a setback or a public or private right-of-way. A vehicle and its trailer count as two spaces. Near Silver Lake Sand Dunes, plenty of guests arrive towing something, so a small lot can fill up fast. A cottage that sleeps twelve on a 5,000-square-foot lot still gets four spaces, and one truck with a trailer takes two of them.

Advertising Without a Permit Is a Violation

This part of the ordinance matters most when a sale overlaps with future bookings. Section 4.4 reads:

It shall be a civil violation of this ordinance to rent or lease a short-term rental unit, or to accept payment for a future short-term rental, or to advertise a single-family dwelling, two family dwelling or accessory buildings for future short-term rental without first obtaining a permit under this ordinance.

The ordinance treats each day a unit is rented without a permit as a separate violation. It calls a violation a public nuisance, and a court may grant injunctive relief and "shall award costs and attorney fees." If a sale overlaps with deposits or online listings for next summer, ask the township and an attorney how that language applies. This post is general information, not legal or financial advice. Before you assume bookings or pull rental income into an offer, confirm your situation with the township, a real estate attorney and your lender.

Enforcement Has Been Picking Up

Over the past year, Golden Township has put more work into finding unpermitted rentals. At the November 11, 2025 meeting, the board reviewed a list of 144 rentals and found 22 without permits. Township staff drafted a violation letter to send to the owners. The same minutes say the rental application was redesigned to make unpermitted properties easier to spot, and that the township was working with the county to get a police officer assigned to the township. On May 12, 2026, the board approved changes to an enforcement agreement and sent it to the county board for approval.

The permit counts rose through the 2026 season:

1. April 14, 2026. 160 permits, with 3 pending.
2. July 14, 2026. 202 permits, at a meeting where public comment called for enforcement against unpermitted rentals.
3. August 25, 2026. 206 permits, per Planning Commission minutes.

Permits kept getting issued long after the January 31 deadline, as the season and the township's attention moved along together. If you buy a cottage with a permit history going back several years, you have documentation to show. If the cottage has a rental history but no permit file, its revenue claims rest on bookings the township may count as violations.

The Rewrite Has Stalled

Changes to the rules are underway but not finished. In May 2025, the Planning Commission was asked to review and update the ordinance, and it appointed a committee to do it. Commissioners reviewed a subcommittee draft on February 24, 2026. On March 31 they voted to forward it to the board with three minor changes. On April 14, the board discussed the draft and sent it back to the Planning Commission.

At the commission's May 26, 2026 public hearing, one speaker suggested the committee consult the Fair Housing of West Michigan booklet. Another said septic systems need inspection every year. The commission then tabled the draft. The July 28 and August 25 minutes both list "Ordinance Amendments & Other Reports" as none. The September 29 agenda had no rental item.

The 2017 ordinance, amended in 2019, is still the law today. A revised version has passed one public hearing and could come back before the 2027 season. If you're buying for rental income, ask the township at closing whether any amendment is scheduled.

Lansing is a second open question. House Bill 6026 would create a statewide short-term rental registry. It was introduced and referred to the House Government Operations committee on June 2, 2026, and no further action is recorded. Separate 2025 bills, HB 5138 through 5140, would let local governments put a voter-approved excise tax on short-term rental stays. WGVU reported in October 2025 that they had been referred to the House Economic Competitiveness Committee. Before relying on any of them, check each bill's current status on the Legislature's site.

What to Ask Before You Write the Offer

• How many years has the seller held a Golden Township permit, and what maximum occupancy and parking count were on each card?
• Does the occupancy in the listing match the permit, or the 300-cubic-foot math based on actual room sizes?
• How big is the lot in square feet, and where would the permitted parking spaces go without reaching into a setback or right-of-way?
• Are there bookings or deposits for April through November 2027, and how would they be handled once ownership changes?
• Will closing fall before or after January 31, and what does the zoning administrator say about how a sale affects the current permit?
• Have you confirmed with the township whether the property needs any other permits? Approval of a rental permit "does not relieve the applicant of any other necessary permits."

A Few Questions Buyers Keep Asking

Does a Golden Township rental permit cover the whole year? An approved permit is good for one year. The ordinance defines short-term rentals as stays of thirty days or less between April 1 and November 1. Ask the zoning administrator about any stays outside that window.

Is there a limit on how many rental permits the township issues? The current ordinance has no township-wide cap on the number of permits. The township's limits apply to each property through occupancy and parking.

What will the 2027 permit cost? The 2026 fee was $1,000, set by the board in November 2025. The township reviews the fee every year, so confirm the 2027 amount with the township before you budget for it.

If you're looking at a cottage near Silver Lake and want to know how its permit file, lot size and room dimensions line up with the rental numbers in the listing, Gabriela Peterson can help you put those questions in front of the right people before your offer goes in. Schedule your free consultation, in English or Spanish, while there's still time before the January 31 deadline.