Mid Term Rental Management in Texas (2026 Guide)

Mid term rental management in Texas means running a furnished home for stays of 30 nights or longer: travel nurses, traveling professionals, corporate assignments and families between homes. Owners pick this middle lane for three practical reasons. Texas does not charge state or local hotel tax on a stay of 30 or more consecutive days, some cities (Fort Worth is the clearest case) ban short term rentals in residential zones but not monthly rentals, and many HOAs set minimum lease terms that rule out nightly guests. The tradeoff: a 30+ night guest is usually a tenant under the Texas Property Code, so you need a written lease and you remove a holdover through the eviction process, not by changing the door code.

This guide covers what a mid term rental is, the Texas rules that make it attractive, where demand comes from, which platforms to list on and what they charge, the tenant vs guest question, how pricing compares with short term rentals, and what a mid term rental property management company actually does. It is general information, not legal or tax advice.

Texas mid term rentals at a glance

Topic	What applies in Texas	Source
Typical stay length	30 nights to several months, furnished, utilities often included	Industry practice
Hotel occupancy tax	Not due when the guest has the right to the space for at least 30 consecutive days with no interruption of payment	Tax Code Sec. 156.101; Texas Comptroller
Short term rental definition for state HOT	Rental to someone who is not a permanent resident, i.e. 29 days or less	Comptroller HOT FAQ
Fort Worth	Short term rentals (1 to 29 days) not allowed in residential districts; 30+ day rentals fall outside that definition	City of Fort Worth
Airbnb "monthly stay"	Starts at 28 nights, which is still under the 30-day tax line	Airbnb Help Center
Eviction notice	At least 3 days' written notice to vacate before filing, unless the lease sets a different period	Property Code Sec. 24.005 (as amended by SB 38)
Furnished Finder cost to owners	$199 flat annual fee, no booking commission	Furnished Finder
Airbnb host fee	3% (split fee) or about 15.5% (single fee, mandatory for hosts using property management software)	Airbnb Help Center

What is a mid term rental?

A mid term rental (MTR), also called a medium-term rental or furnished monthly rental, sits between a vacation rental and a 12-month lease. The home is fully furnished like a short term rental, but guests stay for one to several months, sign a lease, and live in the space the way a tenant would. Turnovers happen a few times a year instead of a few times a week.

For a property owner, the model trades some peak nightly revenue for steadier occupancy, fewer cleanings, lower wear, and in Texas, a cleaner regulatory and tax position. For the guest, it is a ready-to-live-in home without buying furniture or signing a year-long lease.

Short term vs mid term vs long term rentals

	Short term (STR)	Mid term (MTR)	Long term (LTR)
Stay length	1 to 29 nights	30 nights to several months	Usually 12 months
Furnished	Yes	Yes	Usually no
Texas hotel tax	Yes, state plus city (and some county) rates	No, if 30+ consecutive days with no break in payment	No
City STR permit	Often required	Usually not, since city STR rules target stays under 30 days	No
Guest legal status	Lodging guest	Usually a tenant	Tenant
Turnovers per year	Dozens to 100+	A handful	About one
Rent level	Highest per night, most variable	Middle	Lowest, most stable

Why Texas owners choose mid term rentals

1. No hotel occupancy tax on stays of 30+ consecutive days

Texas hotel occupancy tax (HOT) applies to houses, condos and apartments rented for less than 30 consecutive days. Under Texas Tax Code Section 156.101, the state tax does not apply to a person who has the right to use the space for at least 30 consecutive days, as long as there is no interruption of payment. The Texas Comptroller's hotel tax FAQ spells out the mechanics: a guest who gives written notice of a 30+ day stay is exempt from the day of notice, a guest who does not is taxed for the first 30 days and exempt after that, and any interruption voids the exemption. City hotel taxes use the same rule: Tax Code Section 351.002(c) says the municipal tax does not apply to a permanent resident under Section 156.101, which is why a 30+ night lease avoids the full stack.

That stack is not small. Houston's combined rate is 17% (6% state, 7% city, 2% Harris County, 2% sports authority), Austin and San Antonio are 17%, and Dallas and Fort Worth are 15%. A true 30-day stay also skips the monthly or quarterly city filings that short term rental hosts deal with. Our Texas short term rental tax guide breaks down each city's rate and filing calendar.

The 28-night trap: Airbnb treats 28 nights or more as a monthly stay, but Texas uses 30 consecutive days. A 28 or 29 night booking is still a taxable short term rental. If you want the exemption, set your minimum stay to 30 nights and make sure payment is not broken into gaps.

2. City short term rental bans and permits stop at 29 nights

Most Texas city STR ordinances regulate stays under 30 days. Fort Worth is the sharpest example: the City of Fort Worth defines short term rentals as homes rented for guest lodging for 1 to 29 days and does not allow them in residential districts (A, AR, B, R1, R2, CR, C, D and UR zones). A furnished home in one of those neighborhoods can still be rented to a traveling professional on a 30+ day lease, because that is not a short term rental under the ordinance. Details are in our Fort Worth Airbnb laws guide.

Elsewhere, monthly rentals sidestep permit costs and paperwork such as Houston's $275 annual certificate, Austin's 2-year license, and San Antonio's 3-year permit. Always confirm the definition in your own city code, because ordinances change. Our Texas Airbnb laws overview tracks the major cities.

3. HOA minimum lease terms

In Texas, an HOA cannot block short term rentals just because the deed restrictions say "residential use." The Texas Supreme Court held in Tarr v. Timberwood Park (2018) that residential-use covenants do not exclude short term rentals absent language requiring a minimum duration, and repeated that reasoning in JBrice Holdings v. Wilcrest Walk Townhomes (2022), while noting that owners can amend covenants to restrict leasing if the documents allow it. Many Texas communities have done exactly that and now set a 30-day, 90-day or longer minimum lease. A mid term rental that meets a 30-day minimum can be the only furnished option allowed. Read your declaration and rules first, and see can an HOA stop an Airbnb in Texas.

4. Less wear, fewer cleanings, steadier occupancy

Ten to twelve turnovers a year instead of eighty means fewer cleaning fees, less linen and supply spend, and less damage risk from party bookings. Guests who stay a month or more also report issues early and treat the home like a residence. Our cost of running an Airbnb in Texas breakdown shows how much of the short term budget goes to cleaning and supplies.

The Texas mid term rental market: plain answers for property owners

Mid term rental properties, also called medium term rental or temporary housing, serve people who need a home for more than a month but less than a year: travel nurses on temporary assignments, remote workers, college students on internships, and relocating employees who need corporate housing. Unlike short term rentals, a mid term rental runs on lease agreements and monthly payments. That gives property owners more income stability and less frequent tenant turnover, without locking you in for a full year the way traditional long term rentals with long term tenants do.

In other words, mid term rentals offer a middle path between short term vacation rentals and long term leases, and the mid term rental market in Texas rewards property owners who pick the right location. Rental demand in Texas follows hospitals, employers and insurance placements, which smooths seasonal fluctuations and helps fill off peak seasons. For property owners, mid term rentals provide steadier rental income, at the cost of lower nightly upside, plus lower property damage risk. If you allow month to month leases, put the lease duration and rental periods in writing.

Legal compliance still matters. Landlord tenant laws, local regulations and HOA rules all shape a mid term rental strategy. Location drives demand: furnished accommodations near a medical center, a business district or good schools fill fastest with mid term renters. Every lease should cover maintenance requests, who handles property maintenance during the stay and how potential tenants are screened, so you attract reliable and responsible tenants and keep tenant satisfaction high.

Before you switch a home to mid term housing, run the numbers against your debt service and compare the management fee management companies charge with the cost of self-managing. A local real estate agent can help you price a midterm rental against comparable long term housing and short term accommodations in the same area.

Who rents mid term in Texas

Demand comes from people who need furnished housing for one to six months. The main groups:

Travel nurses and medical professionals. Houston's Texas Medical Center describes itself as the largest medical complex in the world, with 120,000+ employees, 10,000 patient beds and about 10 million patient encounters per year. Hospitals on that scale bring in contract clinicians, visiting physicians and patient families who need furnished housing within a short drive. The largest monthly rental platforms say travel nurses and traveling medical professionals are a core audience.
Corporate and business travelers. Project assignments, trainings and relocations put professionals in a city for weeks or months. Remote workers and digital nomads add to this group.
Relocating families and insurance placements. Families exploring a city before buying, or displaced by a fire, flood or storm, need interim housing. In Texas, that demand often follows hurricanes, freezes and floods.
Students, interns and people between homes. Home sales, renovations and closings that do not line up create short gaps that a furnished monthly rental fills.

The best mid term locations are close to the demand source: near hospitals, near large employers, and in quiet residential areas families like. That often overlaps with neighborhoods where nightly rentals are restricted.

Where to list a mid term rental (and what it costs)

Choosing mid term rental platforms is part of mid term rental management. Rental listings should speak to monthly guests. Platform fees were checked on each company's own pages in October 2026. Fees change, so recheck before you list.

Platform	Who it reaches	Owner cost	Notes
Furnished Finder	Travel nurses, medical and business travelers, relocating families	$199 flat annual fee, no commissions	You talk to tenant leads directly, set rent and screening, and collect payment yourself. It says it lists 300,000+ furnished properties.
Airbnb (monthly stays)	Broad travel audience	3% host fee on the split structure, or about 15.5% on the single fee structure (mandatory for hosts on property management software)	Monthly stays start at 28 nights; you can set weekly and monthly discounts. Set a 30-night minimum for the Texas tax exemption.
Direct and corporate housing leads	Employers, relocation firms, insurance housing providers	Varies by agreement	Often the steadiest bookings; requires a lease, invoicing and a reliable point of contact.

Most owners combine sources: the $199 platform for medical demand, Airbnb monthly stays for reach, and direct relationships for repeat corporate housing guests. A manager keeps one calendar across all of them so the same month never gets booked twice.

Tenant vs guest: Texas Property Code issues

This is the part most owners underestimate. A hotel guest can be asked to leave at checkout. A tenant cannot be removed without a court order.

When does a guest become a tenant?

Texas law does not hand you a simple night count. Whether someone is a tenant depends on the agreement and the facts: a right to possess the home, rent paid for that right, and living there as a residence all point toward a tenancy. Airbnb's own guidance on monthly stays warns that in most U.S. states, guests who stay a month or longer may establish tenant rights and that you may not be able to remove them without an eviction. The safe working rule for a Texas mid term rental: treat every 30+ night stay as a residential tenancy and paper it that way.

Use a written lease

A mid term lease should state the exact start and end dates, rent and payment schedule, security deposit, utilities included, occupancy limits, pets, smoking, parking, inventory of furnishings, entry and maintenance access, and what happens on early termination or holdover. Because the lease length is short, the holdover clause matters a lot. Guest platforms let you require a rental agreement for monthly stays, but you must state that requirement in your house rules before the booking is confirmed.

Security deposits

Chapter 92 of the Texas Property Code governs residential tenancies, including how and when a landlord must return a security deposit and itemize deductions. Treat a mid term deposit the same way you would on a 12-month lease, with move-in and move-out photos tied to your furniture inventory.

Eviction if a tenant overstays

If a mid term tenant holds over past the lease end or stops paying, Texas requires a notice to vacate before you file an eviction (forcible detainer) suit in justice court. Under Property Code Section 24.005, the landlord must give at least three days' written notice to vacate unless the written lease sets a shorter or longer period. Senate Bill 38, signed June 20, 2025, rewrote parts of the eviction process for suits filed on or after January 1, 2026, including a sworn petition and an option for summary disposition without a trial when no facts are genuinely disputed. Self-help removal (changing locks to force someone out, cutting utilities) is the wrong move. Use a landlord-tenant attorney if it gets that far.

Screening is the real protection

Because removing a tenant takes time, careful screening is the best defense: verified ID, employment or assignment letter, income or employer payment, references from prior landlords, and a clear lease signed before keys are released. See our Texas guest screening guide for the checks we use.

Mid term vs short term pricing in Texas

Mid term rent is quoted monthly and is almost always less than 30 times the nightly short term rate. The honest comparison is net income, not gross. Here is how the costs differ:

Taxes. A short term rental collects 15% to 17% HOT on top of the rate in Texas's big cities, which guests notice in the total price. A 30+ day lease does not.
Platform fees. Airbnb's single fee is about 15.5% of each booking; Furnished Finder is $199 a year total.
Cleaning and supplies. A few turnovers a year instead of dozens.
Utilities. Usually included in both models; a mid term lease can cap usage or pass high bills through.
Vacancy. One empty month on a mid term rental hurts more than one empty night, so lead time and pipeline matter.

For context, Surge market data shows a median Houston short term rental earned about $30,619 a year at a $164 average daily rate and about 56% occupancy, and Fort Worth about $35,693 at 58% occupancy. Those are gross figures before the platform fees, cleaning, supplies and taxes above. A mid term rental in the same home will usually gross less, but with far lower operating cost and fewer empty nights. Which nets more depends on the home, the neighborhood and whether STRs are even allowed there. In Fort Worth's residential zones, or under an HOA with a 30-day minimum, the comparison is moot: mid term is the furnished option. Our Houston Airbnb income guide and Fort Worth Airbnb income guide show the full short term numbers to compare against.

How to set mid term rent

Start from unfurnished 12-month rent for comparable homes, then add a premium for furniture, utilities, internet and flexibility.
Check live furnished listings near the same hospital or employer for the same length of stay.
Price 30, 60 and 90+ day stays differently; longer stays earn a lower monthly rate.
Many owners run a hybrid: short term rentals in peak months where allowed, mid term leases in slower months.

How to set up a Texas mid term rental

Check the rules. City code, HOA declaration and rules, condo bylaws, your mortgage and your insurance policy. Landlord or short term rental coverage needs to match how the home is used; see Texas STR insurance costs.
Furnish for living, not just sleeping. A real desk and chair, fast Wi-Fi, a full kitchen, washer and dryer, blackout curtains, storage space and parking. Our furnishing guide covers the budget side.
Write the lease. Use a Texas-compliant residential lease adapted for furnished, fixed-term stays.
List and price. Furnished Finder plus Airbnb monthly stays with a 30-night minimum, and direct corporate outreach.
Screen and sign before releasing keys or door codes.
Plan mid-stay care. Filter changes, pest control, a mid-lease inspection and a fast maintenance line.

What a mid term rental property manager does

Mid term property management is closer to full-service rental management than to vacation rental hosting, but it keeps the hospitality pieces that make furnished homes rent. A good mid term rental property management company handles:

Compliance check: confirming the city, HOA and tax position before the first listing.
Listing and marketing across Furnished Finder, Airbnb and direct corporate housing channels, with photos and copy aimed at monthly guests.
Pricing by season and stay length, plus hybrid STR and MTR calendars where short term rentals are legal.
Screening and leasing: ID, employer or assignment verification, references, lease signing, deposits.
Rent collection and owner statements.
Maintenance and inspections during the stay, with a local team to respond.
Turnovers: deep cleaning, inventory checks, restocking and deposit itemization between tenants.
Problem handling: early terminations, holdovers and, rarely, coordinating with an attorney on notices and eviction.

Questions to ask a mid term rental management company

Which platforms do you list on, and who pays the platform fees?
Do you use a written lease on every 30+ night stay?
How do you screen tenants and verify employers?
What is your fee, and does it include leasing, turnover and maintenance coordination?
How do you handle a tenant who stays past the lease end?
Can you run short term and mid term on the same calendar where that is allowed?

Surge manages short term and furnished rentals across Texas, including Houston, Fort Worth, Dallas, Austin and San Antonio. See our Texas management overview or Texas management services for what full service includes.

Frequently asked questions

What counts as a mid term rental in Texas?

A furnished home rented for 30 nights to several months, usually on a written lease. At 30 or more consecutive days with no break in payment, the stay falls outside Texas hotel occupancy tax and outside most city short term rental ordinances.

Do I collect hotel tax on a 30-day stay in Texas?

No, if the guest has the right to the space for at least 30 consecutive days and payment is not interrupted (Tax Code Sec. 156.101). If the guest leaves early, before 30 days, the stay becomes taxable. A 28-night Airbnb "monthly stay" is still taxable.

Can I do mid term rentals in Fort Worth residential neighborhoods?

Fort Worth's short term rental rules cover stays of 1 to 29 days and ban them in residential districts. A 30+ day furnished lease is not a short term rental under that definition. Check HOA rules and confirm with the city if you are unsure.

Is a mid term guest a tenant in Texas?

Usually, yes. Plan for it: sign a written lease, collect a deposit under Property Code Chapter 92 rules, and expect to use the notice to vacate and justice court eviction process if someone holds over.

How much notice do I give before evicting a holdover tenant?

At least three days' written notice to vacate under Property Code Section 24.005, unless the written lease sets a different period. SB 38 changed eviction procedure for suits filed on or after January 1, 2026.

What does Furnished Finder cost?

Furnished Finder charges owners a $199 flat annual fee with no booking commission, per its own listing page in October 2026.

Are mid term rentals more profitable than Airbnb?

Not always on gross revenue, but often on effort and net income, and they are the only furnished option where STRs are banned or HOAs require 30-day minimums. Compare net income after fees, cleaning, taxes and vacancy.

What does mid term rental management cost?

It varies by company and by what is included (leasing, turnovers, maintenance). Surge's full service management starts at 15%.

Thinking about mid term rentals for your Texas home?

If your home sits in a zone or HOA that rules out nightly rentals, or you want steadier income with fewer turnovers, a mid term or hybrid plan may fit. Surge manages homes in Texas and Florida, with full service starting at 15%. We will review your home, your HOA and city rules and the income math for short term, mid term and hybrid options, then tell you plainly which one makes sense.

This article is general information, not legal or tax advice. Laws, tax rules and platform fees change; confirm current rules with the Texas Comptroller, your city and a Texas attorney or tax professional.