West Chester's cap of 20 short-term rentals is no longer unique in Chester County. Kennett Square Borough Council voted unanimously Friday, Aug. 21, to adopt the same limit and block single-family homes from becoming full-time vacation rentals.
Both boroughs drew the same line.
The Kennett Square ordinance, reported by The Philadelphia Inquirer, requires that any new short-term rental operate only in an accessory unit, such as a guest house or converted garage, and that the property owner live on-site while guests are present. About 22 existing rentals will be grandfathered in, but that status vanishes if the owner sells, moves out or lets the rental registration lapse.
Council president Bob Norris said the vote responded directly to residents who spent months telling officials that houses were going up for sale and reappearing online as full-time rentals.
"The net effect of this is to actually drastically reduce the potential number of short-term rentals … especially in single-family homes, which we heard loud and clear was a major issue," Norris said at the Aug. 21 meeting.
Kennett Square's population has jumped 16 percent since 2020 while housing supply stayed low. The borough's planning commission revisited the issue this year after a 2025 attempt was deemed insufficient.
West Chester's parallel cap
West Chester Borough adopted its own 20-unit cap and confined short-term rentals to the town center. Officials sent cease-and-desist letters to operators outside that radius, according to the Inquirer. The exact date of West Chester's ordinance vote has not been confirmed in public records reviewed for this article.
The two boroughs now share nearly identical frameworks: a hard cap of 20 active rentals, geographic restrictions and owner-occupancy requirements for new listings.
County housing pressure
The caps arrive as Chester County's housing market tightens further. The county's median home sale price hit a record $525,000 in 2024. During the four weeks ending Aug. 9, that figure climbed to roughly $623,000, according to MyChesCo, up 3.9 percent year over year and about 54 percent above the national median.
Starter homes in West Chester, Downingtown, Phoenixville and Coatesville face the strongest demand, with only about 2.7 months of supply countywide as of May 2026. In 2025, just 315 Chester County homes sold for under $250,000, making up 5.3 percent of all sales.
As we reported Aug. 24, nearly half of Chester County renter families are already cost-burdened on housing.
No upcoming West Chester Borough Council agenda item related to short-term rental enforcement has been publicly posted. Residents with questions about West Chester's STR rules can contact Borough Hall at 610-696-1975.
