Port Huron and Burtchville: Which Clerk Actually Answers

A short-term rental in the Port Huron area sits under one of at least three separate desks depending on the exact parcel: the City of Port Huron's own clerk and rental inspection office, Burtchville Township's own hall, or St. Clair County's clerk office. Each answers a genuinely different question, and calling the wrong one wastes a call and delays getting an actual, usable answer.

Port Huron's own market publishes a $12,482 typical year across fifty-four listings, ADR near $185, and occupancy near 31.5 percent for August 2025 through July 2026 — a genuinely distinct figure from nearby Lexington's separate $24,664 typical year, worth keeping straight the same way the jurisdictions themselves need to stay straight when a host or a buyer is doing real diligence.

This is a practical desk guide: which hall actually answers a Port Huron-area compliance question, what each specific phone number reaches, and what to bring before making the call. This is not legal advice, and it does not guess a compliance answer this guide can't actually verify for a specific address. Confirm any specific requirement directly with the relevant office before relying on it for a listing, a purchase, or a loan file of any kind.

Pick the Clerk the Driveway Actually Has

Port Huron and Lakeport sit in St. Clair County, Michigan, roughly 62 miles from Detroit — a genuine drive distance and a genuine reason Detroit shouldn't be treated as this market's identity, even though it's the nearer major metro a guest might recognize when searching for a stay in the area.

A specific parcel's actual desk depends on whether it sits within Port Huron city limits or within Burtchville Township itself — two genuinely different local jurisdictions with two entirely separate halls, phone numbers, and requirements. A listing that markets itself with generic 'near Detroit' language, when the parcel is actually a specific Port Huron or Burtchville address, is skipping the more useful and more accurate identity this specific market actually has.

The practical rule: confirm which jurisdiction, City of Port Huron or Burtchville Township, the specific parcel sits in before calling either desk or making any compliance claim in marketing copy. This confirmation step is the same one a buyer or a lender should take before closing, and it takes one phone call to settle.

Confirming jurisdiction isn't strictly a one-time task for a host who's operated the same property for years, either. A property that changes hands, or a host who's simply never actually confirmed the exact boundary line for their specific parcel, benefits from making this same call even on an established listing, since the answer determines which hall's requirements the property is actually supposed to be meeting right now, this specific year.

City Desk Sits at 100 McMorran Boulevard

Port Huron's city clerk operates out of city desk at 100 McMorran Boulevard, and this is the address and the office to confirm any City of Port Huron-specific rental question with directly, rather than assuming a county-level answer covers a city-specific requirement.

Rental inspection for a Port Huron property is handled at this same hall, which means a host confirming both a licensing question and an inspection requirement can often reach both through the same building, though the two functions have their own separate phone lines and should be treated as separate questions when calling.

A host operating a short-term rental within Port Huron city limits should treat this address as the primary local desk for any specific compliance question, rather than defaulting to the county clerk's office for a city-level matter. The practical rule: for a Port Huron city-limits parcel, city desk at 100 McMorran Boulevard is the primary desk — confirm the specific requirement, clerk versus rental inspection, and use the matching phone line below.

This same address handles both the narrower clerk-level registration function and the broader rental certification program, which means a host can often resolve two related questions in one trip to the same building, provided each question gets routed to the correct desk once there rather than assumed to be interchangeable.

Port Huron Clerk Is 810-984-9725, Rental Inspection Is 810-984-2465

The Port Huron city clerk's office is reachable directly at 810-984-9725, the specific number to call for a City of Port Huron clerk-level question — registration, general city administrative matters related to a rental property — rather than an inspection-specific matter. A host should have the specific parcel address ready when calling, since the clerk's office will need to confirm the property is actually within city limits before answering a jurisdiction-specific question.

Port Huron's rental inspection office is reachable separately at 810-984-2465, a different line from the city clerk's office, and this is the number to call for a question specifically about rental inspection requirements for a City of Port Huron property. The city also runs a broader rental certification program through its Planning and Rental Inspection function, reachable at the same hall, worth mentioning specifically if a host's question is about general rental-housing certification rather than a short-term-specific matter.

Both numbers are distinct from Burtchville Township's own hall number, three genuinely different desks worth keeping straight rather than assuming any one number covers all Port Huron-area questions. Confirming inspection requirements directly and early, before listing rather than after a complaint, is the more efficient order of operations for a host trying to avoid a compliance problem discovered later.

A host preparing to list a Port Huron property, or confirming compliance on an existing one, should call the inspection line for that specific question rather than assuming the clerk's office handles inspection matters too, or that a general 'is my property compliant' question will get a complete answer without naming which specific requirement is actually being asked about.

Burtchville Township Hall Is 810-385-5577

Burtchville Township maintains its own hall at 4000 Burtch Road, reachable at 810-385-5577, an entirely separate desk from anything in the City of Port Huron, for a parcel that sits within the township rather than within city limits. This includes the Lakeport community, which sits within Burtchville Township as a census-designated place without its own separate municipal hall.

A host with a Burtchville Township parcel should call this number directly rather than the Port Huron city clerk or rental inspection lines, since those numbers answer City of Port Huron questions specifically and won't have jurisdiction over a township matter. Burtchville's own short-term rental provisions fall under its section 154.135, which defines a township short-term rental as a stay of at least seven days and less than thirty — a distinction worth knowing before assuming the city's own rules, or a generic assumption about short-term rental length, apply the same way here.

This distinction is a genuinely common point of confusion in this area, since Port Huron and Burtchville sit close together geographically but are two separate governing jurisdictions with their own separate rules and desks. The practical rule: for a Burtchville Township parcel, call the township hall directly at 810-385-5577, not a Port Huron city number.

A mailing address alone won't always make the jurisdiction obvious, since township and city addresses can look similar at a glance. Confirming with the actual hall, using the parcel's specific address, removes the guesswork and gives a host a documented answer they can point back to later if a compliance question ever comes up again.

County Clerk Is Records, Not an STR Permit Desk

St. Clair County's clerk office, at 201 McMorran Boulevard, Room 1100, handles county-level records rather than issuing a short-term rental permit itself — a distinction worth understanding before calling the county clerk expecting a rental-specific licensing answer that this desk doesn't provide.

A host looking for the actual permit or inspection path for a specific parcel should call the City of Port Huron desks, clerk or rental inspection, or Burtchville Township hall directly, reserving a county clerk call for an actual records question. This is not a criticism of the county clerk's function; it's simply a different function than city or township rental licensing, and conflating the two wastes a call and delays getting an actual answer to a rental-specific question.

The practical rule: treat the county clerk as a records desk, not an STR permit desk, and direct any actual rental licensing or inspection question to the City of Port Huron or Burtchville Township directly, using the phone numbers above. Saving a call to a desk that can't answer the question is a small thing, but it adds up when a host is trying to close out a compliance checklist before a listing goes live.

Confirm the Parcel Before You Advertise

Port Huron's own $12,482 typical year should not be quoted as this market's figure when the actual parcel sits in a different nearby market — Lexington's separate $24,664 typical year describes a genuinely different town, and citing it for a Port Huron listing overstates what this specific property's market has actually shown.

A listing or an underwriting note should confirm the specific parcel's town — Port Huron, Burtchville, or a neighboring market like Lexington — before citing any performance figure, since each town's own number describes only its own market. This confirmation step matters as much for marketing accuracy as for compliance accuracy: a guest or a lender comparing figures across nearby towns will notice a mismatch between a listing's cited number and its actual location.

The practical rule: confirm the specific parcel's actual town before citing any typical-year, ADR, or occupancy figure, and never substitute Lexington's $24,664 or any other neighboring town's number for Port Huron's own $12,482. Both the jurisdiction confirmation and the revenue confirmation are the same kind of diligence, applied to two different questions, and neither one should get skipped because the other one already got answered.

What to Bring to the Desk

Before calling any of these numbers, a host should have the parcel's specific address ready, since each desk will need to confirm jurisdiction, city limits versus township, before answering a jurisdiction-specific question. A host should also have a clear, specific question ready — clerk-level registration, rental inspection, or a township-level matter — rather than a general 'what do I need to know' question that could get routed to the wrong desk or answered incompletely.

Writing down the specific answer given, the date, and the name of the person who answered is a simple habit that makes a later compliance conversation, with a lender, a buyer, or the same desk months later, considerably easier to document accurately. This is not legal advice; a host with a genuinely complex compliance question should confirm the answer in writing with the relevant office rather than relying solely on a phone call summary.

The practical rule: bring the specific parcel address and a specific question to each call, and keep a simple written record of the date, desk, and answer given for future reference. A host who treats this small amount of documentation as routine business practice, rather than an afterthought, is better positioned the next time a lender, a buyer, or the same desk needs to confirm the same answer months or years later.

Related Reading

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Frequently Asked Questions

What's the difference between the Port Huron clerk and rental inspection numbers?

The city clerk, at 810-984-9725, handles clerk-level and registration matters, while rental inspection, at 810-984-2465, handles inspection-specific requirements. They're two separate phone lines within the same city desk at 100 McMorran Boulevard, so confirm which specific question you have before calling, since each line handles a different function and won't necessarily transfer you to the other.

Does Burtchville Township use the same phone numbers as Port Huron?

No. Burtchville Township Hall at 4000 Burtch Road has its own separate number, 810-385-5577. It's an entirely different jurisdiction from the City of Port Huron, and a parcel sitting in the township, including the Lakeport community, should be confirmed with this hall directly rather than with either Port Huron city number listed above in this guide.

Does the St. Clair County clerk issue short-term rental permits?

No. The county clerk, at 201 McMorran Boulevard, Room 1100, handles records, not rental permits or inspections. A host looking for an actual STR permit or inspection path should call the City of Port Huron desks or Burtchville Township hall directly instead, since the county clerk's office doesn't have jurisdiction over rental licensing questions at all.

What is Port Huron's own published typical year for short-term rentals?

Port Huron's market shows a $12,482 typical year across fifty-four listings, an ADR near $185, and occupancy near 31.5 percent for August 2025 through July 2026. This figure is specific to Port Huron and shouldn't be confused with a neighboring town's separate, higher number when citing revenue in marketing copy or in an underwriting file for a lender.

Should Lexington's typical year be used for a Port Huron listing?

No. Lexington publishes its own separate $24,664 typical year, a genuinely different and higher figure than Port Huron's $12,482. The two are different markets on different desks, and quoting Lexington's number for a Port Huron parcel overstates what that specific market actually supports for both guest-facing marketing and any revenue underwriting a buyer might rely on.

Is Port Huron close enough to Detroit to market as a Detroit-area stay?

Port Huron sits roughly 62 miles from Detroit, a real drive distance worth naming honestly as a feeder-market fact, but not close enough to build the listing's core identity around Detroit itself. Lead with Port Huron's own identity — the bridge, the light, the river — first, and mention the Detroit drive briefly further down as secondary trip-planning context.

How do I know if my parcel is in Port Huron city limits or Burtchville Township?

Confirm directly with either desk using the specific parcel address; the City of Port Huron clerk's office or Burtchville Township hall can confirm jurisdiction. Don't assume based on general area familiarity, since the two jurisdictions sit close together geographically but govern under entirely separate rules, separate halls, and separate phone numbers listed in this guide.

What is Burtchville Township's short-term rental ordinance called, and what does it define?

Burtchville Township's provisions fall under section 154.135, which defines a township short-term rental as a stay of at least seven days and less than thirty. This is not legal advice — confirm the exact current requirements directly with the township hall at 4000 Burtch Road, since ordinance details can be updated and this guide isn't a substitute for that direct, current confirmation.

What should I bring when calling one of these desks?

Bring the specific parcel address and a specific question about registration, inspection, or a township-level matter. Keep a written record of the date, the desk, and the answer given, since that documentation is useful for later compliance or underwriting conversations, and helps avoid having to make the same call to the same office more than once.

Why does it matter which desk answers a Port Huron-area compliance question?

Because the City of Port Huron and Burtchville Township operate under entirely separate rules, and a compliance answer from the wrong desk may not actually apply to a specific parcel. Filing a city-specific requirement against a township parcel, or the reverse, is the wrong framework attached to the wrong address, which can surface as a real problem later rather than a simple mix-up.

Work with Crest & Cove Creative

Port Huron's own clerk, its separate rental inspection line, and Burtchville Township's hall are three different desks with three different numbers, and the county clerk answers none of them. Calling the wrong one wastes the call.

We help Port Huron-area hosts confirm the right desk for their parcel instead of guessing between city, township, and county. Send us the address. Start at crestcove.co/audit or call (256) 998-7502. Send the live listing draft and the facts you can actually cite.

Reach out at crestcove.co or (256) 998-7502.