What are days of personal use for my rental property?

A day of personal use for a rental unit is any day that the unit is used by any of the following persons:

1. You or any other person who owns an interest in it, unless you rent it to another owner as their main home under a shared equity financing agreement.
2. A member of your family or a member of the family of any other person who owns an interest in it, unless the family member uses the dwelling unit as their main home and pays a fair rental price. Family includes only your spouse, brothers and sisters, half-brothers and half-sisters, ancestors (parents, grandparents, etc.), and lineal descendants (children, grandchildren, etc.).
3. Anyone under an arrangement that lets you use some other dwelling unit.
4. Anyone at less than a fair rental price.

Example: You and your neighbor are co-owners of a condo at the beach. Last year, you rented the unit to vacationers whenever possible. The unit was not used as a main home by anyone. Your neighbor used the unit for 2 weeks last year; you used the unit for 1 week. You also let your brother stay there for 3 weeks for half-price.

Because you and your neighbor both have an interest in the unit, both of you are considered to have used the unit for personal purposes during those 6 weeks.

For more information, see IRS Publication 527 .