Denver, Colorado Short-Term Rental Regulation: A Guide For Airbnb Hosts

Do you own a place in Denver, Colorado and you're weighing whether to put it on Airbnb or Vrbo? Well, the good news is that yes, you can, as long as the home you're renting out is the one you actually live in. Denver, in the City and County of Denver, has allowed short-term rentals since 2016, and it hasn't backed away from that position the way some of Colorado's mountain towns have. What it built instead is a licensing system that hangs on one hard rule: the property has to be your primary residence, not a second home and not a pure investment unit.

That's the catch. It's worth sitting with before you go further. Denver's ordinance doesn't ban whole-home rentals or unhosted stays the way New York City does, and you don't have to be present while a guest is there. What it won't let you do is run someone else's spare condo, or a property you never sleep in, as an Airbnb. Buy a place with the plan of listing it nightly without living there, and you're looking at a lodging facility license instead, a different and much heavier path that usually means a zoning change and real construction upgrades.

So let's walk through what it actually takes to do this properly in 2026: the license Denver requires, what it costs and how long it takes, the paperwork you'll need to gather, the taxes that stack on top of a stay, how the state fits above all of it, and who to call once you get stuck. Comparing a Denver property against other Colorado markets? Run the numbers through BNBCalc first. Every figure below comes from Denver's own pages and tax guides, checked in July 2026, and where a document still carries an older date, I've said so.

What are Short-Term Rental (Airbnb, VRBO) Regulations in Denver, Colorado?

That license traces back to one piece of legislation. Denver City Council adopted Council Bill CB16-0262 on June 13, 2016, creating the short-term rental ordinance in Denver Revised Municipal Code Chapter 33, Article III, and it took effect January 1, 2017. The code defines a short-term rental as a dwelling unit rented for lodging accommodations to a guest for less than 30 consecutive days, and it requires the host to hold a license tied to their primary residence before offering it.

Primary residence is doing all the real work in that sentence, and Denver defines it narrowly: the place where a person's habitation is fixed for the term of the license and their usual place of return. A person can only have one. Claiming primary residence somewhere else for tax purposes doesn't satisfy the city's definition, and the department can weigh several things when it checks your claim:

• Whether you claim any other address for domestic, legal, billing, voting or licensing purposes
• How often, and whether, you actually return to live at the property within a calendar year
• Whether your legal documents or tax records list a different address than the rental
• Whether your job, income sources, leaseholds and vehicle registration all point back to the rental as home
• Whether the amount of time the unit gets rented out suggests it isn't where you live

None of that is exhaustive, and the department can also weigh active military deployment or anything else relevant. Once a property clears that test, zoning treats short-term rentals as an accessory use permitted wherever residential use is allowed, including mixed-use commercial districts, under Denver Zoning Code section 11.8.10. An HOA can still ban them through its own private covenants even where city zoning allows them, so a clean zoning check doesn't mean a clean run at the HOA. The city amended the ordinance twice since: Council Bill CB20-0240 modernized the primary-residence test and raised fees effective April 1, 2020, and Council Bill CB20-1229 added the platform-liability rules covered later in this guide.

Starting a Short-Term Rental Business in Denver, Colorado

Since the ordinance only recognizes one host per primary residence, "starting a business" here means something narrower than it does in most Colorado markets. Both owners and long-term renters can apply, though a renter has to certify and upload proof that their landlord signed off on short-term rentals first. Each duplex unit counts as its own separate primary dwelling, so the resident of each side can license their own unit, but not both. An accessory dwelling unit works the same way in reverse: whoever actually lives in the primary structure can license the ADU, or vice versa, never both by different people on the same lot at once.

Denver is more permissive than a lot of comparable cities on how you run the place once you're licensed. You can rent a single bedroom or the entire home, and you don't have to be there while guests stay, so a licensed host can travel and keep taking reservations. What you can't do is take two separate bookings from two different parties at the same time. If your home has multiple rooms available, they get rented together to one party or one at a time with no overlap, and the accessory-use definition excludes commercial events like weddings entirely.

Assuming you don't actually live in the property you want to rent out, this whole path is closed to you, and the alternative is a meaningfully different business. A non-primary-residence unit needs a lodging facility license instead, which typically requires a zoning-use change from residential to lodging and can trigger a fire sprinkler system, a fire alarm and detection system, exit signage and accessibility upgrades. For most people weighing a straightforward Airbnb investment, that math doesn't work, which is exactly why Denver's market looks different from a suburb where whole-home rentals are the norm. Neighboring counties in the metro area run their own rules on that front: the Jefferson County guide covers Lakewood and Golden, and the Arapahoe County guide covers Aurora and Centennial, both worth a look if a whole-unit rental is what you're after.

Short-Term Rental Licensing Requirement in Denver, Colorado

Assuming your own home clears that primary-residence bar rather than sending you toward a whole-unit workaround, licensing runs through the Denver Department of Licensing and Consumer Protection (still labeled "Excise and Licenses" on a few older documents, but that's the office that administers this program today). Applications go through Denver's Permitting and Licensing Center online, and the city specifically recommends Chrome or Safari, since the application won't complete on a phone or tablet.

Before you touch the application, a few things need to already be true. Make sure you notify your insurer that the property will operate as a short-term rental, and maintain at least $1,000,000 in liability coverage, either through your own policy or a hosting platform that provides equal or greater coverage. If the property sits inside an HOA, the official STR rules require you to notify it before applying and certify that notification with an affidavit rather than a mention in passing. You'll also need smoke detectors, a carbon monoxide detector and a fire extinguisher installed, plus a local responsible party (the city calls this a general manager) who can handle problems when you're away.

The application fee is $50 and the annual license fee is $100, so budget $150 for your first year and $100 for every renewal after that. The department aims for an initial review within seven business days, though a specialist review can run up to 90 days from a complete application, and an incomplete one gets 14 days to fix before it stalls. Leave an application untouched for 12 months and it closes automatically, so it's worth getting the paperwork right the first time rather than restarting from zero. The license itself runs one year, and you can renew online up to 60 days before it expires.

Once you're licensed, a handful of ongoing duties come with it: display your license (or a clear photo of it) at all times, put your license number in every advertisement, report any change to your local responsible party or contact information within 30 days, renew annually, and keep your lodger's and occupational privilege tax accounts current even if a platform is collecting on your behalf. Losing your insurance coverage triggers an automatic suspension until you reinstate it, and the director can fine, suspend, revoke or refuse to renew a license for "good cause," which the city's own STR rules define as violating any term of the license, any city or state law, or operating in a way that adversely affects the neighborhood's health, safety or welfare.

Required Documents for Denver, Colorado Short-Term Rentals

Getting that license means clearing a specific document checklist before the department will even review your file. Every applicant needs a valid, non-expired Colorado driver's license or Colorado ID card, plus two more documents from two different categories among the following:

• Proof of valid motor vehicle registration
• Proof of voter registration
• A federal or state tax return from the most recent tax year
• Financial documentation, such as a bank or credit card statement
• A recent utility bill showing both the service address and the mailing address

Don't forget that the two backups have to come from separate categories. Two utility bills won't satisfy the requirement even if they're both current, and a utility bill only counts if it shows both addresses clearly. If you don't own the property, you'll also need a signed possession-of-property certificate confirming your landlord's permission, and every file has to be a legible, complete PDF or JPG. Screenshots and partial documents get rejected outright.

Beyond identity, the department wants proof that you've actually done the compliance steps. That means the insurance-notification affidavit, the HOA-notification affidavit where one applies, and a renter's brochure with your contact information and instructions for common city services, which guests need to be able to find during their stay. Keep in mind that the department can also require an in-person inspection if there's any question about the status of the unit, and refusing one is treated as an automatic denial. It's a fair amount of paperwork for a residential license, but it's also the same information the department leans on later if a complaint calls your primary-residence claim into question.

Denver, Colorado Short-Term Rental Taxes

Assuming you clear all of that paperwork and are able to get licensed, there's still tax to sort out, and it stacks in layers here. A Denver short-term stay carries the city's own Lodger's Tax on top of a state and special-district sales tax, plus a separate business tax if you're operating this as a going concern.

Tax	Rate	Collected by
Denver Lodger's Tax	10.75% of the rental charge, including cleaning and guest fees	City and County of Denver, Department of Finance
Colorado state sales tax	2.9%	Colorado Department of Revenue
RTD and SCFD special-district tax	1.0% + 0.1% (1.1% combined)	Colorado Department of Revenue
Occupational Privilege Tax	$4.00/month for the business, plus $5.75/month per qualifying employee	City and County of Denver, Department of Finance

Add the first three rows together and Denver's own tax guide states the combined rate at 14.75% on the room charge itself. Airbnb's own tax page lists collecting the 2.9% Colorado state sales tax and the 10.75% Denver Lodger's Tax as separate line items, though it doesn't specifically confirm the RTD and SCFD portion for Denver, so it's worth checking your payout statements rather than assuming every layer is covered automatically.

A host running this without full platform coverage needs a separate lodger's tax license, which costs $50 for a two-year cycle starting January 1 of each even-numbered year, prorated if you start mid-cycle. Keep in mind that this license runs on its own two-year clock, separate from your annual STR license, so the two renewal dates won't line up. Filing frequency depends on how much you collect: monthly if your average monthly liability tops $300, quarterly between $15.01 and $300, and annually at $15 or less. If you're self-employed with no staff, the Occupational Privilege Tax nets out to $48 a year, the $4.00 monthly business rate with no employee to add on top. None of this touches your regular federal and state income tax on the rental income. That's a separate obligation entirely.

Colorado Wide Short-Term Rental Rules

That two-year tax license points to a bigger fact: nothing above the city can strip Denver of this authority, because Colorado never claimed it in the first place. The legislature's own nonpartisan research staff put it plainly: there are no statewide regulations regarding short-term rentals. Every home-rule city and county sets its own rules, licenses, caps or bans, and Denver was already regulating short-term rentals years before the state got involved at all.

What the state has done is clarify and expand county authority rather than restrict it. House Bill 20-1093, signed March 23, 2020, let county boards license and regulate short-term rentals and pull the plug on a listing once a county reports the owner's license suspended or revoked. House Bill 23-1287, signed June 5, 2023, added formal definitions for a lodging unit, a short-term rental and a vacation rental service, standardizing the vocabulary counties use. Neither statute caps fees or blocks a local ban.

Denver is home-rule, so it administers its own sales and lodging tax entirely outside the Colorado Department of Revenue's usual system. The Colorado Sales Tax Guide says as much directly: the department "does not administer any lodging taxes imposed by any municipality within Colorado." A host outside a home-rule city typically still needs the state's own sales tax license, a $16 fee plus a refundable $50 deposit, unless every booking runs through a marketplace facilitator that collects the tax automatically. For the fuller statewide picture, including how registration and taxes work in cities that don't self-administer, the Colorado short-term rental guide walks through it market by market.

Does Denver, Colorado Strictly Enforce STR Rules?

Given how much of that authority sits with the city rather than the state, the obvious next question is whether Denver actually uses it. Yes, and it backs that up with a mechanism most cities don't have: it makes the booking platform itself liable alongside the host. Since Council Bill CB20-1229 took effect, it's been unlawful for a booking service provider to accept payment for an unlicensed Denver short-term rental, and the penalty is a strict-liability civil fine of $1,000 per violation, per day. That's the same lever New York City later built its own enforcement around, and it means an unlicensed Airbnb listing here risks losing its ability to take bookings at all, because the platform has a direct financial incentive to shut it down itself.

Day to day, enforcement runs on both complaints and proactive inspection. The city tracks and monitors complaints about licensed and unlicensed units and sends department inspectors out as well, so a listing doesn't need a neighbor complaint to get looked at. When someone does file a complaint against your license, you get notified with the date, time and details, along with resources for common issues like trash, noise or parking, plus a free city mediation service if you and a neighbor want to work something out directly. Watch out for the primary-residence test itself, since that's where the department has the most room to dig, given the criteria include how often you actually return home and whether your other legal documents line up.

Fines for a violation run up to $999 per incident, and the director can suspend, revoke or refuse to renew a license for good cause, which covers a rule violation, a lapse in insurance, or a property found to be harming the neighborhood's health, safety or welfare. The department also has to keep and publish a public list of every licensed short-term rental in the city, which means anyone, including a curious neighbor, can check whether an address is licensed before they even file a complaint.

How to Start a Short-Term Rental Business in Denver, Colorado

Given how much of that enforcement hinges on the primary-residence test, the order you tackle these steps in matters more than it might seem.

1. Confirm the property is genuinely your primary residence. Not "sometimes," not "when I'm not renting it." Read the criteria in the first section again before you spend a dollar.
2. Check zoning and any HOA covenant. Denver Zoning Code section 11.8.10 permits short-term rentals as an accessory use almost everywhere residential use is allowed, but your HOA can still override that.
3. Line up insurance. Get $1,000,000 in liability coverage, whether your own policy or a hosting platform's, and notify your carrier that the property will be used as a short-term rental.
4. Notify your HOA in writing, if you have one, and keep proof of it for the affidavit.
5. Install the required safety equipment: smoke detectors, a carbon monoxide detector, and a fire extinguisher.
6. Name a local responsible party who can respond to issues while you're away.
7. Gather your documents: a valid Colorado ID, two backup documents from different categories, and, if you rent, your landlord's signed permission.
8. Register your account in Denver's Permitting and Licensing Center using Chrome or Safari, and apply for the short-term rental license.
9. Pay the $50 application fee and $100 license fee, then wait for the initial review, budgeting up to 90 days if your file gets a specialist review.
10. Register for a lodger's tax account through the eBiz Tax Center once your license comes through.
11. Put your license number on every listing and advertisement, since it's unlawful to advertise without it.
12. Diarize your renewal date. The license runs one year and can be renewed up to 60 days ahead, while your lodger's tax license runs on its own separate two-year cycle.

Who to Contact in Denver, Colorado about Short-Term Rental Regulations and Zoning

Whichever step trips you up, three offices between them handle almost everything.

Licensing and the application itself

The Denver Department of Licensing and Consumer Protection issues and administers short-term rental licenses.

• Address: 201 W. Colfax Ave., Dept. 206, Denver, CO 80202
• Office hours: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday
• Contact: through the department's online contact form; Denver doesn't publish a direct dial-in line for this office beyond 311
• Apply and check status: through Denver's Permitting and Licensing Center

Complaints about a short-term rental in your neighborhood

Denver 311 takes short-term rental complaints and routes them to the department.

• Phone: 3-1-1 inside Denver, or 720-913-1311 from outside the city
• Hours: Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
• TTY: 720-913-8479
• For loud disturbances or suspicious activity: the police non-emergency line, 720-913-2000
• Emergencies: 911

Taxes: the lodger's tax and eBiz account

Denver's Treasury Division handles the lodger's tax license, the Occupational Privilege Tax, and the eBiz Tax Center.

• Phone: 720-913-9400, Taxpayer Service Unit
• Online: register and file at denvergov.org/ebiztax

For zoning questions specifically, like whether a change of occupancy applies to a non-primary-residence property, Denver's Community Planning and Development department runs the permitting side of that through the same denvergov.org portal; do check its "Find Your Zoning" tool before you assume a property qualifies. Since Denver's city and county government are one and the same, the Denver County guide covers this identical ordinance from the property-records and county-permitting side, worth a second read if that's the angle you need. And comparing Denver's numbers against what the property could earn is worth doing before any of this: Denver market data on BNBCalc breaks down occupancy and revenue at the neighborhood level, so you're not licensing a property that was never going to pencil out.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can You Legally Run an Airbnb in Denver, Colorado in 2026?

Yes, but only if the property is genuinely your primary residence, meaning the place you live and usually return to. Denver requires a short-term rental license from the Department of Licensing and Consumer Protection, and platforms are legally barred from processing payment for an unlicensed listing. A non-primary-residence property doesn't qualify for this license at all; it would need a lodging facility license instead, a much heavier path involving zoning and construction changes.

How Much Does a Denver Short-Term Rental License Cost?

The application fee is $50, plus a $100 annual license fee, so budget $150 for your first year and $100 for each renewal after that. The license itself lasts one year and can be renewed online up to 60 days before it expires. A separate lodger's tax license costs $50 for a two-year cycle running on its own schedule, so the two renewal dates don't line up with each other.

Does Denver Require You to Live in the Property You Rent Out?

Yes. Denver only licenses short-term rentals at a host's primary residence, defined as the place where your habitation is fixed and your usual place of return. You don't have to be present during a guest's actual stay, and you can rent out a single room or the whole home, but the property has to be somewhere you genuinely live, not a second home, a pure investment property, or a unit you rarely visit.

What Taxes Do You Pay on a Denver Airbnb?

A Denver short-term stay carries a 10.75% city Lodger's Tax plus a combined 4.0% state and special-district sales tax (2.9% state, 1.0% RTD, 0.1% SCFD), for a combined 14.75% on the room charge, according to Denver's own tax guide. Hosts running this as a business also owe Denver's Occupational Privilege Tax, which nets to $48 a year for a self-employed host with no staff. Airbnb collects the state and Denver lodger's tax portions automatically; hosts should confirm the rest against their own payout statements.

What Happens If You Operate an Unlicensed Short-Term Rental in Denver?

Fines run up to $999 per incident, and the city can deny, suspend or revoke a license for violating the rules or for harming a neighborhood's health, safety or welfare. Beyond that, since Council Bill CB20-1229 took effect, booking platforms themselves face a $1,000-per-violation, per-day civil penalty for accepting payment on an unlicensed Denver listing, so an unlicensed listing risks losing its ability to take bookings at all, well beyond a fine down the road.

Last verified: July 2026. Every ordinance, tax rate, state law, and contact detail in this guide links to or comes from its official source.