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

Do you own a place in Lakewood, Colorado and you're wondering whether you can put it on Airbnb or Vrbo? Well, the good news is, you can, though probably not the way most investors picture it. Lakewood has licensed short-term rentals since September 1, 2023, and the city clerk will hand one out to almost any home in town. The catch is that "almost any home" means your own home. The license only goes to a dwelling that's the owner's actual primary residence, so a condo bought purely to rent out by the night doesn't qualify, no matter how good the spreadsheet looks.

That trade is worth sitting with before you buy anything here. Lakewood sits in Jefferson County, part of the Denver metro area, and its rule cuts the opposite direction from a lot of cities you'll read about elsewhere: you can run a short-term rental in any zoning district in town, which removes a headache plenty of other cities create for themselves, but you can only run it in the house you actually live in. Only one rental contract is allowed at a time, too, so renting three bedrooms to three separate parties on the same night isn't the workaround it might look like on paper.

So let's walk through what it takes to do this properly in 2026: the license itself, the documents Lakewood wants before it grants one, the taxes that stack on top of a booking, and how seriously the city chases down the hosts who skip all of it. Every figure below comes from the city's own ordinance, its City Clerk's and Finance pages, and Colorado's own tax department, checked in July 2026. If you're weighing a Lakewood primary residence against an investment property somewhere with looser rules, run both through BNBCalc first.

What are short term rental (Airbnb, VRBO) regulations in Lakewood, Colorado?

That comparison starts with the ordinance itself, because it's shorter and more specific than most cities bother writing. Lakewood adopted Ordinance O-2023-5, which added Chapter 5.55 to the Lakewood Municipal Code and took effect September 1, 2023. A short-term rental, or STR, is defined as the rental of any real property, or any portion of it, for no more than 29 consecutive days, excluding hotels, motels and bed-and-breakfasts already licensed under a different chapter. Cross that 29-day line and you're in ordinary long-term-rental territory, no STR license required at all.

Two rules do almost all the work. First, only a dwelling that is the owner's primary residence can be licensed as an STR. Lakewood defines primary residence as the place where a person's habitation is fixed and to which they usually return, and a person can only have one. A permitted accessory dwelling unit on the same lot as your primary residence counts as part of it, not a separate property, so an ADU rental can ride on the same license. Second, the STR can operate in any zoning district in the city, which is genuinely unusual. Most cities carve out which neighborhoods allow short-term rentals at all. Lakewood skips that fight entirely and regulates through the license instead of the map.

One thing the ordinance notably doesn't do is require you to be home during the stay. Read through the whole chapter and there's no "hosted" requirement, no rule that the owner has to be on-site while guests are there, the way some cities demand. What Lakewood requires instead is ownership. The license goes to the record owner as listed with the Jefferson County Assessor, that owner has to certify the home is their primary residence, and only one rental contract can run at a time. Beyond that, you can rent the whole house to one party for the weekend and go stay somewhere else yourself. Some cities require a "hosted" stay where the owner has to be on-site the entire time; Lakewood doesn't go that far, even though both approaches land on the same "primary residence only" bottom line.

Lakewood's authority to write any of this comes from its own charter, not from a state mandate. The ordinance's preamble states plainly that Lakewood is a home rule municipality organized under Article XX of the Colorado Constitution, and that its charter vests all municipal legislative power in the City Council. Colorado's legislature separately authorized counties to license and regulate short-term rentals through HB20-1093 in 2020, but that statute governs county boards of commissioners, not home-rule cities like Lakewood, which already had the power to do this on its own. That distinction matters if you're comparing markets, since unincorporated parts of Jefferson County outside Lakewood's city limits answer to the county's own rules instead, and our Colorado statewide guide covers how that patchwork looks across the rest of the state.

Starting a Short Term Rental Business in Lakewood

Since the whole license turns on that one word, primary residence, plan around it before you look at anything else. If you're picturing a portfolio of nightly-rate rentals scattered across Lakewood, that plan doesn't work here. The city council considered letting non-resident owners license a property and wrote that option back out of the final ordinance, so the answer for an investor hoping to run Lakewood like a hotel chain is no, full stop.

What's available instead is closer to renting out your own house, or a spare unit on your own lot, on the nights you're not using it yourself. A few things can knock even a qualifying home out of contention before you spend the application fee:

• A homeowners association or private covenant that bars short-term rentals. The city requires a notarized affidavit that no private rule prohibits STR use, and if covenants exist, you have to submit them as proof they don't. Check your HOA documents before you do anything else.
• A property with a recent nuisance history. Any address with two or more calls for service, or two or more code enforcement complaints, in the prior 12 months has to meet with the Lakewood Police Department or Code Enforcement to work out mitigation before a license gets issued.
• A revoked or suspended license in the last five years. The City Clerk can deny a new application on that basis alone, regardless of who currently owns the home.
• An FHA-financed home. FHA loan terms generally don't permit rentals under 30 days, so check your own mortgage agreement before assuming the license is the only approval you need.

If your situation doesn't clear that list, the realistic pivot is the same one investors use in stricter cities: a furnished rental of 30 consecutive days or more, which falls outside the STR definition entirely and needs no license under this chapter. It's a different business, with different guests and a different rate, but it's a legal one. Denver runs a nearly identical primary-residence rule just across the county line, which our Denver County guide covers in more depth, so the two suburbs are worth comparing side by side if you're deciding where to buy.

Required Documents for Lakewood Short Term Rentals

Assuming your home does qualify, there's still the paperwork, and that's the long pole here, not the ordinance itself. Lakewood won't accept an incomplete application at all, and every piece below has to be attached before the City Clerk's Office will even look at your submission:

• Proof of primary residence for each owner, either a driver's license or two of: a valid vehicle registration, voter registration at that address, a recent federal or state tax return, or a utility bill from the last 60 days.
• Proof of ownership, a copy of the deed recorded with the Jefferson County Assessor.
• Proof of insurance, at least $500,000 in liability coverage with a specific endorsement covering use as a short-term rental.
• A self-prepared floor plan of the entire home, labeling which rooms will be used for the STR.
• A copy of your HOA covenants, only if applicable, showing STRs aren't prohibited.
• A city sales and use tax license, or a screenshot proving your hosting platform already collects sales tax on your behalf.
• A notarized Affidavit of Ownership and Primary Residence, signed by every owner.
• A notarized Affidavit of Compliance, also signed by every owner.
• A home inspection form, signed within 30 days of applying by a certified third-party inspector (ASHI, InterNACHI, or a Certified Master Inspector).
• A Community Notice Form, mailed via certified mail to every abutting property within 10 days of submitting your application, under LMC §5.55.110.

Don't forget the fee itself: $150, non-refundable, paid by credit card through the city's eTRAKiT portal. Renewal is cheaper at $75, but it comes around every year, and it's due before the license expires with the same proof of residence, current insurance and tax documentation attached again.

Lakewood Short Term Rental Taxes

Assuming you get through all of that and are able to start hosting, there's still tax to deal with, and it stacks in six separate layers. Going through Colorado's own DR 1002 rate publication, current as of January 2026, here's exactly what applies to a Lakewood address:

Charge	Rate	Collected by
Colorado state sales tax	2.9%	Colorado Department of Revenue
Jefferson County sales tax	0.5%	Colorado Department of Revenue (state-collected)
RTD (Regional Transportation District) tax	1.0%	Colorado Department of Revenue (state-collected)
SCFD (Scientific & Cultural Facilities District) tax	0.1%	Colorado Department of Revenue (state-collected)
City of Lakewood sales tax	3.0%	City of Lakewood (self-collected, home rule)
City of Lakewood accommodations tax	3.0%	City of Lakewood (self-collected, home rule)

That's 10.5% total on a taxable stay. The city's own accommodations tax guide is explicit that the 3% accommodations tax sits on top of sales tax and doesn't replace it, and it walks through an example that matches this exact situation: a Lakewood homeowner renting a room in her primary residence for under 30 days has to hold both a sales tax account and an accommodations tax account, and must collect both taxes from guests. The one real exemption is a stay of 30 consecutive days or more, backed by a written agreement, which escapes both city taxes since it's no longer a short-term rental at all.

Property tax is the one area worth flagging as unsettled rather than fixed. Colorado lawmakers tried twice in 2024 to reclassify short-term rentals for property tax purposes. HB24-1299 would have moved non-owner-occupied STRs into a commercial "lodging property" tax class, while SB24-033 targeted any property rented short-term more than 90 days a year and would have created a statewide STR database on top of that. Both bills were postponed indefinitely in committee and never became law, so neither change is in effect. Since Lakewood only licenses owner-occupied primary residences anyway, most of what those bills targeted wouldn't have applied to a compliant Lakewood host in the first place, but it's the kind of thing worth watching if you're planning years ahead rather than one season.

How to Comply with Lakewood Short Term Rental Taxes

Knowing the stack is one thing. Knowing who sends the check to whom is another, and this is where a lot of first-time hosts assume too much. Colorado law requires a "marketplace facilitator" like Airbnb or Vrbo to collect and remit all applicable state and state-administered local sales taxes on transactions made through its platform. That covers the 4.5% made up of the state, Jefferson County, RTD and SCFD portions above, generally without you lifting a finger.

What that rule doesn't reach is Lakewood's own two taxes. Because Lakewood is a home-rule city that collects its own sales tax and its own accommodations tax rather than routing them through the state, those two 3% charges sit outside the state's marketplace-facilitator mandate. Some Colorado resort towns have separately negotiated their own collection agreements with Airbnb and Vrbo; I couldn't confirm one exists for Lakewood specifically, so treat that as an open question and check your own platform's tax settings rather than assuming it's handled. If it isn't, you're the one remitting it.

That's exactly why the sales and accommodations tax accounts show up back in the document checklist: Lakewood requires both before it will even grant your license. Once you're registered, returns for each account get filed online separately, due by the 20th of the following month unless the city's Chief Financial Officer has approved a different schedule for you. Keep in mind that a delinquent tax account is also grounds for license revocation under Chapter 5.55, so this isn't a paperwork step you can let slide after your first busy month. If you're trying to figure out what a Lakewood room-share nets after all six tax layers compared to a fully legal whole-unit listing elsewhere, BNBCalc Markets is the faster way to run that comparison than a spreadsheet.

Does Lakewood strictly enforce STR rules?

Once you're squared away on tax, there's still the question of how seriously Lakewood chases down the hosts who skip all of this. The city's approach leans administrative rather than headline-grabbing: an unlicensed STR is required to cease operating the moment the city identifies it, and the ordinance built in a specific on-ramp for properties that were already generating complaints before this chapter existed. Any address with two or more calls for service or code enforcement complaints in a 12-month period has to sit down with police or code enforcement and work out a mitigation plan before it can even get licensed.

Once licensed, a fairly long list of things can still cost you that license. The City Clerk can deny an application outright for a false statement, a revoked or suspended license within the past five years, a public nuisance citation in the past 12 months, two or more substantiated noise violations, or a listing that omits the STR license number. The Lodging Facility Licensing Authority can go further still, once you're already licensed. It can issue an Order to Show Cause and suspend, place on probation, or revoke a license for those same grounds, plus a few more: outstanding orders from West Metro Fire, two or more calls for service in any 12-month stretch, a significant criminal act on the premises, delinquent city taxes, or an operation that's objectively hurting the health, safety or welfare of neighbors. The City Clerk can also summarily suspend a license immediately, without a hearing first, if there's probable cause of a willful violation or an undue risk to public safety.

Be aware that the ordinance doesn't spell out a specific dollar fine for operating without a license at all. It refers violations to "the general penalty provisions of the Lakewood Municipal Code" and to any applicable criminal code violation, and it states that each day of a violation counts as a separate one, which is how a stretched-out unlicensed operation adds up. I couldn't independently verify the dollar figure attached to that general penalty schedule from an official source, so I'm not going to guess at one here. What is confirmed is that the city can pursue civil nuisance abatement, injunctive relief and municipal court action on top of pulling the license itself, which is a meaningfully broader toolkit than a flat fine. Watch out, too, for the fact that a hosting platform showing your listing without your license number is itself grounds for both denial and revocation, so an easy compliance win is simply keeping that number visible everywhere your unit is advertised.

How to Start a Short Term Rental Business in Lakewood?

With all of that in mind, here's the order that actually saves you both time and the $150 application fee, since a few of these steps determine whether the rest are worth doing at all.

1. Confirm the home is genuinely your primary residence under Jefferson County Assessor records, and check any HOA or covenant documents for a short-term rental ban before you spend anything.
2. Buy the insurance first. You need at least $500,000 in liability coverage with an STR-use endorsement, and it takes time to line up if your current policy doesn't already cover it.
3. Book a certified home inspection with an ASHI, InterNACHI or Certified Master Inspector, since the signed report has to be dated within 30 days of your application.
4. Register for a City of Lakewood sales and use tax account and a hotel/motel accommodations tax account, unless you can document that your hosting platform already collects sales tax for you.
5. Prepare your floor plan and gather the notarized Affidavit of Ownership and Primary Residence and Affidavit of Compliance, signed by every owner.
6. Mail the Community Notice Form via certified mail to every abutting property within 10 days of submitting your application.
7. Create an eTRAKiT account, submit the full application online with every document attached, and pay the $150 fee.
8. Wait for the City Clerk's decision, which comes within 30 days of a complete submission, and post your license number in every advertisement the moment it's granted.
9. Diarize the renewal date. The license runs one year, renewal applications are due 45 days before expiration, and the renewal fee is $75.

Who to contact in Lakewood about Short Term Rental Regulations and Zoning?

Whichever step in that list trips you up, two city offices split the work between them, and knowing which one to call first saves a redirected phone call.

The Lakewood City Clerk's Office handles the license itself: new applications, renewals, document questions, and unlicensed-rental complaints.

• Phone: 303-987-7080
• Fax: 303-987-7088
• Email: [email protected]
• Address: City of Lakewood, City Clerk's Office, South Building, 480 S. Allison Parkway, Lakewood, CO 80226
• Apply or renew: through the city's eTRAKiT portal
• Report an unlicensed rental: the city's online complaint form, linked from the STR license page above

The City of Lakewood Finance / Revenue Division handles the two tax accounts: sales and use tax, and the hotel/motel accommodations tax.

• Phone: 303-987-7630
• Address: 480 S. Allison Parkway, Lakewood, CO 80226

What do Airbnb hosts in Lakewood on Reddit and Bigger Pockets think about local regulations?

Contact information answers one kind of question. What hosts and investors say about operating inside these rules is a different one, and it's worth taking seriously before you assume the license is a formality. On BiggerPockets, the recurring theme in Colorado short-term rental discussions isn't really about Lakewood specifically, it's about the Denver metro's owner-occupied rule in general. One realtor active on the forums lays out the region plainly: Denver proper restricts STRs to primary residences and requires a license, while nearby Arvada and Wheat Ridge allow investment-property short-term rentals, with Arvada not even requiring a license at all. Lakewood sits firmly on the stricter side of that line, right alongside Denver, which is exactly why investors researching this market keep landing on the same conclusion: buy here to live in it and host on the side, or buy somewhere else in the metro to run it as a pure investment.

That framing matches what the ordinance's own history shows. Lakewood's council actively considered letting non-resident owners hold a license and chose not to, which tells you the primary-residence rule isn't an oversight the city might loosen later, it's the policy they picked on purpose after weighing the alternative. Hosts who do qualify tend to describe the process as document-heavy but genuinely doable: the insurance, the inspection, the notarized affidavits and the certified-mail neighbor notice all take real effort, but nothing on that list requires specialized help beyond what a title company or a licensed inspector already provides. The honest takeaway for anyone comparing markets is that Lakewood rewards patience over scale. It's a solid market if you already live in the house and want the extra income; it's the wrong bet if the plan was ever a small portfolio of nightly-rate units.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can you legally run an Airbnb in Lakewood, Colorado in 2026?

Yes, but only if the property is your primary residence. Lakewood has licensed short-term rentals since September 1, 2023 under Municipal Code Chapter 5.55, and the license goes to the record owner of a home they actually live in, not to an investment property. You can operate in any zoning district in the city, and you don't have to be present during a guest's stay, but only one rental contract is allowed at a time and the home has to remain your usual residence.

How much does a Lakewood short-term rental license cost?

The initial application fee is $150, paid by credit card through the city's eTRAKiT portal, and it's non-refundable whether or not the license gets approved. Renewal costs $75 and is due every year, 45 days before the current license expires. On top of the license fee, plan for the cost of a $500,000-minimum liability insurance policy with a short-term-rental endorsement and a certified home inspection, both required before the city will approve the application.

Can you run a short-term rental in an investment property you don't live in, in Lakewood?

No. Lakewood only grants short-term rental licenses to a dwelling that is the owner's primary residence, and the city council specifically considered and rejected allowing non-resident owners to hold one. If you own a property in Lakewood that you don't live in, your realistic legal option under this ordinance is a furnished rental of 30 consecutive days or more, which falls outside the short-term rental definition entirely and needs no license under Chapter 5.55.

What taxes do you pay on a Lakewood short-term rental?

A taxable stay carries 10.5% combined tax. State, county, RTD and SCFD taxes add up to 4.5% and are collected automatically by platforms like Airbnb under Colorado's marketplace-facilitator law, while Lakewood's own 3% sales tax and 3% accommodations tax are self-collected by the city and may not be automatically remitted by your platform. Stays of 30 consecutive days or more are exempt from both city taxes.

What happens if you operate a short-term rental in Lakewood without a license?

The city requires you to stop operating immediately once it identifies an unlicensed rental, and the ordinance refers violations to the general penalty provisions of the Lakewood Municipal Code, with each day of continued operation counted as a separate violation. The city can also pursue civil nuisance abatement and injunctive relief through the courts. A listing missing its license number is itself grounds for denial if you do later apply, so an unlicensed run can cost you the ability to get licensed at all.

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