4 county-level rules, plus city-specific rules for 4 cities in Snohomish County, Washington.
Verified from official government sources
Unincorporated Snohomish County does not have a stand-alone short-term rental permit ordinance, so operators are governed primarily by Washington's statewide framework in RCW 64.37 (enacted 2019). Operators must hold a state business license, carry $1 million in liability insurance (or use a platform that does) under RCW 64.37.050, post safety information and CO/smoke alarm compliance under RCW 64.37.030 and RCW 19.27.530, and remit state and local lodging and sales taxes under RCW 82.08. Incorporated cities (Snohomish, Edmonds, Everett, Lynnwood, Marysville) layer their own STR permits on top.
Chapter 64.37 RCW - Short-Term Rentals (operator and platform requirements)
A short-term rental platform must register with the department. A short-term rental platform may not engage in the business in the state of Washington unless the short-term rental platform is in compliance with the requirements of this chapter. A short-term rental operator must maintain primary liability insurance to cover the short-term rental unit in the aggregate of not less than one million...
Short-term rental operators in unincorporated Snohomish County must register statewide with the Washington Department of Revenue under RCW 64.37, collect Washington state retail sales tax, county/state lodging taxes under RCW 67.28, and remit them through the DOR combined excise tax return. The county does not levy a separate STR-specific permit fee; building, septic, and zoning fees follow the underlying use under SCC Title 30.
Chapter 64.37 RCW - Short-Term Rentals (tax remittance obligations)
A short-term rental operator must remit all applicable local, state, and federal taxes unless the short-term rental platform on which the operator lists the operator's short-term rental does this on the operator's behalf. Applicable taxes include occupancy, sales, lodging, and other taxes, fees, and assessments. A short-term rental platform must inform its operators of their potential tax oblig...
Snohomish County does not publish a separate STR-specific parking standard in Title 30 SCC. Off-street parking for an STR in an unincorporated single-family or duplex dwelling defaults to the residential minimums in the SCC parking chapter (generally two stalls per single-family home plus one per ADU). Bed and breakfast inns and guesthouses under SCC 30.28.020 add guest-room parking. On-street parking on county roads follows SCC Title 13 and the rules of the road in RCW 46.61.
Snohomish County's Title 30 (Unified Development Code) does not set a numeric guests-per-bedroom cap for short-term rentals in unincorporated areas. Maximum occupancy defaults to the Washington State Building Code (RCW 19.27 / WAC 51-51), which adopts the IRC requirement of at least 70 sq ft for the first sleeping occupant and 50 sq ft per additional occupant. Bed and breakfast inns and guesthouses regulated under SCC 30.28.020 require a certificate of occupancy with annual inspection.
4 cities in Snohomish County have their own short-term rentals rules. Each link goes to that city's dedicated page with code citations.
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