Seattle, WA Short-Term Rentals: Extended Home Share (2026)

B). Because that cap would have forced many existing hosts to shut down units overnight, the Council wrote in a transition rule. 1, an operator who was already offering a short-term rental outside the Downtown Regional Center and First Hill/Capitol Hill exception zones before September 30, 2017 can obtain a license covering up to two dwelling units even without either one being a primary residence. After one full year of operating under that license, the operator may renew into a license covering those same two units plus a third dwelling unit, but only if that third unit is the operator's own primary residence.

4 requires the applicant to hand the SDCI Director a business license tax certificate showing the short-term rental use predated September 30, 2017, records of local, state, and federal tax remittance for the prior 12 months, a dated registry of short-term rental use for that same period, and, if the applicant is a renter rather than an owner, certification that the property owner authorized the tenant to run the short-term rental. 3 apply to operators who were inside the Downtown Regional Center or in certain post-2012 First Hill/Capitol Hill multifamily buildings before the same cutoff date; those tracks were most recently amended by Ordinance 127375 in 2025. B and must be renewed every year.