Yakima, WA Short-Term Rentals: Host Presence Rule (2026)

Yakima's framework treats host presence as a zoning-classification trigger rather than a per-night mandate. The home-occupation rule in YMC 15.04.120(C) explicitly contemplates the owner residing in the home and renting out a portion on a short-term basis; that scenario is an outright permitted home occupation in residential zones, capped at five lodging units or guest rooms and subject to the thirteen home-occupation conditions (peaceful occupancy of neighbors, no front-yard parking unless screened, signage limits, minimal outward modification of structure and grounds, etc.). When the owner does not reside in the dwelling - i.e., a whole-house investment STR - the use is no longer an outright permitted home occupation and must be processed as a different lodging use through a Type 1, 2, or 3 land use review under YMC Chapter 15.04, with the level of review keyed to zone and intensity. The reviewing official can impose conditions, including requirements for a property manager available to respond to issues during stays. Statewide, RCW 64.37.020 imposes a baseline operator-contact duty on every Washington STR: 'All short-term rental operators... must provide contact information to all short-term rental guests during a guest's stay. The contact must be available to respond to inquiries at the short-term rental during the length of stay.' That duty applies to owner-occupied and non-owner-occupied STRs alike and is independent of any physical-presence requirement. Yakima does not have a Seattle-style or San Francisco-style 'host must reside at the STR for X nights per year' rule; the city's host-presence treatment is binary at the use-classification step (permitted home occupation vs. land use review) and supplemented by the state's 24/7 contact rule.