Grays Harbor County, WA Short-Term Rentals: Insurance Requirements (2026)

County Code Section 17.60.020(B)(7) makes liability insurance a permit standard for every short-term rental in the general development, general residential, resort residential, rural residential, Lake Quinault and general commercial zones where short-term rentals are allowed. The insurance must be current and valid, must be for one million dollars or more, and must cover the use of the short-term rental unit as required by RCW 64.37.050, the state's short-term rental statute, or its successor. The permit-holder attests to this coverage as part of the application the administrator reviews under subsection E before issuing a permit listing the property address, permit-holder's name, permit number, occupancy limit and a local contact who must be reachable twenty-four hours a day and able to respond in person within three hours.

Permits run for one year and must be renewed at least thirty days before expiration; subsection E.5 requires a fresh attestation of all E.1 and E.2 information, plus a new attestation of tax payment, at each renewal, so the insurance condition is re-confirmed annually rather than only at initial issuance. Because insurance sits inside the general standards in subsection B rather than the separate violations list in subsection G, a lapse is enforced the same way as any other standards failure: the planning division can investigate a complaint and issue a notice of violation, and the section's remedy clause in subsection G.1 lets the county pursue any legal or equitable remedy available for a violation of the section. A permit-holder who cannot show the required coverage on request risks the same escalating warning-to-revocation track that applies to other permit violations.