Kennewick, WA Short-Term Rentals: Insurance Requirements (2026)
Key Facts
- Statutory Source
- RCW 64.37.040 (SHB 1798, 2019)
- Minimum Liability Amount
- $1,000,000 per occurrence (primary)
- Compliance Path 1
- Operator-purchased primary coverage
- Compliance Path 2
- Booking through a platform that provides equivalent coverage
- Kennewick Local Layer
- None codified above statewide minimum
- Disclosure Duty
- Required to guest in writing (RCW 64.37.020)
Summary
RCW 64.37.040, part of the statewide Washington Short-Term Rental Operations Act enacted in 2019, requires every short-term rental operator in the state, including those operating in Kennewick, to maintain primary liability insurance of at least $1 million per occurrence covering the short-term rental, or to operate exclusively through a booking platform that provides equivalent coverage. The requirement attaches to every transient rental of fewer than 30 nights. Kennewick has not layered any additional local insurance requirement on top of the statewide minimum.
Liability insurance. A short-term rental operator must maintain primary liability insurance to cover the short-term rental dwelling unit in the aggregate of not less than one million dollars or conduct each short-term rental transaction through a platform that provides equal or greater primary liability insurance coverage.
Full Breakdown
37, enacted by Substitute House Bill 1798 (2019). 040 provides that an STR operator must maintain primary liability insurance to cover the short-term rental unit in an amount of not less than $1,000,000 per occurrence, or must conduct the short-term rental transaction through a short-term rental platform that provides equivalent coverage. The statute permits either operator-purchased coverage or platform-provided coverage. Major platforms (Airbnb's Host Liability Insurance, Vrbo's Liability Insurance) provide $1 million primary coverage on platform bookings, which satisfies the statutory threshold for stays booked through the platform; direct-booked stays require the operator to carry independent coverage.
A standard homeowner's policy or landlord's policy typically excludes commercial short-term rental activity, so operators commonly add a commercial endorsement or purchase a dedicated STR policy. 020 requires the operator to disclose to guests in writing the existence of liability coverage; the disclosure is part of the standard guest-arrival packet posted in the unit. Kennewick has not codified a higher local minimum, has not adopted a city-specific certificate-of-insurance filing requirement, and has not codified a city-specific named-insured endorsement. 040 minimum is the entire framework.
Violations & Fines
Failure to maintain the RCW 64.37.040 minimum $1 million primary liability insurance, or to operate exclusively through a platform that provides equivalent coverage, exposes the operator to enforcement under RCW 64.37.050, which authorizes civil enforcement. Where a guest is injured at an STR that lacks the required insurance, the operator faces both the underlying tort liability without coverage and a separate statutory violation. Failure to disclose coverage to a guest under RCW 64.37.020 is also enforceable under RCW 64.37.050. Operating a short-term rental in violation of an underlying homeowner's policy exclusion can result in policy rescission and denial of an unrelated claim; that consequence is contractual rather than statutory but is a routine practical risk where operators fail to convert to commercial coverage.
Frequently Asked Questions
What insurance does a Kennewick STR need?
Does Airbnb's Host Liability Insurance satisfy Washington's STR insurance requirement?
Does Kennewick require a certificate of insurance to be filed with the city?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Kennewick
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