Pierce County, WA Short-Term Rentals: Insurance Requirements (2026)
Key Facts
- County insurance rule
- None in 18A.37.040
- State minimum
- $1M primary liability (RCW 64.37.050)
- Platform alternative
- Equal or greater platform coverage
- Platform notice
- Warn of personal-policy gaps
- Applies to
- All WA operators
Summary
Pierce County Code 18A.37.040 sets no local insurance mandate, but Washington's statewide Short-Term Rental Act controls. RCW 64.37.050 requires every operator to carry primary liability insurance of at least one million dollars, or to book only through a platform providing equal or greater coverage.
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.
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: the cited page had not changed since it was quoted.
Full Breakdown
The county vacation-rental section imposes no insurance requirement, so the binding rule for Pierce County hosts comes from Chapter 64.37 RCW, the statewide Short-Term Rental Act. RCW 64.37.050 requires an operator to maintain primary liability insurance covering the rental dwelling in the aggregate of not less than one million dollars, or to conduct each transaction through a platform providing equal or greater primary liability coverage. Because major platforms such as Airbnb and Vrbo provide host liability coverage meeting this threshold, hosts who book exclusively through such a platform can satisfy the requirement, while hosts who book directly must carry their own policy. RCW 64.37.040 separately requires platforms to notify operators that their homeowner policy might not cover short-term rental stays.
Violations & Fines
An operator who books directly without the required million-dollar primary liability insurance, and without a platform providing equivalent coverage, violates RCW 64.37.050. Hosts relying on a homeowner policy that excludes rental activity may be uninsured for a guest claim.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do Pierce County hosts need liability insurance?
Does booking through Airbnb satisfy the requirement?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Pierce County
Compare Pierce County to another location·View the Washington short-term rentals overview
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