Salt Lake County, UT Short-Term Rentals: Insurance Requirements (2026)

Unincorporated Salt Lake County regulates STRs under Chapter 5.19 (Title 5 - Business Licenses) and Sec. 19.04.547 (Title 19 - Zoning). Available research and the public-facing Municode index do not show a specific minimum liability-insurance dollar amount written into Chapter 5.19, and Utah Code Sec. 17-50-338 (as amended by HB 291, 2023) does not contain a state-mandated STR insurance floor - the statute is focused on protecting the act of listing or advertising an STR online and does not preempt or set insurance minimums. As a practical matter, most standard Utah homeowner (HO-3) and condominium (HO-6) policies exclude or sharply limit coverage for business activity, including short-term rental income, so operators commonly obtain one or more of: (1) platform-provided coverage such as Airbnb's Host Liability Insurance (advertised at up to USD 1 million per occurrence) or Vrbo's Liability Insurance, both of which apply only to bookings made on the respective platform and are excess to any other applicable insurance; (2) a commercial general liability (CGL) policy or short-term rental endorsement added to the homeowner policy; or (3) a stand-alone STR policy from carriers that specialize in vacation rentals. Mortgage lenders and HOAs may also impose insurance conditions independent of county code. Even in the absence of a county-imposed minimum, Chapter 5.19 requires compliance with all applicable building, fire, and life-safety codes (smoke alarms, carbon monoxide alarms, egress, fire extinguishers), and operators should treat insurance as a practical risk-management requirement rather than an optional extra. Other Utah jurisdictions (for example Park City and parts of Washington County) impose explicit insurance minimums on STR operators, but unincorporated Salt Lake County does not appear to do so on the face of the published code.