Bellingham imposes a hard annual night cap on whole-unit STR rentals in residential zones under BMC 20.10.037: the dwelling unit may be rented as a whole unit no more than 95 days per year. This is paired with the 270-day primary-residence requirement (the owner or long-term renter must occupy the unit at least 270 days per year), so a residential-zone whole-unit STR effectively cannot operate more than 95 nights regardless of demand. Room rentals within a primary residence (where the host is present) have no day limit. STRs in commercial and Urban Village zones (Type II / Type III-A) are not subject to the 95-day cap and have no annual rental day limits. Bellingham's 95-day cap is materially more restrictive than most Washington cities and reflects the city's housing-supply concerns.
Bellingham's night-cap framework is built into BMC 20.10.037 and distinguishes sharply between residential-zone and commercial / Urban Village-zone STRs. In residential zones, the code provides that 'the dwelling unit, including accessory dwelling units, hosting the STR must serve as the primary residence of the owner or long-term renter (with at least a 270-day lease) for at least 270 days/year and the whole unit may be rented no more than 95 days/year.' The 95-day cap applies specifically to whole-unit rentals (i.e., the host is absent and the entire dwelling is rented). Room rentals within a primary residence, where the host is present and a portion of the home is rented, do not count against the 95-day cap, providing a regulatory incentive to keep host presence in residential neighborhoods. Bellingham contracts with a third-party compliance vendor (commonly Host Compliance / Granicus, referenced in the city's enforcement program) to monitor platform listings and cross-check rental nights against the cap. In commercial and Urban Village zones, BMC 20.10.037 expressly removes both the primary-residence requirement and the 95-day cap: 'in commercial and urban village general use type areas, the requirements for the minimum number of days per year the dwelling unit must serve as the primary residence of the applicant and the maximum number of days per year the dwelling unit may be rented do not apply.' Type II and Type III-A STRs can therefore operate year-round. Washington's statewide STR Act (RCW Chapter 64.37) does not impose any night cap, so the 95-day cap is purely a Bellingham requirement enacted to preserve residential housing stock in the city's primary residential zones (concerns sharpened by Bellingham's proximity to the San Juan Islands, Mt. Baker, and the WWU student housing market). Stays of 30 or more consecutive days fall outside the STR definition and do not count against the 95-day cap (they are long-term rentals governed by the Washington Residential Landlord-Tenant Act).
Exceeding the 95-day whole-unit rental cap in a Bellingham residential-zone STR is a BMC 20.10.037 permit-condition violation enforceable by Planning and Community Development through civil penalties, denial of biennial renewal, and STR permit revocation under BMC Chapter 21.10. The City's compliance-monitoring vendor scans Airbnb, Vrbo, and other platforms and produces rental-night reports that the city uses to identify cap violations; calendar data and tax filings can also be cross-checked. Falsely claiming that rentals are room rentals (no day limit) when in fact they are whole-unit rentals is a material misrepresentation supporting revocation and possible fraud referral. Operating in violation of the 270-day primary-residence requirement is a related and independent permit-condition violation that disqualifies the operator from a Type I residential-zone permit. Type II and Type III-A operators in commercial / Urban Village zones are not subject to the 95-day cap and have no equivalent violation.
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