Longmont, CO Short-Term Rentals: Night Caps (2026)

Unlike Denver (which caps unhosted rentals at 0 nights and requires owner-occupancy) or Steamboat Springs (which uses overlay zones and an annual cap regime), Longmont's STR program does not codify a per-year, per-quarter, or per-month night-cap on the number of nights a licensed STR may host. A licensed Longmont STR may book up to 365 nights per year provided the operator continues to satisfy all other license conditions. Scale is controlled by three indirect mechanisms instead of a night cap. First, eligibility is restricted to City of Longmont residents (no out-of-city investor operators) and each resident is limited to a maximum of one investment dwelling as an STR in addition to STR activity in their own primary residence. Second, the city imposes a density rule in the Residential Rural (R-RU) and Residential Single Family (R-SF) zones: no more than one STR is permitted per street segment of a block unless each additional STR receives conditional use approval through a pre-application meeting, neighborhood meeting, and Planning & Zoning Commission public hearing (subject to City Council appeal). The 'street segment' definition concentrates the density rule on contiguous block faces, and adjacent block faces are treated separately. Third, the city requires annual license renewal, and the renewal process is the mechanism through which the city evaluates whether an STR is creating ongoing nuisance for the surrounding neighborhood. Repeated noise, parking, occupancy, or other code complaints tied to a licensed STR address can be raised at renewal as grounds to deny the license. Operators in R-RU and R-SF zones must verify, before listing, whether another STR is already operating on their side of the street on their block; that check determines whether they can be approved at all or must go through conditional use review.