Boulder, CO Short-Term Rentals: Short-Term Rental Permits (2026)

C. " Subsection (b) narrows who can even apply: a natural person named on the property deed, a trust whose beneficiary is a natural person, or a nonprofit corporation licensed under Internal Revenue Code Section 501(c), and the city manager has discretion to reject a nonprofit's application if it conflicts with the chapter's goal of preserving long-term rental housing and blocking investor-owned short-term rentals. The application itself, under subsection (c), must include a Colorado driver's license or ID card showing the unit as the applicant's (or beneficiary's) address, a sworn statement that the unit is the applicant's principal residence, proof of 501(c) status for a nonprofit applicant, a certification that the unit has operational smoke detectors, carbon monoxide detectors, and other required life-safety equipment, and the names and phone numbers of two contacts able to reach the property within 60 minutes.

A licensed applicant must hold at least a 50 percent fee-simple ownership interest in the property under subsection (d) or (e), and the city manager cannot license a unit owned in fee by a non-tax-exempt entity, cannot license more than one short-term rental to the same applicant, and cannot issue both a short-term rental license and a standard rental license for the same unit under subsections (f), (m), and (n). New applications for most short-term rental licenses stopped altogether after February 1, 2019, under subsection (o)(7)(A); only renewals of unexpired licenses, and a narrower festival lodging license under subsection (q), remain available today.