Short-term rental permit rules in Longmont, CO — also called Airbnb permits, vacation rental licenses, or STR registration — list the application steps, fees, and operating requirements for hosting.
The City of Longmont requires every short term rental (rental of an entire dwelling or individual rooms for fewer than 30 consecutive days) to hold both a Short Term Rental (STR) license and a separate Sales and Use Tax license before advertising or accepting bookings. Only City of Longmont residents are eligible, only someone with at least 50% ownership of the dwelling (or their representative) may apply, and a Longmont resident may operate a maximum of one investment dwelling as an STR in addition to their primary residence. The STR license costs $100 to apply and $100 to renew annually; the Sales and Use Tax license carries a one-time $25 processing fee. Applications are filed online through the Accela Citizen Access (ACA) portal or in person at the Development Services Center, 385 Kimbark Street. Operating an STR without a current license is enforceable at up to $500 per day plus a possible summons.
Longmont's STR program is administered by the Planning and Development Services Department with code enforcement assistance, and the program web page at longmontcolorado.gov is the operative public-facing reference for applicants. A short term rental is defined on the program page as a rental for fewer than 30 days of an entire dwelling, or of individual rooms in an owner-occupied dwelling, marketed through platforms such as Airbnb, VRBO, or directly. Two separate licenses must be obtained in sequence: first the Sales and Use Tax license (which the Sales Tax Office at (303) 651-8672 issues for a $25 one-time processing fee), then the Short Term Rental license (filed through Accela Citizen Access for $100 initial and $100 annual renewal). Eligibility is restricted: only City of Longmont residents may hold an STR license, only persons with at least 50% ownership of the dwelling (or their authorized representative) may apply, and an individual resident is limited to one investment dwelling as an STR (the resident may also operate STRs in their own primary residence). When a license application is submitted, City staff review for completeness, the applicant is notified of approval, denial, or any need for additional information, and the license must be renewed annually. STRs are allowed in all city zone districts except Non-Residential Primary Employment (N-PE) and Public (N-PF). In the Residential Rural (R-RU) and Residential Single Family (R-SF) zones, only one STR is allowed per street segment of a block unless additional STRs receive conditional use approval through a pre-application meeting, neighborhood meeting, and Planning & Zoning Commission public hearing (subject to City Council appeal). The whole dwelling may be rented to only one group at a time; individual room rentals are allowed only when the owner, agent, or property manager resides and is present while the rooms are rented. Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) are not eligible to be operated as STRs except in specific Planned Unit Developments (PUDs) with site plan approval.
Operating a short term rental without a current Longmont STR license, or without the required Sales and Use Tax license, is a violation of the Longmont Municipal Code subject to fines of up to $500 per day and/or issuance of a summons to court. Code Enforcement (303-651-8695, code.enforcement@longmontcolorado.gov) investigates complaints about unlicensed STRs identified through neighbor reports, online listing audits, or sales-tax-data cross-referencing. Operating an STR in N-PE or N-PF zones, exceeding the one-investment-dwelling cap per resident, or operating a second STR on the same R-RU/R-SF street segment without conditional use approval are also actionable violations. Failure to renew the license annually invalidates the license and exposes the operator to the same daily fine. Non-resident owners are categorically ineligible, so listings tied to out-of-city ownership records may be referred to Code Enforcement on that basis alone. Violations may also trigger parallel enforcement under the City's Sales and Use Tax provisions and under Chapter 10.20 (Offenses Against the Public Peace) if noise or nuisance accompanies the operation.
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