Grays Harbor County, WA Short-Term Rentals: Repeat Violator Strikes (2026)

Section 17.60.020(G) sets out the county's short-term rental violations framework. G.2 defines permit violations to include advertising or renting without a valid permit, failing to include the permit number in advertising, advertising outside the permit's approved scope, and failing to remit required taxes. G.3 defines operation violations to include failing to maintain required records and a local contact person's failure to satisfactorily respond to or resolve guest complaints. G.4 then lays out two separate strike schedules. For permit violations, a first notice of violation is a written warning, and a second notice carries a one-thousand-dollar penalty and immediate revocation of the short-term rental permit, a two-strike system with no third chance.

For operation violations, the schedule runs four steps: a first notice is a written warning, a second notice carries a five-hundred-dollar penalty or revocation of the permit, a third notice carries a one-thousand-dollar penalty or revocation, and a fourth notice results in revocation of the permit outright. Subsection H sets the complaint pipeline that feeds this schedule: a complainant must first contact the permit-holder or local contact person, and only if that contact fails to resolve the complaint does the complainant notify the county planning division in writing; the division investigates and, if the complaint is accurate, issues the notice of violation that starts or advances the strike count.

Subsection H.3 lets any person appeal an administrator's decision under this section to the county board of adjustment, giving a permit-holder facing revocation a path to contest it.