Adams County, CO Short-Term Rentals: Taxes & Fees (2026)

The county rule is Section 4-03-03-02-11 of the Adams County Development Standards and Regulations, the adopted code the county publishes through Municipal Code Online. It treats a short-term rental as an accessory use in any dwelling and allows it only with a valid license from the County. The owner must file a written application for a Short-Term Rental License with the Community & Economic Development Department at least thirty (30) days before advertising or leasing the property, the application is not complete until all required information is submitted, and a renewal application is due at least thirty (30) days before the existing permit expires.

The license expires one (1) year following the year of initial issuance or when title transfers to a new owner, whichever comes first. Any rental proposing occupancy of more than twelve (12) people needs a Conditional Use Permit in place of the license. The remaining subsections, which are not quoted here, set a responsible agent who must respond within one hour, one parking space per unit with at most five cars outdoors, a trash plan, a maximum occupancy of two per bedroom plus four or one per 200 square feet, and a two-year bar on reapplying after a revocation.

What the section does not contain is a fee schedule or a lodging tax. Taxes come from state law. S. S. 39-26-704(3)(a) exempts a natural person who is a permanent resident under a written agreement for occupancy of at least thirty consecutive days during the calendar year or the preceding year. Subsection (3)(b) extends that thirty-day exemption, on or after January 1, 2021, to any local sales tax that is based on the state tax, unless the local government expressly subjected such stays to its tax when it adopted or amended its ordinance.

A nightly booking in unincorporated Adams County is therefore taxable at the state level, while a stay of thirty consecutive days or more under a written agreement is exempt, and the county's own regulation adds licensing conditions rather than a tax of its own.