Chelan County, WA Short-Term Rentals: Taxes & Fees (2026)

Chelan County Code § 3.24.010(a) sets the Community Development Department's short-term rental fees inside its annual planning fee schedule, which steps up on a set date: Tier 1 and Tier 2 annual or renewal permits cost $600.00 effective August 1, 2025, rising to $728.00 on August 1, 2026 and $832.00 on August 1, 2027. Tier 3 short-term rentals, which allow non-owner occupancy or occupancy above the Tier 1/2 caps, cost $900.00, $1,092.00 and $1,248.00 across those same three effective dates. Under Chelan County Code § 11.88.290, Tier 1 covers owner-occupied units or rentals capped at fifteen days a year; Tier 2 covers non-owner-occupied dwellings that don't hit Tier 3's higher occupancy; Tier 3 covers rentals, owner-occupied or not, that exceed the sixteen-person overnight cap. Any short-term rental that also needs a conditional use permit, for example to host weddings or exceed daytime occupancy limits, must obtain that CUP before applying for the short-term rental permit, and pays the separate CUP fee on top.

A property that never registered as required under § 11.88.290(2)(E) or (4)(B) and is caught operating after the fact does not just pay the standard fee: § 3.24.010(a) assesses it double the applicable fee for whichever tier the property should have held. These fees fund the Community Development Department's short-term rental land use permit program, which reviews occupancy caps, parking, garbage handling, noise, signage and fire-safety plans under § 11.88.290 before a permit issues, and which the department can revoke for repeat, unabated violations under Chapter 16.20.