Short-term rentals in Chelan, explained properly.

Sec. 5.15.020 treats the terms overnight rental, nightly rental and vacation rental as interchangeable with short-term rental. Family means one or more persons (not more than five unrelated persons) living together as a single housekeeping unit, with familial-status and handicap exceptions. An owner includes any person who owns an interest in a business entity that holds title.

See Secs. 5.15.020, 5.15.080.A.2 and 5.15.080.B.4. The owner or the qualified person must keep a record of complaints and the actions taken, available for City inspection on request. Repeated failure to respond in time to complaints relayed by City staff is grounds for a warning and possible revocation (Sec. 5.15.090.A.4). The City's complaint form is used only if the owner or qualified person fails to respond or responds clearly inadequately.

Sec. 5.15.080.A.5. A scaled floor plan showing each sleeping area, its square footage, doors and windows must be submitted. Properties that want to accommodate more than ten tenants may need to comply with additional health and safety regulations set by the building official and be greater than 2,000 square feet gross floor area. Rentals that were legal before the chapter was adopted and don't meet the square-footage requirement are granted legal nonconforming status. The posted license shows the maximum occupancy.

Sec. 5.15.080.A.4. The application needs a parking diagram of the approved spaces for tenant vehicles, and the tenant parking areas must be designated and signed or otherwise made visible to the tenant in a prominent place in the dwelling. The posted license shows the number and location of approved parking spaces. The numeric parking ratio is in the City's public works development standards, which haven't been reviewed yet.

Sec. 5.15.080.A.7. The owner is responsible for keeping the rental in substantial compliance with applicable fire, building, health and safety codes. Within the first year after adoption the City was to provisionally approve licenses for six months on receipt of the self-certification checklist. The administrator's checklist form is referred to as Attachment B, which we haven't reviewed. Separately, weekly solid waste collection must be provided and trash must not be visible from public view and must be in proper containers on collection day; noise is governed by chapter 8.31 and nuisances by chapter 8.26.

Sec. 5.15.080.B.5 and A.6. Renewal applications may show evidence of a placard in place of annual mailings. If the contact information changes during the license period it must be mailed or distributed again, or changed on the placard or sign. The applicant must acknowledge receiving the good neighbor guidelines and show they were relayed to tenants (in the rental contract, a rental booklet, online, or posted in a conspicuous place in the dwelling). The City keeps an electronic database where anyone can enter a rental address and get the owner, agent or qualified person's name and phone number. The guidelines themselves (Attachment A) haven't been reviewed yet.

Sec. 5.15.080.A.14 lists state requirements for liability insurance for coverage of no less than $1,000,000 among the application requirements. It also requires registration with the Department of Revenue (UBI) as a separate item.

Secs. 5.15.040.C and 5.15.080.C. The posted license shows the unique license number and expiration date, the name and phone number of the owner or qualified person, the number and location of approved parking spaces, the maximum occupancy, any license-specific conditions, the property address and the City of Chelan logo.

Secs. 5.15.070.B and E. If the City has not received an application or renewal by the deadline it sends a notice of expiration, and the owner has 30 days to respond; an application is timely if the City receives a completed application with the required fees within that 30-day late period. If renewal fees are not paid by February 1 the City starts revocation, and if they are not paid by March 1 the rental must stop and the revocation is finalized. A license must be kept current even if the property was not rented in a 12-month period. The fee amounts, including any late fee, are set by council resolution and haven't been reviewed.

Sec. 5.15.080.A and B. A voluntary assurance of compliance, negotiated compliance agreement or deferred sentence agreement satisfies the no-pending-violations criterion. The hardship exception covers an owner's or family member's medical condition, the death of a spouse or family member, or a rental made uninhabitable by damage that is not self-imposed; the administrator may set a time limit of no more than six months, with a one-time extension on request. The City reserves the right to deny renewal where documented nuisances or complaints are on file (Sec. 5.15.070.E.2.a). The administrator may also require other information reasonably necessary to administer the chapter and may adopt administrative rules, which should be on file with the city clerk and posted on the City website; we haven't reviewed those rules.

Sec. 5.15.100. The administrator sends written notice of suspension or revocation with appeal information, and an appeal stays the decision until the hearing examiner rules. After revocation the dwelling can't be used as a short-term rental unless a new operating license and business license are granted, and the owner can't reapply for the same property for 12 months from the revocation date (Sec. 5.15.130.A). After a license expires the dwelling can't be used as a short-term rental except during the new-owner 60-day grace period, and new licenses must meet the current procedures, criteria and inspections (Sec. 5.15.130.B).

Sec. 5.15.110. Failure to comply with the standards of Secs. 5.15.070 and 5.15.080 is also a civil infraction. The business license fee and any late charges are a debt to the City collectible in court, and the remedies in the chapter are in addition to other legal remedies (Sec. 5.15.140). We haven't reviewed Chapter 2.80 yet, so this page doesn't state fine amounts.

Sec. 5.15.120. The hearing examiner decides appeals of decisions approving, denying, revoking or suspending a license in any zone. The administrator schedules the hearing within 30 days of receiving the notice of appeal. The City Council may set an appeal filing fee by resolution, which hasn't been reviewed.

RCW 82.08.020(1) levies a tax equal to six and five-tenths percent of the selling price on each retail sale in this state, including services within the RCW 82.04.050 definition of retail sale. The Department of Revenue's lodging taxes guide says lodging taxes are reported in addition to state and local sales tax, that additional charges directly related to the room rental (pet, smoking, cleaning, damage and early or late departure fees) are taxed in the same manner as the room, and that charges for telephone, parking, laundry and meeting rooms are not subject to lodging taxes. The local sales tax rate is added to the state rate and varies by location; it is not stated in these sources, so this page gives no combined total. The statute page also shows an additional state allocation beginning July 1, 2027 that is deposited in the multimodal transportation account (RCW 82.08.020(7)); the sources read do not say it changes the rate charged.

RCW 67.28.180(1) authorizes the legislative body of any county or city to levy a special excise tax of not to exceed two percent on the sale of or charge made for the furnishing of lodging that is subject to tax under chapter 82.08 RCW, subject to the conditions in subsections (2) and (3). Subsection (2)(a) requires a county ordinance or resolution to allow a credit against the county tax for the full amount of any city tax on the same taxable event, with exceptions for certain bond arrangements listed in the statute. This is the cap in this section only; the sources read do not list each place's actual rate. The Department of Revenue says consumers pay the special hotel/motel tax on transient lodging in many locations, that a convention and trade center tax applies to lodging in King County, and that tourism promotion area charges apply in designated areas; check the Department's tax rate lookup for the address. Each place's page shows its own local rate where it has been read.

WAC 458-20-282 says a marketplace facilitator must collect and remit sales or use tax on all taxable retail sales sourced to Washington on behalf of marketplace sellers, and from January 1, 2020 must also collect and remit other applicable taxes and fees, listing lodging taxes and charges as an example. The exclusion for travel agency and hotel marketplaces does not apply to a marketplace that facilitates the retail sale of transient lodging in homes, apartments, cabins or other residential dwelling units. Facilitators must register if they pass the thresholds the Department lists (more than $100,000 in combined Washington gross receipts, or physical presence nexus, among others). The Department's lodging guide says some marketplaces have agreed with it to collect and pay the taxes due on short-term rentals, tells the host to check the contract with the marketplace or property manager, and says a host may still have to register or report rental income and claim a 'Gross Sales Collected by Facilitator' deduction; it names Airbnb as collecting state and local retail sales tax, special hotel/motel taxes and convention and trade center taxes. Service fees or commissions charged by a marketplace or property manager cannot be deducted. The sources read do not say which other platforms collect, or whether a given booking site has done so for a given listing; check with the platform and the Department.

The statute and Department of Revenue pages saved for this state are tax provisions: RCW 82.08.020 (sales tax), RCW 67.28.180 (local lodging tax) and WAC 458-20-282 with the Department's marketplace and lodging guides. None of them sets a rule on whether or where a short-term rental may operate, requires a statewide registration, or limits what a city or county may require. We did not search the Washington Legislature's bill records or the chapters on landlord-tenant, local land use or hotel licensing, so this field is not a finding that Washington has no such law; it is marked for review until those are searched. Local ordinances, such as Bellingham's, set the licence and zoning rules.