Short-term rentals in St. George, explained properly.

Every short-term residential rental must designate a local property manager who is available 24 hours a day to respond to tenant and neighborhood questions or concerns. A clearly visible sign inside the unit must show the manager's name and phone number, the unit's maximum occupancy and the garbage pick-up day. The code does not say how the maximum occupancy is set.

The owner or property manager must remove garbage within 24 hours of tenants leaving. Each property must be cleaned at least weekly while occupied and between stays, and must meet the sanitary facilities requirements the code sets for motels. The property is also subject to the City's rental fit premises requirements for owner maintenance and repair, which we did not read.

The owner and the property manager are jointly and severally liable for violations of the article. A rental that violates the article or any other requirement of the City Code may have its short-term residential rental business license revoked. The article sets no fines of its own; we did not read the City's general penalty provisions.

Section 3-2V-1(C) makes every short-term residential rental subject to collection of the municipality transient room tax as allowed under Utah Code. The section does not give a rate, and we did not find an official St. George or Washington County rate page to save, so no rate or combined total is shown here. Utah's state transient room tax, sales tax and booking-platform collection rules are in the state section below.

Utah Code section 10-8-85.4 defines a short-term rental as a residential unit, or part of one, offered for occupancy for fewer than 30 consecutive days. A city may require the owner or lessee to get a business license or other permit before operating a short-term rental. A city may not prohibit listing or offering a short-term rental on a booking website, and may not fine or prosecute someone solely for listing one; it may use a listing as evidence that a rental took place if it has additional information showing a violation. Cities may not regulate booking websites, but a city that allows short-term rentals in some or all residential or commercial zones may ask a website to remove a listing that violates its business license or zoning requirements, identifying the listing's URL and the reason. A city that charges transient room tax may give listings to the county auditor as evidence that the tax may be owed. The section was last amended in the 2025 First Special Session (effective November 6, 2025).

The Utah State Tax Commission says amounts paid for temporary lodging (a hotel, motel, inn, tourist home or similar accommodation for less than 30 consecutive days) are subject to both sales tax and transient room tax. Stays of 30 consecutive days or longer are exempt from both. Charges such as cleaning fees are taxable for both sales tax and transient room tax. Sales tax is reported on form TC-62M or TC-62S and transient room tax on TC-62T.

The Utah State Tax Commission lists the state sales and use tax rate as 4.85%. Local sales taxes are added on top and vary by city and county; the Tax Commission publishes the combined rate for each location in quarterly rate charts at tax.utah.gov/sales/rates. Lodging is taxed at the rate for the rental's location, not the owner's mailing address.

Transient room tax is charged on stays of less than 30 consecutive days, in addition to sales and other applicable taxes. The Tax Commission says the rate for a location may combine: a 1.07% statewide transient room tax; an extra 0.25% state transient room tax in Salt Lake County; a county-wide transient room tax (up to 4.5% in counties other than Salt Lake County; Salt Lake County imposes 4.25% plus a 0.5% tourism transient room tax); and a city or town transient room tax of up to 1% (with an additional amount allowed for cities that meet certain requirements). Check the Tax Commission's current rate chart for the exact rate at a location.

The Tax Commission says every seller with an established presence in Utah must have a Utah sales tax license, and lists accommodations of less than 30 consecutive days among the businesses that typically must register. You apply online through the Taxpayer Access Point (tap.utah.gov). Sellers whose sales all go through a marketplace facilitator do not need a license for those facilitated sales unless they also make sales outside the marketplace.

Under Utah's marketplace rules, a marketplace facilitator is treated as the seller of what it facilitates and must collect sales tax and all sales-related taxes, including transient room tax. Sellers cannot opt out of having the facilitator collect, and are not liable for taxes the facilitator must collect. A host with a Utah sales tax license still files returns but does not report sales made through a marketplace.