Fayetteville, WV Airbnb & Short-Term Rental Regulations 2026

Regulation Overview

Gateway town to the New River Gorge National Park & Preserve; whitewater rafting, rock climbing, and the New River Gorge Bridge drive strong weekend and seasonal demand for cabins and in-town short-term rentals.

The only clearly confirmed, currently-in-force requirement is the county health permit; no confirmed cap, zoning ban, or owner-occupancy rule was found, and the town's own STR-specific ordinance status could not be verified as current.

West Virginia State Law

State preemption: No state preemption. West Virginia has no statute barring local short-term-rental regulation, so cities, towns and counties set their own permitting, zoning and caps independently; the one state-imposed layer is a health permit.

Statewide rules: Every short-term rental must hold an annual health permit under West Virginia's General Sanitation Rule, issued by the relevant county health department (fee generally scaled to bedroom count). Operators must also obtain a business registration certificate (reported at $30) from the West Virginia State Tax Department before renting a unit for fewer than 30 consecutive days.

Taxes: West Virginia's state consumer sales/use tax (6%) plus a state lodging excise tax (6%) combine to roughly 12% on lodging statewide. Counties and municipalities may additionally levy a local hotel occupancy tax by ordinance — West Virginia Code sets a base rate of 3% with authority to raise it (reported up to 6% for counties under §7-18-2, and higher for some municipalities under §8-13-3) — the actual adopted local rate varies by jurisdiction and was not independently confirmed for every market below.

2025–2026 legislation: No statewide STR preemption or licensing bill was confirmed as enacted for 2025/2026. A hotel-occupancy-tax-rate bill (HB 4776) was tracked in legislative databases but its specific short-term-rental relevance and current status were not confirmed.

Fayetteville Rules

Governing jurisdiction: Fayette County Health Department (health permit, confirmed); Town of Fayetteville (business license/zoning — current ordinance status not fully confirmed); WV State Tax Department (business registration)..

• All short-term rentals in Fayette County need an annual health permit under West Virginia's General Sanitation Rule, issued by the county health department.
• The health permit fee is based on the number of bedrooms in the unit; the department coordinates an on-site inspection before issuing the permit.
• Permits run on a calendar-year basis (January 1 – December 31) and must be renewed annually.
• A change of ownership or a major remodel triggers a requirement for a brand-new health-permit application.
• Fayette County's tourism economy (rafting, climbing, the New River Gorge Bridge) supports an estimated 750 jobs and a $75.4 million annual impact, per the WV Association of Convention & Visitors Bureaus.
• Beyond the county health permit, operators must obtain a state business registration certificate from the WV State Tax Department before renting under 30 consecutive days.
• The Town of Fayetteville itself has, at various points, discussed requiring its own STR permit/business license, but a confirmed, current ordinance text was not located.

Not confirmed

We could not verify the following against a primary source. Confirm each with the jurisdiction before you rely on it:

• Whether the Town of Fayetteville currently enforces its own STR permit, and if so, its fee and requirements.
• Zoning restrictions or banned zones, if any, within town limits.
• Occupancy limits, minimum stay, and penalties.
• The specific local hotel occupancy tax rate adopted by Fayette County or the Town of Fayetteville.

Buyer Due Diligence Checklist

Before you write an offer on a short-term rental here:

• Get a written determination from the governing jurisdiction for the specific parcel. Verbal guidance from anyone else is not diligence.
• Establish which jurisdiction governs — city, town, village and unincorporated county can differ sharply within a few miles.
• Ask whether an existing permit transfers on sale. In many markets it does not, and a listing marketed as a running short-term rental may convey nothing of the sort.
• Read the HOA or condo covenants during your inspection period. Private covenants bind even where the jurisdiction permits the use.
• Model revenue against the legal occupancy cap, not the bedroom count.

Frequently Asked Questions