Red River Gorge (Slade), KY Airbnb & Short-Term Rental Regulations 2026

Regulation Overview

A Daniel Boone National Forest climbing/hiking destination where investors buy remote cabins for nightly rental; demand is driven by outdoor recreation and peaks on weekends and in leaf season, with STR activity spread across Wolfe, Powell, Menifee and Lee counties rather than concentrated in one town.

No cap, no owner-occupancy rule and no dedicated STR zoning ordinance were found for Wolfe County; rentals appear to need only general county permitting and safety-code compliance, though the available documentation is thin.

Kentucky State Law

State preemption: No state preemption currently in effect. Kentucky Senate Bill 112 (2026 Regular Session), which would bar local conditional-use-permit requirements, density caps, residency requirements, and location/time restrictions on short-term rentals, was introduced 1/21/2026 and remained pending in a Senate committee as of the last recorded legislative action (8/19/2026) — it has NOT been enacted, vetoed, or otherwise resolved as of this research date.

Statewide rules: No statewide STR registration or licensing program exists. Airbnb/VRBO collect and remit Kentucky's 1% statewide transient room tax (KRS 142.400) on behalf of hosts, and since January 1, 2023 these platforms are also required to collect and remit local transient room taxes.

Taxes: Kentucky's 6% state sales tax applies to short-term lodging, plus a 1% statewide transient room tax (KRS 142.400), plus local transient room taxes that vary by city/county.

2025–2026 legislation: SB 112, a broad statewide STR-preemption bill that would void local conditional-use-permit and density-cap ordinances like Louisville's and Lexington's, is pending in the Senate as of September 2026 and has not become law. Its status should be reconfirmed before assuming current local ordinances will remain unchanged.

Red River Gorge (Slade) Rules

Governing jurisdiction: Wolfe County Clerk's Office (and the equivalent offices in neighboring Powell, Menifee and Lee counties, since the Gorge crosses county lines); no dedicated municipal STR ordinance was identified for this area..

• Short-term rentals are legal and common in the Red River Gorge area, catering primarily to hikers, climbers and campers rather than business travelers.
• The Gorge itself sits within the Daniel Boone National Forest, and properties on national-forest land are subject to separate federal recreation-permit rules, not municipal STR rules.
• The Wolfe County Clerk's Office is the reported regulatory authority for rental compliance and permitting, but no dedicated STR ordinance text was located.
• Because the Gorge spans Wolfe, Powell, Menifee and Lee counties, the exact permitting authority for a given cabin depends on which county the parcel sits in.
• No statewide Kentucky STR license exists, so whatever baseline applies here is set entirely at the county level.
• Kentucky's 1% statewide transient room tax and 6% state sales tax apply regardless of county-level permitting gaps.

Not confirmed

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

• Whether Wolfe County (or Powell/Menifee/Lee counties) has any zoning ordinance specific to short-term rentals.
• Permit fee amount, if any.
• Occupancy limits, minimum stay, and penalties for noncompliance.
• Whether any county-level transient room/lodging tax applies.
• Exact jurisdictional boundaries for specific well-known STR clusters (e.g., Slade, Pine Ridge, Nada Tunnel).

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