Washington, DC Airbnb & Short-Term Rental Regulations 2026

Regulation Overview

The nation's capital draws steady business, political, and tourist travel year-round, but DC law confines legal STR/vacation-rental operation to a host's own primary residence — there is no path to a pure non-owner-occupied investment STR here.

DC law requires every licensed STR/Vacation Rental to be the host's actual primary residence (Homestead-Tax-Deduction-eligible) and restricts licensure to natural persons — this bars the classic non-owner-occupied investment-property STR model citywide, and the Vacation Rental type additionally caps absentee-host nights at 90/year.

Washington, D.C. State Law

State preemption: Not applicable — DC has no sub-jurisdictions; the Short-Term Rental Regulation Act of 2019 (D.C. Law 22-268) applies District-wide, administered by DLCP.

Statewide rules: DLCP issues two license types via boss.dc.gov: (1) Short-Term Rental (STR) license — host's primary residence, host present during the stay, unlimited rental days per year, 30-consecutive-night max per stay; (2) Vacation Rental (VR) license — host's primary residence but host absent, capped at 90 cumulative nights per year (exemptions for work relocation or medical treatment exceeding 90 days), 30-consecutive-night max per stay. Both cost $99 for a 2-year license. Only a natural person (not an LLC or corporation) may hold a license, and the unit must qualify for DC's Homestead Tax Deduction, i.e. be the host's actual primary residence — this structurally bars non-owner-occupied investment STRs citywide. Requires $250,000+ liability insurance, a Clean Hands certificate, smoke/CO detectors, a fire extinguisher, a 24-hour emergency contact, and confirmation that condo/HOA bylaws permit rentals.

Taxes: Combined 15.95% sales/use tax on transient accommodations (10.20% base transient-accommodations rate + 4.45% additional gross-receipts tax), extended through September 30, 2027 per DC OTR's October 2025 notice; applies to STR/VR platforms the same as hotels.

2025–2026 legislation: No new DC STR bill found beyond the FY2026 Budget Support Act's extension of the 15.95% tax rate through Sept 30, 2027; the core primary-residence licensing framework (2019 Act) is unchanged.

Washington Rules

Governing jurisdiction: District of Columbia — Department of Licensing and Consumer Protection (DLCP), under the Short-Term Rental Regulation Act of 2019.

• DC restricts STR and Vacation Rental licenses to a host's own primary residence, verified via eligibility for DC's Homestead Tax Deduction — non-owner-occupied investment STRs are not legally possible citywide.
• Only a natural person can hold a license; LLCs and corporations are explicitly barred from operating STRs or Vacation Rentals.
• The Vacation Rental license (host absent, guest has exclusive use) is capped at 90 cumulative nights per year, versus unlimited days for the owner-present STR license.
• Both license types cost $99 for a 2-year term and require $250,000+ liability insurance, a Clean Hands tax certificate, and working smoke/CO detectors plus a fire extinguisher.
• Combined District sales/transient-accommodations tax on STR stays is 15.95%, one of the highest effective lodging tax rates in the region.
• Individual STR/VR stays are capped at 30 consecutive nights regardless of license type.
• Because the licensing model is fundamentally owner-occupant-based, DC functions more as a house-hacking/room-rental market for investors than a classic whole-home vacation-rental market — include primarily as a cautionary/comparison market.

Not confirmed

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

• Whether any condo/co-op or HOA-level additional restrictions commonly apply beyond the bylaws-confirmation requirement.
• Enforcement penalty amounts for unlicensed operation were not confirmed from a primary source (only a complaint hotline was found).

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