If you want to rent a home in unincorporated Summit County for stays shorter than 30 days, you need a Summit County short-term rental license in hand before the property goes live on Airbnb, VRBO, or any other platform.1Summit County. Short-Term Rentals The county issues three license types, caps the number available in most residential basins, and runs inspections, tax collection, and annual renewals against each one.
Does Your Property Even Fall Under the County?
The county’s STR rules apply only to properties in unincorporated Summit County.1Summit County. Short-Term Rentals If your parcel sits inside Breckenridge, Frisco, Silverthorne, or Dillon, that town runs its own licensing program with its own rules, fees, and caps, and a county application will do you no good. Check the Summit County Assessor’s GIS map to confirm your parcel is in unincorporated land before you spend a dollar on an application. Applying to the wrong jurisdiction is the single most common mistake new hosts make.
The Three License Types
Which license you can get depends on where the property sits and how connected you are to Summit County.
Type I
Type I is for owners who live or work in Summit County. You must show a local mailing address and local employment, plus at least two additional documents tying you to the STR address, such as voter registration or vehicle registration.2Summit County, CO – Official Website. Short-Term Rental License Application Type I licenses do not count against basin caps, and the county does not limit how many it will issue.
Type II
Type II is the standard license for investment properties and second homes where the owner is not local. Type II is capped in each basin of the Neighborhood Overlay Zone, and the county is not accepting new Type II applications in capped basins except through the waitlist.2Summit County, CO – Official Website. Short-Term Rental License Application
Resort License
Resort Licenses apply inside the Resort Overlay Zone. They allow higher occupancy and set no cap on the number of nights rented per year. A property proposing occupancy of 20 or more people, or deviating from standard parking and occupancy rules, needs a conditional use permit alongside the license.2Summit County, CO – Official Website. Short-Term Rental License Application
Overlay Zones and Basin Caps
Resort Overlay Zone
Copper Mountain, Keystone, Tiger Run Resort, and portions of Peak 7 and Peak 8 in Breckenridge sit within the Resort Overlay Zone.3Summit County Government. Short-Term Rental FAQs Resort Licenses face no numerical cap, so if your property is here the licensing path is comparatively open.
Neighborhood Overlay Zone
Residential areas outside the resort zones form the Neighborhood Overlay Zone, where the county caps Type II licenses by basin. The current caps and approximate active license counts as of early 2026:4Summit County, CO – Official Website. STR Regulations
- Upper Blue Basin: cap of 590, roughly 563 active licenses
- Lower Blue Basin: cap of 550, roughly 508 active licenses
- Snake River Basin: cap of 130, roughly 137 active licenses
- Ten Mile Basin: cap of 20, roughly 24 active licenses
Waitlists are active for the Lower Blue, Upper Blue, and Snake River basins.4Summit County, CO – Official Website. STR Regulations Joining a waitlist costs a non-refundable $75.5Summit County, CO – Official Website. Type II STR License Waitlist Information The Snake River and Ten Mile basins are both over their caps, so no new Type II licenses will issue there until the active count drops below the cap through lapses or revocations. If your property is in a capped basin and you do not qualify for Type I, the waitlist is your only route.
What to Gather Before You Apply
The county denies incomplete applications outright and does not refund the fee, so assemble everything before you open the portal.2Summit County, CO – Official Website. Short-Term Rental License Application
You need proof of ownership (a warranty deed, title settlement statement, or a screenshot of the Assessor’s GIS parcel data), plus state and local tax identification numbers so the county can track tax remittances. You also need a site plan showing designated parking and trash containers, and a floor plan listing square footage and sleeping areas. Confirm the official bedroom count with the Summit County Assessor first; applications that list unverified bedrooms get denied.2Summit County, CO – Official Website. Short-Term Rental License Application
Type I applicants add proof of local ties: a Summit County mailing address, evidence of local employment such as a paystub or W-2, and at least two more documents linking you to the STR address, including options like voter registration, tax returns, or vehicle registration.2Summit County, CO – Official Website. Short-Term Rental License Application
Every STR must also designate a Responsible Agent reachable 24/7 on a text-enabled phone.6Summit County, CO – Official Website. Short-Term Rental Regulations When the county or a neighbor reports a problem, the agent has 60 minutes to respond with a plan to resolve it. The rule requires a response and resolution plan within the hour, not necessarily an on-site arrival, though many situations will call for one.7Summit County Government. Ordinance 20-C – STR Acknowledgements and Affidavit Missing the window is itself a violation.
Application, Inspection, and Listing Your License Number
Applications go through the Summit County online permit portal. The county does an administrative review of your documents first; anything missing or incorrect means denial with no refund. Once the paperwork clears, the county schedules a safety inspection. Inspectors check smoke detectors, carbon monoxide alarms, emergency egress from sleeping rooms, heating systems, and railings. A failed inspection means fixing the problems and scheduling a re-inspection.
After the property passes, the county issues a license number that must appear on every online listing and advertisement. Third-party compliance software scans platforms for unlicensed listings, so operating without a license is not something that stays quiet for long.
Rules You Live With Once Licensed
Occupancy depends on fire-safety features. Buildings constructed to modern fire code with corridor widths over 44 inches or sprinkler systems allow two people plus four per bedroom. Older buildings without those features allow two plus two per bedroom. A density cap of one person per 200 square feet applies as well, and whichever formula produces the lower number controls. Resort-licensed properties have higher allowances and may seek a conditional use permit for groups of 20 or more.2Summit County, CO – Official Website. Short-Term Rental License Application
Trash goes in wildlife-resistant containers. Summit County is bear country, and unsecured garbage is a fineable offense. Noise complaints go to the Summit County Sheriff’s Office; other STR complaints go through the county’s STR compliance hotline. Each complaint lands in your property file, and that history matters at renewal.
Penalties for Operating Without a License
Operating without a license carries a fine of $1,000 per day, and persistent violations can escalate to misdemeanor criminal charges. Repeated code violations, including noise, overcrowding, or a non-responsive Responsible Agent, can lead to suspension or permanent revocation. Losing a license in a capped basin means going back to the end of the waitlist.
Renewal and What Happens When You Sell
All STR licenses expire on September 30 and must be renewed annually by that date.2Summit County, CO – Official Website. Short-Term Rental License Application The county emails reminders at least 30 days ahead, but the deadline is yours to track. Miss it and you may not be eligible to apply for a new license at all, which in a capped basin effectively ends your operation.
Licenses generally do not transfer with a sale. The county permits transfers only in narrow cases: between family members, through marriage or divorce, when ownership moves into an LLC, and through a bequest in a will.3Summit County Government. Short-Term Rental FAQs If you are buying a home in a capped basin specifically to run as an STR, the seller’s license does not come with the property. You will need to apply for your own and may land on a waitlist. Real estate agents sometimes gloss over this.
Taxes You Collect and Remit
A county STR lodging tax of 2% applies to all stays shorter than 30 days, approved by voters in November 2022.8Summit County. Short-Term Rental Tax Information Short-term rentals are also subject to sales tax and the mass transit tax that funds Summit Stage bus service.9Summit County, CO – Official Website. Sales Tax In unincorporated Summit County, sales tax totals 6.375% and is paid directly to the Colorado Department of Revenue, which forwards the county’s 2% share back to Summit County. You do not pay sales tax directly to the county.
You must submit all rental records at annual renewal, so clean books through the year are not optional. Late or inaccurate tax remittances can trigger audits and put the license itself at risk.
Insurance Before Your First Guest
Standard homeowners policies typically include a business-activity exclusion that can produce a denied claim if a guest is injured or damages the property during a short-term stay. Personal umbrella policies often carry the same exclusion. Platform host protection has significant limits and gaps most hosts never read closely until a claim is open. Call your carrier before you list and get written confirmation of whether your current policy covers STR activity; if it does not, put a specialized policy or rider in place first.