Washington Airbnb & short-term-rental permit leads

Washington permit records in numbers

Only 879 of the 29,622 Washington records (3%) carry a phone or email; the registers publish them rarely. 29,378 records have the property address and 757 name the owner or business. 127 records add a separate mailing address, which is where an absentee owner gets mail.

The register files them by type: Single Family Home (13,536, 46%), Townhouse (5,216, 18%) and Condo (2,445, 8%).

Status as the register publishes it: 17,529 "Non-Legacy", 4,940 "Active" and 4,812 "Inactive".

For Washington the first-seen date in the export replaces a filing date, which the source leaves blank. The newest Washington record arrived on October 22, 2026; 43 arrived in the last 30 days.

9 towns hold 10 or more records; the largest are Seattle (10,363), Friday Harbor (259) and Eastsound (256). ZIP 98103 is the densest of 87, with 1,818 records.

Washington short-term rental rules

Seattle requires a short-term rental operator to hold a current city business license tax certificate and to obtain a separate regulatory license, also called the operator's license.

Source: Finance and Administrative Services, City of Seattle, read on October 22, 2026.

San Juan County requires a vacation rental permit to rent a single-family house or an accessory dwelling unit for stays shorter than 30 days.

Source: San Juan County, WA, read on October 22, 2026.

New Washington records by month

165 records have entered the Washington file since the first full copy of the main register (June 15, 2026), 51 in July 2026, 34 in August 2026, 44 in September 2026 and 36 in October 2026.

The most recent Washington addition reached the database on October 22, 2026.

Washington permit status

Grouped by published status, Washington's 29,622 records break down as follows: 4,940 (17%) read as active or issued, 5,584 (19%) as expired, closed, revoked, withdrawn or denied and 18,696 carry labels that describe something other than standing, such as "Non-Legacy" and "Legacy In Seattle". Expired and closed permits stay in the file: they mark owners who let a permit lapse or stopped renting, which calls for a different message than a current operator gets.

What a Washington list contains

Partly filled: owner name on 757 (3%), property address on 29,378 (99%), separate mailing address on 127 (under 1%), ZIP code on 20,208 (68%), phone on 863 (3%), email on 866 (3%), permit or licence number on 20,255 (68%), permit type on 28,679 (97%) and status on 29,220 (99%). The register leaves business name and filing date blank for Washington. By channel: 863 rows can be called, 866 emailed and 29,378 mailed. Where a separate mailing address exists (127 rows), send the letter there: it is where the owner reads mail, which is often not the rental.

8 ZIP codes cover half of Washington and 17 cover four in five, out of 87 in all. The densest, 98103, holds 1,818 records.

Short-term rental rules across Washington

Bellingham requires an STR land use permit for every short-term rental in the city. [1] Bellingham STR permits cost $370 (Type I), $550 (Type II) or $847 (Type III-A), with a $250 renewal due before January 1 of every even-numbered year. [1]

Under RCW 64.37.010 a short-term rental is a lodging use for a fee for fewer than 30 consecutive nights. [2] RCW 64.37.020 requires operators to remit all applicable local, state and federal taxes. [2] Owners of short-term rentals must collect and pay retail sales tax on rental charges. [3] Depending on location, owners also owe lodging taxes and the convention and trade center tax. [3]

Short-term rental platforms must register with the Washington Department of Revenue (RCW 64.37.040). [2] RCW 64.37.050 requires operators to carry liability insurance of at least $1 million in the aggregate. [2] RCW 64.37.030 requires operators to post safety and contact information in a conspicuous place in each unit. [2]

Vacation rental permits are capped by island, for example 337 on San Juan Island, 211 on Orcas and 135 on Lopez. [4] Permit holders must file a Vacation Rental Certificate of Compliance with the county every year. [4] The county links a GIS map of vacation rental permits, but its data stops at March 31, 2019. [4]