Welcome to the City of Leadville's Short Term Rental (STR) Information Page!

Leadville, Colorado, has a detailed process for obtaining and maintaining a Short-Term Rental (STR) license, aimed at ensuring public health, safety, and welfare. Here’s a comprehensive guide based on local regulations and policies.

Purpose and Applicability

• The primary goal of Leadville's STR regulations is to manage the licensing, use, occupancy, and maintenance of short-term rental units. The regulations apply specifically to short-term rentals, defined as rentals of dwelling units for periods of less than 30 consecutive days, excluding hotels, motels, lodges, and bed-and-breakfast establishments​.

License Requirement

• All property owners intending to operate an STR must obtain a valid license from the city. Advertising or leasing a property as an STR without a license is unlawful​.
• Applications will be processed on a first-come, first-served basis. If no licenses are available, complete applications will be added to a waitlist and property-owners will be notified when a license becomes available. 

License Classes

There are two categories of licenses:

• For resident-occupied properties where the owner uses the property as their full-time, year-round residence.* & **
• For non-resident-occupied properties​.

*There are currently no non-resident-occupied licenses available. To add you name to the wait list, please reach out to the Deputy City Clerk at (719) 656-0624 (you will not start the application process until you are informed it is your turn to come off the waitlist).

**Per the last amendment to the short-term rental code, resident-occupied parcels with two (2) or more units on a single parcel are now included within
the 165 STR license limit.

Application Process

1. Reach out to the Deputy City Clerk, Ali Rudy, (719) 656-0624, to initiate the process or add yourself to the waitlist if this applies to you (you will not start the application process until you are informed it is your turn to come off the waitlist).
2. Obtain the appropriate sign-offs from the following departments, in the order provided.
   1. Community Development and Planning Department to complete an administrative permit with the planning department, Alex Willis, (719) 656-0625 or email awillis [at] leadville-co.gov (awillis[at]leadville-co[dot]gov). The cost for this administrative permit is $75.
      1. Use the General Application form and fill out sections #3 and #5 and list whether you are applying for a class 1 (owner occupied) or class 2 (non-owner occupied) license on the “additional pertinent information” line.
      2. Site Plan:
         1. The site plan must show building footprints, property lines, exterior trash storage, and all on-street and off-street parking spots available. If a short term rental license is going to be applied to an accessory dwelling unit, at minimum one off-street parking spot is required and must be shown.
         2. The site plan can be hand drawn, traced over a google image, but the use of a survey (in the form of an Improvement Location Certificate, ILC) copy with mark ups is preferred.
      3. Floor Plan:
         1. As with the site plan, the floor plan can be hand drawn if there is no access to professional drawings. Rooms and dwelling units must be labeled. If there is more than one dwelling unit on a property, please indicate which dwelling unit that the license shall be applied to.
         2. An accessory dwelling unit is defined in city code as “an attached or detached residential dwelling unit that is incidental and subordinate in function and size to the principal building which is located on the same parcel as the principal building”.
         3. A dwelling unit is defined in city code as “a building or structure or portion therein, including a modular structure, designed to be used as the living quarters for one person, family or household”.
      4. Payment:
         1. Cash or checks can be processed in person at 800 Harrison Ave. as well. Make checks out to “The City of Leadville”.
         2. To pay for the permit, click the "Pay Online" option on our website (leadville-co.gov) and then follow the below steps Select “Land use” then click continue
            1. Fill out Name, email and/or phone number
            2. Under “fee/service type and department”, type “STR permit"
            3. Type $75 into the “price” box
            4. Proceed to payment options
            5. Select “Checkout” to proceed to payments screen
            6. Please to forward email confirmation to me awillis [at] leadville-co.gov (awillis[at]leadville-co[dot]gov) and acummins [at] leadville-co.gov (acummins[at]leadville-co[dot]gov)
   2. Arrange a fire inspection or complete the 2026 waiver (RENEWALS ONLY) 

      1. New Short-Term Rental Licenses:
         All new short-term rental applications are required to complete a fire safety inspection prior to approval. To schedule an inspection, contact the Fire Safety Inspector, with the address and contact information, at prevention [at] leadvillefire.org. Please do not schedule a fire inspection if you are currently on the Class 2 (non-resident occupied) STR waitlist. 

      2. Renewals (2026 only):
         All short-term rental license renewals are required to complete and submit the Fire Safety Checklist. This checklist replaces the need for an inspection for the 2026 renewal cycle and must be completed and returned to our office in order for your license to be renewed. 

3. Sign up and get a state sales tax id #. We will want to see your confirmation email or something similar.
   1. This process starts with the State of Colorado Department of Revenue. Copy of current and valid State of Colorado Sales Tax License in the name of the property owner or property management company.  This cannot be an Airbnb sales tax or other listing/lodging platform screenshot or document. This must be a state of Colorado Sales Tax ID. More information can be found by clicking HERE.
4. Connect with the Lake County Tax Assessor. Depending on how you are registered with the State, additional paperwork might be required on behalf of the county.
5. Next, you need to create an account or log onto the MuniRevs platform, our third party short term rental management/monitoring platform. You can do so by clicking HERE.
   1. Once you have created an account you will next be prompted to enter a business account and number set. This is not an active, true City of Leadville business license; it is just a number set generated by our platform MuniRevs for their catalog.
   2. For the next step, you will need to reach back out to the Deputy City Clerk (arudy [at] leadville-co.gov (arudy[at]leadville-co[dot]gov)) to finish the setup. They will link you to your business/parcel data.
6. After you have uploaded all of your documents, the Deputy City Clerk will receive this notification and begin reviewing your paperwork.
   1. The following documents will be required for submission:
      1. Acknowledgement of understanding of regulations
      2. Administrative permit through the City Zoning code - $75
      3. Affidavit of full time residency (if applicable)
      4. Application fee - $325
      5. Business entity affidavit (if applicable)
      6. Fire safety check form (goes with the Fire Safety Check, please see step two for more information) - $50
      7. Local agent's contact information
      8. Owner’s contact details
      9. Proof of current property tax payments
      10. Proof of insurance
      11. Proof of ownership
      12. Property address
      13. Property description
      14. Safety features affidavit
7. Once the initial document review process is complete, you will then be notified to submit payment on the MuniRevs.
   1. This an annual license fee of $325 which can be made with a credit card or ACH check payment.
8. Upon approval you will be required to post information and include items as required in Municipal Code Chapter 5.12.090 - Limitations and Requirements. Please review those requirements and become familiar with them. City Council adopted changes to Chapter 5.12 of Title 5 and various sections of Title 17 of the Leadville Municipal Code concerning short term rentals on 2/2/2021. The current adjustments can be found by clicking HERE.

Key Points:

1. Starting on January 1, 2022, the new Accommodation tax of 4.92% (that was voted in on the November 2nd, 2021 ballot) includes the previous lodging tax of 1.92%.  This being said, you do not have to remit both. The City of Leadville is using the platform MUNIRevs to have lodging establishments remit the 4.92% tax.  This tax should not be remitted to the state.  The City does not have a contract with any third-party booking organizations (such as Airbnb or VRBO), so no accommodations tax will be collected by them.
2. The accommodation taxes are due quarterly, so any lodging for the month of February - March will be due by April 30th, April – June will be due by July 31st, July – September will be due October 31st & October – December will be due by January 31st.  There will be a task assigned on MUNIRevs for you to remit these taxes starting the 1st day of the month after each quarter.
3. All STR license holders and all commercial lodging establishments are required to submit quarterly accommodations tax on their active MuniRevs tax/business account. You must remit a report even if you had no bookings for the quarter. You still must also collect the state & County sales taxes. Often platforms like Airbnb or VRBO will collect the sales tax and remit it on your behalf.  
4. Existing license holders are contacted through MuniRevs with the renewal instructions for the new season which must be completed by April 30th annually in order to secure their license for the new season.

STR Documents

• Accommodations Tax Affidavit - required for all STR licenses
• Owner-Occupied Affidavit- required for all Class 1 STR licenses applications
• Safety Checklist - required for all STR renewals