Last updated 2026-07-25
TL;DR
Bothell requires short-term rental operators to hold a City of Bothell business license and, since state law changed in 2021, to register the property as a short-term rental with the city before listing it on Airbnb, VRBO, or similar platforms. Confirm current fees and renewal dates with the Bothell business license office before you list.
Does Bothell WA require a business license for short-term rentals?
Yes. Any person operating a business in Bothell, including renting out a residential unit short-term through a platform like Airbnb or VRBO, needs a City of Bothell general business license. Washington cities generally get this authority from RCW 35.90, which lets municipalities license businesses operating inside their limits [1]. Bothell also participates in the state's Business Licensing Service, so most business license applications for Bothell get filed through the Washington Department of Revenue's centralized system rather than a separate city portal [2]. On top of the general business license, Washington state law (RCW 64.37) created a statewide framework for short-term rental operators, and it requires anyone renting a unit for fewer than 30 consecutive nights to carry specific liability insurance or an equivalent platform guarantee, plus registration where a city or county has set one up [3]. Bothell's own short-term rental rules layer on top of that state framework. So you're dealing with two levels of requirement: state law setting the floor, and city rules adding local registration, zoning, and inspection layers. The honest answer on exact fees and forms: confirm with your city rental licensing office. Bothell's fee schedule and renewal cycle change periodically, and a lot of the confusion hosts run into comes from relying on a blog post (including this one, eventually) instead of the current city page or a phone call to city hall.
What counts as a short-term rental under Bothell and Washington law?
Washington state defines a short-term rental as a lodging use of a dwelling unit, or portion of one, for fewer than 30 consecutive nights, per RCW 64.37.010 [3]. That covers the typical Airbnb or VRBO listing: a spare bedroom rented for a weekend, a whole-house rental for a long weekend, an accessory dwelling unit rented out while you're traveling. It does not cover a standard month-to-month or annual lease, which falls under Washington's Residential Landlord-Tenant Act instead (RCW 59.18) [4]. If you rent the same unit both short-term (through a platform) and long-term (to a tenant on a lease) at different points in the year, you may need to track both sets of rules: business licensing and short-term rental registration for the short stays, and landlord-tenant compliance for any longer lease periods. Bothell's municipal code and zoning rules determine whether short-term rental use is even allowed in your specific zone, which is worth checking before you assume you can list at all.
How do I get a business license to run a short-term rental in Bothell?
The general process most Washington cities, including Bothell, use looks like this: 1. Apply for a Washington state Unified Business Identifier (UBI) number if you don't already have one, through the Department of Revenue's Business Licensing Service [2]. 2. Add the City of Bothell as a licensed location on that same state application, since Bothell uses the state's centralized system for most business license issuance. 3. Pay the applicable city business license fee (confirm current amount with Bothell's business license or finance office). 4. Register the specific unit as a short-term rental with the city, if Bothell requires a separate registration step beyond the general business license (this is common in Washington cities that have adopted short-term rental ordinances). 5. Renew annually, or on whatever cycle the city sets, and update your registration if you add units or change platforms. A lot of hosts skip step 4 because they assume the general business license covers everything. It usually doesn't. Cities that regulate short-term rentals specifically (Seattle, Tacoma, and a growing list of others in Washington) generally treat the short-term rental registration as its own line item with its own fee, sometimes tied to a life-safety inspection or a limit on the number of units one host can register [5].
Does Bothell inspect short-term rentals before licensing them?
Some Washington cities that regulate short-term rentals require a basic life-safety check (smoke detectors, carbon monoxide detectors, egress windows, a working fire extinguisher) either through self-certification or an actual inspection. Whether Bothell requires an inspection, and whether it's a self-certified checklist or an in-person visit from code enforcement, is something you need to confirm directly with the city, because this detail varies block by block across Washington municipalities and changes as ordinances get updated. If an inspection or self-certification is required, expect it to focus on the basics: smoke alarms in every bedroom and on every level, a carbon monoxide detector if the unit has fuel-burning appliances or an attached garage, clear egress from bedrooms, and a visible address number for emergency responders. These match the kind of life-safety minimums found in most municipal short-term rental ordinances nationally, and they're cheap to fix if you're missing them. A $10 smoke detector is a lot less painful than a failed inspection and a delayed listing.
What happens if I list on Airbnb without a Bothell business license?
You're exposed on a few fronts. First, operating without a required business license is itself a municipal code violation in most Washington cities, and it can trigger a notice of violation, a compliance deadline, and civil penalties that accrue daily if you don't fix it. Second, without proper registration you may not be able to demonstrate compliance with the state's insurance requirement under RCW 64.37.040, which could matter a lot if a guest gets hurt and you end up in a liability dispute [3]. Third, most short-term rental platforms have started requiring hosts to confirm they hold applicable licenses as part of onboarding in regulated cities, and enforcement teams do sometimes cross-reference active listings against city license rolls. If you got an ordinance notice or violation letter from Bothell, don't ignore it. Cities that send these notices generally give a cure period, often 10 to 30 days depending on the code section, before penalties escalate. Read the notice carefully for the specific deadline and the specific code section cited, since that tells you exactly what to fix.
How much does a Bothell short-term rental business license cost?
Confirm with your city rental licensing office for the current fee schedule. Washington cities that license businesses generally charge an annual fee that ranges anywhere from roughly $50 to a few hundred dollars depending on business type and city, based on typical Washington municipal fee structures, but Bothell's specific short-term rental line item (if one exists separately from the general business license) needs to come from the city's current fee page or a call to city hall. Don't guess and don't rely on a number you saw in a forum post from two years ago. Fee schedules get updated with budget cycles, and paying the wrong amount, or paying to the wrong account, just slows your approval down.
How to become a landlord in Washington state
Becoming a landlord in Washington involves more than buying a property and finding a tenant. You need to know the Residential Landlord-Tenant Act (RCW 59.18), which governs notice periods, security deposit handling, habitability standards, and eviction procedures [4]. You need local compliance too: a business license if your city requires one for rental activity, a rental registration or inspection if your city has adopted a rental housing program, and any state-specific short-term rental rules if you're doing Airbnb-style hosting instead of a standard lease. Practically, here's the sequence that avoids the most common mistakes: 1. Confirm zoning allows the rental use you're planning (long-term lease, short-term rental, or ADU rental). 2. Get your city business license and any rental registration on file before you advertise the unit. 3. Screen tenants under fair housing law (the federal Fair Housing Act and Washington's own protections under RCW 49.60 both apply). 4. Use a written lease that matches Washington's required disclosures. 5. Set up a security deposit account that complies with RCW 59.18.270, which requires deposits held for tenant benefit and covers move-in condition documentation. If you're new to this and feel like you're assembling the process from a dozen different city and state pages, that's a normal reaction. It is genuinely scattered.
What is landlording, and what is a landlord, exactly?
Landlording is the ongoing work of managing a rental property: collecting rent, maintaining the unit, handling repairs, screening and communicating with tenants, and staying compliant with local and state law. A landlord, legally, is the owner (or an authorized agent of the owner) who leases real property to a tenant in exchange for rent, per the definitions used throughout most state landlord-tenant statutes including Washington's RCW 59.18.030 [4]. In practice, landlording splits into two very different jobs depending on rental type. Long-term landlording is mostly about lease compliance, maintenance response times, and habitability. Short-term rental hosting (the Airbnb/VRBO model) is closer to running a small hospitality business: guest communication, turnover cleaning, dynamic pricing, and compliance with short-term rental-specific ordinances like Bothell's. The legal and licensing obligations genuinely differ between the two, which is why a lot of hosts get caught off guard when they realize their long-term rental license doesn't cover their short-term listing, or vice versa.
Who is responsible for a rental property walk-through inspection?
This depends heavily on state and locality, and the rules diverge sharply once you cross state lines. In California, for instance, the responsibility for a move-in/move-out walk-through inspection tied to security deposit deductions sits with the landlord, who must give the tenant the opportunity for an initial inspection before move-out if the tenant requests it, under California Civil Code Section 1950.5 [6]. The landlord (or their agent) conducts the inspection, provides an itemized statement of proposed deductions, and gives the tenant a chance to fix issues before the final move-out. Washington's own version works differently: RCW 59.18.260 requires landlords to inspect and provide a written statement of the unit's condition (a checklist) at move-in, and to give the tenant a copy, but Washington law puts more of the documentation burden on the landlord at both ends of the tenancy rather than creating a separate pre-move-out inspection right [4]. If you operate rentals in more than one state, don't assume the walk-through process is identical. It isn't, and the fastest way to lose a security deposit dispute is applying the wrong state's checklist.
What can a landlord look at during a rental inspection?
A landlord conducting a routine or move-in/move-out inspection can generally check: the condition of walls, floors, and ceilings; functioning of smoke and carbon monoxide detectors; plumbing fixtures and signs of leaks; HVAC operation; window and door locks; appliance condition if the appliances belong to the landlord; and general cleanliness affecting habitability or pest issues. Most states require advance notice before a routine inspection, typically 24 to 48 hours, and the inspection generally has to happen at a reasonable time. What a landlord generally cannot do during an inspection: search through a tenant's personal belongings, closets, or drawers beyond what's needed to check the unit's condition, use the inspection as pretext to harass a tenant, or show up without the legally required notice except in a genuine emergency (fire, flood, gas leak). Ohio's landlord-tenant statute, for example, under Ohio Revised Code 5321.04, requires landlords to give reasonable notice, generally interpreted as at least 24 hours, before entering except in emergencies, and prohibits abuse of the right of entry as a way to harass a tenant [7]. That's a useful general model even outside Ohio: entry rights exist for legitimate purposes (repairs, inspections, showings with notice), not as an excuse to pressure a tenant.
How much notice does a landlord have to give before entering or inspecting?
It varies by state, but the two most common notice periods in landlord-tenant statutes are 24 hours and 48 hours. Washington requires landlords to give at least two days' notice before entering to inspect, make repairs, or show the unit, under RCW 59.18.150, except in emergencies [4]. California generally requires 24 hours' written notice for entry, with some exceptions, under Civil Code 1954 . Ohio, as noted above, generally requires reasonable notice, commonly treated as 24 hours in practice [7]. None of these notice periods apply to genuine emergencies like a burst pipe, a fire, or a gas leak, where landlords generally can enter without advance notice specifically because the situation threatens the property or occupant safety. If you're unsure what your state or city requires, check your specific state's landlord-tenant statute before doing a routine inspection walkthrough, because getting entry notice wrong can turn into a habitability or harassment complaint even when your intentions were completely reasonable.
What rights do tenants have without a written lease?
A tenant without a written lease still has real legal protections in every state. Most states treat an unwritten rental arrangement as a month-to-month tenancy-at-will, governed by the same landlord-tenant statute that would apply if there were a written lease. That means the tenant still gets protection against illegal lockouts, a right to habitable conditions, a right to advance notice before entry, and a right to proper notice before eviction, generally the same notice period required to end a month-to-month tenancy in that state (often 20 to 30 days, though this varies). Washington's RCW 59.18 applies regardless of whether the tenancy is written or oral, and a landlord still can't change the locks, shut off utilities, or remove a tenant's belongings without going through the formal unlawful detainer (eviction) process [4]. The absence of a written lease mostly hurts the parties for proving terms like rent amount or move-in condition. It does not strip away a tenant's basic statutory protections. If you're renting without a written lease right now, on either side of that relationship, get one in writing as soon as possible. It protects everyone, and courts and code enforcement both take a written record more seriously than a verbal understanding.
Why do landlords require renters insurance?
Landlords require renters insurance mainly to shift liability risk away from their own policy. A landlord's own property insurance covers the building and the landlord's own liability, but it generally does not cover a tenant's personal belongings or a tenant's liability for incidents that happen inside the unit (a kitchen fire the tenant caused, a dog bite, water damage from an overflowed bathtub). Requiring tenants to carry their own renters insurance, typically with a modest liability limit like $100,000, moves that risk to the tenant's carrier instead of exposing the landlord's policy to claims that weren't really the landlord's fault. This logic extends directly into short-term rental regulation too. Washington's RCW 64.37.040 requires short-term rental operators to maintain primary liability insurance of at least $1,000,000 per occurrence, or to rent exclusively through a platform that provides equivalent coverage to guests and hosts, precisely because guest injuries and property damage claims in short-term stays are common enough that regulators built the requirement directly into state law [3]. If you're renting short-term in Bothell, confirm which coverage path (your own policy or the platform's guarantee) you're actually relying on, because 'I assumed Airbnb covered it' is a genuinely common and expensive misunderstanding among first-time hosts.
Getting your Bothell paperwork in order without wasting a week on it
If you've gotten an ordinance notice, a fine, or you're just trying to get compliant before your first guest checks in, the fastest path is usually: pull Bothell's current business license and short-term rental page, call the office listed there to confirm the fee and whether an inspection or self-certification applies to your unit, and get your paperwork filed before you list or relist the property. Landlord basics and tenant rights resources are worth reviewing too if you're switching a unit between short-term and long-term use, since your compliance obligations shift with the use. If you'd rather not spend an afternoon chasing down every form and cross-referencing city code sections, the $79 City Rental License & Inspection Prep Packet at /rental-packet-builder walks through the standard documents and checklist items most rental licensing offices ask for, organized so you're not guessing what to bring to your appointment. It doesn't replace confirming Bothell's actual current fee and deadline with the city itself, but it saves the hunting-and-gathering part.
Frequently asked questions
Does Bothell WA require a separate license for Airbnb hosts?
Bothell requires a general City of Bothell business license for anyone operating a rental business, including short-term rental hosts, and the city may require an additional short-term rental registration depending on current municipal code. Confirm the exact requirements and fees with Bothell's business license office, since ordinances get updated periodically.
How to become a landlord in Bothell or anywhere else?
Confirm zoning allows your planned rental use, get your city business license and any rental registration filed, learn your state's landlord-tenant act (Washington's is RCW 59.18), use a compliant written lease, and set up a security deposit process that follows state law. Do the paperwork before you advertise the unit.
Who is responsible for a rental property walk-through inspection in California?
The landlord is responsible for conducting the move-in and move-out walk-through inspections in California and must offer the tenant an initial inspection before move-out if requested, under California Civil Code Section 1950.5. The landlord also must provide an itemized statement of any proposed security deposit deductions.
What is landlording?
Landlording is the day-to-day and legal work of owning and managing rental property: collecting rent, handling repairs and maintenance, screening tenants, and staying compliant with local licensing and state landlord-tenant law. It differs meaningfully between long-term leasing and short-term rental hosting.
What is a landlord, legally speaking?
A landlord is the property owner, or an authorized agent acting on the owner's behalf, who leases residential or commercial space to a tenant in exchange for rent. Most state landlord-tenant statutes, including Washington's RCW 59.18.030, define the term this way.
What rights do tenants have without a written lease?
Tenants without a written lease generally still get full statutory protection as a month-to-month tenant: habitability rights, protection from illegal lockouts, required advance notice before entry, and required notice before eviction. The lack of a written lease mainly weakens proof of specific terms, not the tenant's basic legal protections.
How to be a landlord without breaking local licensing rules?
Check your city's rental licensing, registration, or inspection program before you advertise a unit, get any required business license filed first, and confirm whether your rental type (long-term lease vs. short-term rental) has separate rules. Most licensing violations happen because someone skipped this check before listing.
Why do landlords require renters insurance?
Landlords require renters insurance because their own property policy usually doesn't cover a tenant's belongings or the tenant's personal liability for incidents inside the unit. Shifting that risk to a tenant's own policy, often with a $100,000 liability minimum, protects the landlord's insurance from unrelated claims.
How much notice does a landlord have to give before entering a unit?
Most states require 24 to 48 hours' notice before a routine entry or inspection. Washington requires at least two days under RCW 59.18.150, and California generally requires 24 hours under Civil Code 1954. Emergencies (fire, flood, gas leak) are the main exception to notice requirements.
What can a landlord look at during a rental inspection?
A landlord can generally check the unit's overall condition: smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, plumbing, HVAC function, window and door locks, appliance condition, and signs of damage or pest issues. A landlord generally cannot search personal belongings or use the inspection as pretext to harass a tenant.
What can't a landlord do in Ohio regarding entry and inspections?
Under Ohio Revised Code 5321.04, a landlord must give tenants reasonable notice, generally treated as at least 24 hours, before entering the unit, and cannot abuse the right of entry to harass a tenant. Entry without proper notice, outside a genuine emergency, can violate the tenant's statutory rights.
What happens if I get a violation notice for an unlicensed short-term rental in Bothell?
Read the notice for the specific code section and cure deadline, which is often 10 to 30 days depending on the violation type. Get your business license and any required short-term rental registration filed immediately, and confirm with the city whether penalties are paused once you're actively curing the violation.
Does Washington state require insurance for short-term rentals separate from city rules?
Yes. RCW 64.37.040 requires short-term rental operators statewide to carry at least $1,000,000 in primary liability insurance per occurrence, or to book exclusively through a platform providing equivalent coverage. This applies regardless of what a specific city like Bothell additionally requires for local licensing.
Sources
- Washington State Legislature, RCW 35.90: Washington cities have authority to license businesses operating within city limits
- Washington Department of Revenue, Business Licensing Service: Most Washington cities including Bothell use the state's centralized business license application system
- Washington State Legislature, RCW 64.37: State law defines short-term rentals as stays under 30 consecutive nights and sets a $1,000,000 liability insurance requirement
- Washington State Legislature, RCW 59.18 (Residential Landlord-Tenant Act): Washington's landlord-tenant statute governs notice periods, security deposits, entry notice, and move-in condition checklists
- California Legislative Information, Civil Code Section 1950.5: California landlords must offer tenants an initial move-out inspection and provide itemized deduction statements
- Ohio Revised Code, Section 5321.04: Ohio landlords must give reasonable notice before entry and cannot use entry to harass tenants
- California Legislative Information, Civil Code Section 1954: California generally requires 24 hours' notice before landlord entry