# Short-term rental rules in Boise, ID

- Status: **LIGHTLY REGULATED**
- Last verified: 2026-07-18 (every legal claim checked against the official sources listed below)
- Canonical page: https://strwatch.ai/boise-id/

## Summary

Boise has no short-term rental permit, license, or registration requirement as of 2026-07-18. The city repealed its 2022 STR licensing ordinance (which had required an $80/year license) effective May 18, 2026, after Idaho Governor Brad Little signed House Bill 583 on March 16, 2026. HB 583 amended Idaho Code section 67-6539, effective July 1, 2026, to bar any Idaho county or city from requiring 'a license, fee, permit, certification, or registration to operate a short-term rental' and from imposing on STRs any rule that would not also apply to an ordinary single-family home (no owner-occupancy mandate, no extra insurance, no inspections, no night caps, no density limits, no professional-management mandate). Cities may still enact only five specific safety measures (smoke alarms, a fire extinguisher and CO detector per floor, egress ladders, IBC-standard occupancy limits, and an emergency information handout), but Boise has not re-enacted any STR-specific ordinance since the repeal, so hosts are governed only by the same general nuisance, noise, parking, and building/fire code that applies to any residence. Whole-home and hosted short-term rentals of any duration are both allowed, with no primary-residence requirement. Hosts owe Idaho sales tax (6%), the Idaho Travel & Convention Tax (2%), and, within district boundaries, the Greater Boise Auditorium District room tax (5%) on stays of 30 days or less — a combined 13%. Idaho Code section 63-1804, also amended by HB 583 effective July 1, 2026, requires short-term rental marketplaces (Airbnb, Vrbo, etc.) to register with the Idaho State Tax Commission and collect/remit these taxes on hosts' behalf; a host who books directly without a marketplace must register and remit the taxes themselves.

## At a glance

- Unhosted whole-home rental: Yes
- Hosted rental (host present): Yes
- Primary residence required: No
- Guest cap: none verified
- Rules apply to stays under: 30 days

Notes: Idaho Code 67-6539(2)(a) explicitly bars cities/counties from requiring owner-occupation, professional property management, extra insurance, inspections, additional parking, signage, night limits, proximity/density limits, or conditional-use permits for STRs. Under 67-6539(3), a city MAY (but is not required to) mandate five safety items (smoke alarms in all sleeping areas, a fire extinguisher and CO detector on each floor, removable escape ladders for above-ground sleeping-area windows, occupancy limits per the international building codes' non-transient residential standard, and an emergency information handout); Boise has not enacted such an ordinance since repealing its STR chapter, so max_guests has no fixed citywide number — it would default to whatever the adopted building code sets for a given unit. 'Short-term rental'/'vacation rental' is statutorily defined (Idaho Code 63-1803(4)) as a rental for a fee of 30 days or less; longer stays fall outside this regime.

## Requirements

## Taxes

- **Idaho Sales Tax**: 6% — applies to Short-term lodging rentals of 30 days or less, including cleaning/guest fees; platform collects: yes. Source: https://tax.idaho.gov/taxes/sales-use/guides-for-certain-groups/lodging/
- **Idaho Travel and Convention Tax**: 2% — applies to Occupants of hotel/motel rooms, vacation-home rentals, and private campgrounds for stays of 30 days or less; platform collects: yes. Source: https://tax.idaho.gov/taxes/taxes-on-sales/travel-and-convention-tax/
- **Greater Boise Auditorium District (GBAD) Room Tax**: 5% — applies to Short-term lodging (30 days or less) at properties located within the Greater Boise Auditorium District boundaries; platform collects: yes. Source: https://www.boiseauditorium.com/faq/

## Enforcement

- Penalties: No STR-specific penalty framework exists in Boise. Idaho Code 67-6539(6) provides that STR properties, owners, and tenants are subject to the same county/city ordinances and penalties that apply to any other residential use, including noise, parking, nuisance, curfew, and traffic regulations — enforced through Boise's general municipal code rather than a dedicated STR ordinance. Specific dollar fine amounts for those general code violations were not independently verified for this profile (see needs_review).
- Platform liability: Cities and counties may not regulate the operation of a short-term rental marketplace (Idaho Code 67-6539(7)). Idaho Code 63-1804, as amended by HB 583 effective July 1, 2026, requires a short-term rental marketplace to register with the Idaho State Tax Commission and to collect, report, and remit state sales tax, state travel and convention tax, and any applicable local-government taxes administered by the Tax Commission (e.g., GBAD) on transactions it facilitates; a marketplace new to Idaho has 45 days after its first Idaho transaction to come into compliance. A host who rents directly without a marketplace must independently register for and remit those same taxes.
- Notes: Local governments are additionally barred from levying any sales, use, franchise, receipts, or similar tax/fee on the business of operating a short-term rental marketplace itself (Idaho Code 63-1804(1)).

## Not yet verified (we say so instead of guessing)

- Specific dollar fine/penalty amounts for general Boise municipal-code violations (noise, nuisance, parking) that would apply to an STR as an ordinary residence were not verified — the official code portal (codelibrary.amlegal.com, Boise's municode host) returned an HTTP 403 bot-wall on every fetch attempt (direct WebFetch and curl with a browser user-agent), and no Wayback Machine snapshot exists for that page after the May 18, 2026 repeal date to check via that fallback either.
- Could not directly inspect the current full text of Boise City Code Chapter 22 (Short-Term Rentals) to confirm exactly how the repeal was codified (e.g., whether the chapter was deleted outright or replaced with a reference to state law) — this profile relies on the City Clerk's official summary page (cityofboise.org) stating the license is 'no longer required' as of 2026-05-18, which is corroborated by the state statute change but is a summary, not the ordinance text itself.

## Sources

- Idaho Code 67-6539 — Limitations on Regulation of Short-Term Rentals and Vacation Rentals (official, accessed 2026-07-18): https://legislature.idaho.gov/statutesrules/idstat/title67/t67ch65/sect67-6539/
- Idaho Code 63-1803 — Definitions (Short-Term Rental Marketplaces) (official, accessed 2026-07-18): https://legislature.idaho.gov/statutesrules/idstat/title63/t63ch18/sect63-1803/
- House Bill 583 (2026) — full engrossed bill text amending 67-6539 and 63-1804 (official, accessed 2026-07-18): https://legislature.idaho.gov/wp-content/uploads/sessioninfo/2026/legislation/H0583.pdf
- House Bill 583 (2026) — bill status/history page (official, accessed 2026-07-18): https://legislature.idaho.gov/sessioninfo/2026/legislation/h0583/
- City of Boise — Short-Term Rental License (current status: license no longer required, effective 2026-05-18) (official, accessed 2026-07-18): https://www.cityofboise.org/departments/city-clerk/licensing/other/short-term-rental-license/
- City of Boise — Legislative Updates 2026 (HB 583 tracking and city testimony) (official, accessed 2026-07-18): https://www.cityofboise.org/departments/mayor/government-affairs-legislative-updates/city-of-boise-legislative-updates-2026/
- Idaho State Tax Commission — Travel and Convention Tax (official, accessed 2026-07-18): https://tax.idaho.gov/taxes/taxes-on-sales/travel-and-convention-tax/
- Idaho State Tax Commission — Lodging: Short-term Rental Marketplaces (official, accessed 2026-07-18): https://tax.idaho.gov/taxes/sales-use/guides-for-certain-groups/lodging/rentals/
- Idaho State Tax Commission — Hotels, Motels and Short-Term Rentals (lodging guide) (official, accessed 2026-07-18): https://tax.idaho.gov/taxes/sales-use/guides-for-certain-groups/lodging/
- Idaho State Tax Commission — Sales and Use Taxes: Basics Guide (6% rate) (official, accessed 2026-07-18): https://tax.idaho.gov/taxes/sales-use/online-guide/
- Idaho State Tax Commission — Auditorium District Taxes (official, accessed 2026-07-18): https://tax.idaho.gov/taxes/taxes-on-sales/aud/
- Idaho State Tax Commission — press release: STR marketplaces reminded to charge taxes on booking fees (official, accessed 2026-07-18): https://tax.idaho.gov/pressrelease/idaho-short-term-rental-marketplaces-reminded-to-charge-taxes-on-booking-fees/
- Idaho State Tax Commission — City Sales Taxes (confirms Boise has no local-option city sales tax) (official, accessed 2026-07-18): https://tax.idaho.gov/taxes/sales-use/sales-tax/local-sales-tax/city-sales-tax/
- Greater Boise Auditorium District — FAQ (5% room tax, district is a public/governmental entity) (official, accessed 2026-07-18): https://www.boiseauditorium.com/faq/
- BoiseDev/Valley Lookout — Short-term rental reform passes both Idaho statehouse chambers (news, accessed 2026-07-18): https://valleylookout.com/2026/03/10/str-senate-2026/

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Educational information, not legal advice. Published by STRWatch (Laniakea Technologies LLC).