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HEAVILY REGULATEDevery claim verified 2026-07-17 against the sources below

Is a short-term rental legal in Las Vegas, NV?

The incorporated City of Las Vegas allows short-term residential rentals (STRs, rentals of a residential unit for fewer than 31 consecutive days) only under a restrictive owner-occupied model. A separate city business license is required for each unit (LVMC Ch. 6.75); the annual license fee is $500 and the Conditional Use Verification (CUV) application is free. To be eligible the applicant must be the owner of the parcel and occupy the unit as their primary residence, and must continue to reside and sleep in their own bedroom throughout each rental period (absence only for employment/errands) — so non-owner-occupied whole-home STRs are not permitted for new licenses. The home may have no more than three bedrooms (including the owner's), must sit at least 660 feet from any other STR and 2,500 feet from a resort hotel (per NRS 463.01865), and STRs are prohibited in apartment buildings and in common-interest communities unless the governing documents expressly authorize them (LVMC 19.12.070; 6.75.020). Occupancy is capped at two persons per bedroom excluding children under 12 (about 6 for a compliant 3-bedroom home), with an absolute ceiling of 16 persons (LVMC 6.75.090). Required: $500,000 liability insurance, a 24-hour local contact, a Code Enforcement home inspection, and HOA/association written consent where applicable. Hosts collect and remit a transient lodging (room) tax of 13.00% outside, or 13.38% inside, the Primary Gaming Corridor; hosting platforms ('accommodations facilitators' under AB363) must themselves hold a $3,000/yr city license and collect/remit the tax. Operating without a license carries a civil fine of $1,000-$10,000 per violation, assessable per day (LVMC 6.02.460). NOTE: This file covers ONLY the incorporated City of Las Vegas. The Las Vegas Strip and most of the metro area are in UNINCORPORATED CLARK COUNTY, which has its own separate, stricter STR regime (Clark County Code Ch. 7.100, including a permit moratorium/lottery and 1,000-ft separation) — do not apply City of Las Vegas rules there.

At a glance

Unhosted whole-home rentalNo
Hosted rental (host present)Yes
Primary residence requiredYes
Guest cap6 guests
Rules apply to stays under31 days

STR = commercial rental of a residential unit (or room within it) for fewer than 31 consecutive calendar days (LVMC 6.75.010; 19.18.020). Owner-occupancy is mandatory: no new license unless the applicant qualifies as owner of the parcel and is a resident occupying that unit as his/her primary residence, and the unit is owner-occupied during each rental period, meaning the owner continues to reside and sleep in a bedroom at the unit throughout the rental — absence attributable only to employment or typical personal/household errands (LVMC 6.75.020(C)). Therefore fully unhosted/non-owner-occupied whole-home rentals are not permitted for new licensees (a limited set of pre-July-2017 non-owner-occupied licenses could persist under grandfathering, with a 2-night minimum stay vs. 1-night for owner-occupied, per LVMC 6.75.090(K)). Bedroom cap: no more than three bedrooms including the owner's (LVMC 19.12.070 Conditional Use Reg #7; city one-page overview CD-10187-07-24). max_guests shown as 6 = two persons per bedroom excluding children under 12 applied to the 3-bedroom cap (LVMC 6.75.090(B)(1)); the code also fixes an absolute ceiling of 16 persons at any time (6.75.090(B)(3)) and the Uniform Housing Code limit (16.20), whichever is lowest. min_stay_exempt_days = 31 reflects that stays of 31+ consecutive days fall outside the STR definition entirely. Additional eligibility limits (LVMC 6.75.020(D)): no more than one license per residential unit; no person may hold 5+ STR licenses tied to the same Nevada business license; issuance barred if it would put >10% of units in a multifamily building into transient lodging; barred in apartment buildings entirely (6.75.020(E), 19.12.070 #9); barred in common-interest communities unless governing documents expressly authorize transient rental. Allowed zoning: primarily residential districts as a conditional use, plus P-O/O/C-1/C-2/C-PB only in the residential component of mixed-use/legal-nonconforming units. Weddings, parties, receptions and similar events are prohibited (LVMC 6.75.090(H)).

What you need to operate

RequirementAuthorityCostOfficial source
Short-Term Residential Rental business license (one per unit) City of Las Vegas, Department of Community Development - Business Licensing Division
Required before offering or operating an STR; where multiple dwelling units exist on one property each must be licensed individually (LVMC 6.75.020(A)). Only the owner occupying the unit as a primary residence is eligible (6.75.020(C)-(D)). $500 annual fee confirmed by the city's official Business Licensing one-page overview (CD-10187-07-24, rev. 07-24).
 $500 per year, per residential unit (paid in advance)
renewal: Annual
 source
Conditional Use Verification (CUV) - land use review + home inspection City of Las Vegas Planning Division & Code Enforcement
Must be obtained before the business license. Applicant submits a free CUV (justification letter, site plan, floor plan); Planning reviews location/zoning eligibility, then Code Enforcement conducts a home inspection verifying occupancy safety, bedroom count, and permits, after which Planning gives final approval. Conditional use standards (660 ft from other STRs, 2,500 ft from resort hotel, 3-bedroom max, owner-occupancy) are in LVMC 19.12.070.
 Free ($0) application source
Commercial general liability insurance City of Las Vegas (LVMC 6.75.040(H) & 6.75.090(J))
Proof of (or a commitment to provide) current, valid liability insurance of at least $500,000 is required with the application (LVMC 6.75.040(H)); operator must obtain and continuously maintain it and file a certificate of insurance (LVMC 6.75.090(J)).
 Minimum $500,000 coverage (premium varies)
renewal: Must be maintained continuously; certificate filed with the Department before operating and on request
 source
24-hour local contact / responsible person City of Las Vegas (LVMC 6.75.040(C) & 6.75.090(E))
A local 24-hour contact must be able to respond to complaints within two hours; contact info must be posted on a placard on the exterior of the unit. Units with more than five bedrooms must engage a licensed security company (NRS Ch. 648) as the complaint-response agent (LVMC 6.75.090(E)).
 Not verified source
HOA / common-interest community written authorization City of Las Vegas (LVMC 6.75.020(D)(5) & 6.75.040(F))
If the unit is in a common-interest community, a license is barred unless the community's governing documents expressly authorize transient rental; the applicant must provide documentation and bears the burden of demonstrating express authorization (LVMC 6.75.040(F)). City one-page overview also lists written HOA permission where applicable.
 Not verified source
Accommodations Facilitator (hosting platform) license City of Las Vegas (LVMC 6.75.122 & 6.75.124)
Applies to platforms such as Airbnb/Vrbo (mandated by 2021 AB363). A facilitator must be licensed before brokering STRs, must verify each listed STR holds a city business license, include the license number in listings, collect/remit room tax, and file quarterly reports (LVMC 6.75.122, 6.75.124 [$3,000 fee], 6.75.128, 6.75.130). Not a fee borne by individual hosts.
 $3,000 per year (paid in advance)
renewal: Annual
 source

Taxes on guests & hosts

TaxRateApplies toPlatform collectsOfficial source
Transient lodging (room) tax 13.00% outside the Primary Gaming Corridor; 13.38% inside the Primary Gaming Corridor Gross room revenue for the first 30 days of a guest's stay, including cleaning fees, service/booking fees, resort fees, pet fees and other mandatory charges (excludes the tax itself); stays of 31+ continuous days become a resident-guest exemption Yes source

Enforcement

PenaltiesOperating/making available an STR WITHOUT a license: civil fine of not less than $1,000 nor more than $10,000 per violation, set by severity, good faith, and violation history (LVMC 6.02.460(D)). Violation of Ch. 6.75 by a license holder (STR operator or accommodations facilitator): civil fine of $1,000 per single violation OR the nightly rental value, whichever is greater (LVMC 6.02.460(C)). A separate fine may be assessed for each day a violation continues (LVMC 6.02.460(E)). General misdemeanor penalty up to $1,000 and/or up to 6 months, each day a separate offense (Ord. 6585 sec. 20). The Director may suspend or revoke a license after a second or subsequent violation within any 24-month period (LVMC 6.75.110). Late room tax: 10% penalty plus 1.5% interest per month, plus loss of the 2% on-time collection discount, and possible tax lien/foreclosure (LVMC 4.20.100; RoomTaxPacket).
Platform liabilityHosting platforms ('accommodations facilitators') must hold a $3,000/yr city license (LVMC 6.75.122/124), must verify a listed STR has a city business license before facilitating it, include the license number in listings, collect and remit transient lodging tax monthly, and file quarterly reports (LVMC 6.75.128/130). The Department may issue subpoenas to facilitators for records relevant to suspected violations (LVMC 6.75.140). Facilitator violations of Ch. 6.75 are subject to the $1,000-or-nightly-value civil fine (LVMC 6.02.460(C)).
NotesComplaints run through a 24-hour hotline (702-229-3500). Prohibited on-site: outside noise audible 50 ft from source, obstructive parking, trash in public view, and events such as weddings/parties/bachelor(ette) gatherings. Per press/secondary reporting (discovery only, not an official cite), the City intensified proactive verification of the owner-occupancy requirement in 2024-2025 and revoked licenses where owners were found not to reside on-site.

What we could not verify (4)

  • Exact effective/adoption date of the AB363 conformance amendment (Bill 21-0576) was not independently confirmed against an official adopting ordinance number; the amendment text was verified from the city's official content packet PDF and its substantive provisions are corroborated by the city's current (rev. March 2026) Room Tax Packet and the current one-page overview, indicating it is in force.
  • max_guests is derived (2 persons/bedroom excluding children under 12, applied to the 3-bedroom cap = 6). The code's explicit numeric ceilings are the lowest of: 2/bedroom, Uniform Housing Code (LVMC 16.20) limits, or 16 persons absolute (LVMC 6.75.090(B)). A specific unit's max could be lower per UHC/inspection.
  • collectedByPlatform=true reflects that licensed accommodations facilitators (e.g., Airbnb) are required to collect and remit room tax (LVMC 6.75.128, 4.20.070); however, hosts remain responsible for their own business license and monthly room-tax report and must remit tax for any stays booked outside a licensed facilitator. Airbnb/Vrbo's current City-of-Las-Vegas-specific collection status was not verified on an official Airbnb/city page during this task.
  • 2024-2025 enhanced owner-occupancy enforcement and any 2025-2026 proposed City ordinance changes are based on secondary/news reporting only; no official City of Las Vegas pending-ordinance document was located, so pending_changes is left empty rather than citing non-official sources.

Sources

A markdown mirror of this page lives at /las-vegas-nv.md for AI tools and researchers.

STRWatch publishes educational information about short-term rental regulation, verified against the official sources linked above as of the date shown. It is not legal advice, and rules change — a city can move between our verification passes. For decisions with money at stake, confirm with the authority linked above or a local attorney.