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STRWATCH.AI / AZ / Phoenix

Is a short-term rental legal in Phoenix, AZ?

REGULATED

Whole-home short-term rentals are legal citywide in Phoenix (state law, A.R.S.

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Verified2026-07-18against official sources

A.R.S. §9-500.39(A)-(B) preempts Phoenix from banning STRs or restricting them based on classification, use, or occupancy except as the statute specifically allows, so both hosted and unhosted whole-home STRs are legal citywide conditional on holding the City of Phoenix short-term rental permit (Ordinance G-7156, effective Nov. 6, 2023). No general owner-occupancy requirement applies. The sole primary-residence trigger is ADU-specific: if the STR is an accessory dwelling unit whose certificate of occupancy was issued on or after Sept. 14, 2024, the owner must notarize an attestation (plus proof of address) that they reside on the same property (A.R.S. §9-500.39(B)(9); Phoenix notice effective April 4, 2026). No numeric max-guest/occupancy cap was found in city or state law; A.R.S. §9-500.39(B) affirmatively bars occupancy-based restrictions outside the statute's own carve-outs. 'Vacation rental'/'short-term rental' covers stays of under 30 consecutive days; a lease of 31+ days is exempt (Ordinance G-6653 definitions; A.R.S. §42-5070 'transient' definition).

What you need to operate

Short-Term Rental Permit $250/year (initial and renewal, non-refundable)
City of Phoenix Planning and Development Department
Renewal: Annual — permit must be renewed every 12 months with applicable fee
Required under Ordinance G-7156 (City Code Ch. 10, Art. XVI, effective Nov. 6, 2023) before offering any property for rent; apply via the SHAPE PHX portal. City must issue or deny within 7 business days of a complete application (A.R.S. §9-500.39(C)). Application requires: owner name/address/phone/email, owner's-designee authorization if applicable, notarized Affidavit & Attestation (TPT license, Maricopa County Assessor registration, $500,000 liability insurance, criminal-background self-attestation, lawful-presence attestation), notarized Attestation of Compliance with the neighbor-notification requirement, and a description/map of required safety equipment (smoke detector, CO detector, fire extinguisher) plus pool-barrier code compliance. Denial grounds are limited to: incomplete required info, unpaid fee, an existing suspended permit on the property, false information, or the owner/designee being a registered sex offender or having a disqualifying felony within 5 years (A.R.S. §9-500.39(C)).
official source
Liability Insurance ($500,000 minimum) Cost not verified
City of Phoenix Planning and Development Department
Renewal: Must be maintained continuously for as long as the permit is active
Owner must maintain liability insurance with an aggregate of at least $500,000 covering the STR, or list exclusively through an online lodging marketplace that provides equal or greater coverage (A.R.S. §9-500.39(B)(8); confirmed on the notarized Affidavit & Attestation form referencing Ordinance G-7156).
official source
Notice of Intent to Operate STR (neighbor/HOA notification) Cost not verified
City of Phoenix Planning and Development Department
Renewal: Required once before first renting; a new notice is required if previously-provided contact information changes
Owner/designee must send, by certified mail, a Notice of Intent to Operate a Short-Term Rental to (1) all abutting single-family residential properties (next-door, across the street, and diagonally across the street; or, for a unit in a multifamily building, all units on the same floor), and (2) any registered HOA or neighborhood association within 600 feet, before first offering the property for rent, and file a notarized Attestation of Compliance with mailing receipts (Ordinance G-7156 Sec. 10-199(C); statutory basis A.R.S. §9-500.39(B)(6)).
official source
Transaction Privilege Tax (TPT) License Cost not verified
Arizona Department of Revenue
Renewal: Remains active until cancelled; seasonal-filing option available for properties not rented year-round
Required under A.R.S. §42-5005 before renting; is a precondition of the city STR permit. TPT/permit number must be displayed on every advertisement for the rental. A $0 TPT return must still be filed for any period with no rental activity.
official source
Maricopa County Assessor Rental Property Registration Cost not verified
Maricopa County Assessor's Office
Renewal: Update rental status whenever it changes
Owners of residential rental property, including STRs, must register/keep current with the county assessor under A.R.S. Title 33, Ch. 17, Art. 1 (§33-1902); confirmed as a Phoenix STR permit precondition on the official registry page and the notarized Affidavit & Attestation form.
official source

The full picture

Whole-home short-term rentals are legal citywide in Phoenix (state law, A.R.S. §9-500.39, bars cities from banning or capping them), but every STR needs its own city permit before it can be listed or rented. Phoenix replaced its 2020 registration system (Ordinance G-6653) with a permit regime under Ordinance G-7156, effective November 6, 2023: apply through the SHAPE PHX portal for a non-refundable $250 permit (initial and annual renewal), and the city must approve or deny within 7 business days. To qualify, an owner needs a valid Arizona TPT license, must register the property with the Maricopa County Assessor, must carry at least $500,000 in aggregate liability insurance (or list exclusively through a platform providing equal coverage), must notify all abutting neighbors and HOAs/neighborhood associations within 600 feet by certified mail before first renting, and must attest neither the owner nor designee is a registered sex offender or has a disqualifying violent/deadly-weapon felony within the past 5 years. There is no general primary-residence requirement, except that as of April 4, 2026 an owner renting out an accessory dwelling unit (ADU) whose certificate of occupancy was issued on or after September 14, 2024 must notarize an attestation that they live on the same property. Guests pay a combined Transaction Privilege Tax of roughly 13.07% on direct bookings (7.27% state/county Maricopa Transient Lodging + 5.80% city Hotel/Hotel-Motel-Additional, rates effective January 1, 2026) or roughly 11.52% on bookings made through an Airbnb/Vrbo-type online lodging marketplace (5.72% state/county + 5.80% city), which the marketplace collects and remits automatically. Verified violations escalate: minimum $500 (or one night's rent) first offense, $1,000 (two nights) second, $3,500 (three nights) third-plus within a 12-month period, and three violations in 12 months (or one qualifying felony) can suspend the permit for up to 12 months.

Taxes on guests & hosts

TaxRateApplies toPlatform collectsOfficial source
Transaction Privilege Tax (TPT) — direct bookings 13.07% combined (7.27% state/county [Maricopa] Transient Lodging, code 025 + 5.80% City of Phoenix [2.80% Hotels code 044 + 3.00% Hotel/Motel Additional Tax code 144]), effective January 1, 2026 Short-term lodging stays under 30 days booked directly with the owner/operator (not through an online lodging marketplace) No source
Transaction Privilege Tax (TPT) — online lodging marketplace bookings 11.52% combined (5.72% state/county [Maricopa] Online Lodging Marketplace, code 325 + 5.80% City of Phoenix [2.80% Hotels code 044 + 3.00% Hotel/Motel Additional Tax code 144]), effective January 1, 2026 Short-term lodging stays under 30 days booked through an online lodging marketplace (e.g. Airbnb, Vrbo) Yes source

Enforcement

PenaltiesCivil sanctions for a verified violation of the STR ordinance escalate within a rolling 12-month period per property: minimum $500 or one night's advertised rent (whichever is greater) for the first violation; minimum $1,000 or two nights' rent for the second; minimum $3,500 or three nights' rent for the third and any subsequent violation (Phoenix STR Registry page, 'Code Enforcement / Penalty Structure'; matches the state-law cap in A.R.S. §9-500.39(F)). The permit may be administratively suspended for up to 12 months if the property has 3 court-adjudicated verified violations within 12 months, or one conviction for a felony or other serious crime within one year (A.R.S. §9-500.39(D)). A vacation rental operated without a permit must cease operations, and the city may impose an additional civil penalty of up to $1,000/month for continued non-compliance after notice (A.R.S. §9-500.39(G)).
Platform liabilityUnder Ordinance G-6653 Sec. 10-195(F) (retained in substance under the current ordinance), an online lodging marketplace is not liable for a violation committed by an operator advertising on its platform, unless the property owner has designated that marketplace/operator on the permit and filed a signed agreement making the online lodging operator responsible for compliance, in which case the online lodging operator (not the owner) is liable for violations. Marketplaces (as 'online lodging marketplaces' under A.R.S. §42-5076) are responsible for collecting and remitting TPT on the bookings they facilitate.
NotesThe Neighborhood Services Department is the lead enforcement agency, investigating unpermitted STRs and verifying violations through the code-compliance process; complaints can be filed via phxatyourservice.dynamics365portals.us or emailed to [email protected]. STR program questions go to [email protected] / 602-534-9723.

What we could not verify (4)

  • The codified City Code text on phoenix.municipal.codes (the current official code portal for Phoenix, e.g. CC/10-194 through CC/10-200) returned HTTP 403 (Cloudflare bot-wall) on every fetch attempt, including via curl with a browser user-agent; no dated Wayback Machine capture exists for the current (post-G-7156) versions of these sections either (Wayback only had pre-2023 snapshots, which reflect the old registration regime and were not used). This profile instead relies on official phoenix.gov PDFs (the notarized Affidavit & Attestation and Attestation of Compliance forms, both of which quote Ordinance G-7156 section numbers directly) and the official Short-Term Rental Registry page. The exact full text of Sec. 10-197 through 10-200 as codified was not independently read.
  • Could not verify from an official source the exact response-time window for the required local emergency contact under the current Ordinance G-7156 (the 2020 ordinance, G-6653, specified 60 minutes; some vendor sources claim the current rule is 30 minutes, but this was not confirmed against an official document fetched this session).
  • Could not confirm from an official Phoenix source whether the STR ordinance requires a sex-offender background check on individual guests (as opposed to just the owner/designee). The only official document reviewed (the Affidavit & Attestation form) requires owner/designee self-attestation only. A.R.S. §9-500.39(E) contemplates cities requiring guest-level screening (waived if the booking platform performs it), so Phoenix may impose this separately in code text not accessible this session; flagging rather than asserting either way.
  • The signed/passed ordinance document for G-7156 itself (analogous to the G-6653 PDF found for the 2020 ordinance) could not be located at a stable phoenix.gov URL this session; its existence, section numbers, and effective date were corroborated via two independent official phoenix.gov PDFs that cite it plus the official registry page's own account of the September 2023 text amendment, but the ordinance's full passed text was not directly read.

Sources

A markdown mirror of this page lives at /phoenix-az.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.