DC Airbnb Laws: Licenses, 90-Night Limit & Taxes

Can an investment property operate as an Airbnb in DC?

Under DLCP’s current licensing instructions, a DC short-term or vacation rental must be a natural person’s primary residence, eligible for the Homestead Tax Deduction. A separate investment property or corporate-owned unit does not qualify through this route.

DC is one jurisdiction: do not substitute Fairfax County’s permit or Montgomery County’s night allowance for a District address. The current DC program distinguishes host-present rentals from owner-absent vacation rentals. A platform accepting your listing does not determine eligibility.

Source: DLCP current eligibility and license instructions.

1. Check title and residence: establish the legal owner and actual primary home before creating a business entity or signing a purchase contract.
2. Check private permission: obtain the condominium, co-op or association rules and any written authorization.
3. Choose the operating model: record when the host will be on the property and when guests will have it without the host.
4. Verify approval: complete the applicable license before accepting reservations that depend on it.

The 2026 expansion is a proposal, not a license

The mayor’s announcement introduces the Short-Term Rental Regulation Amendment Act of 2026 as a bill. It proposes renter hosting, a second owned property and a special-event license category. An announcement of proposed legislation is not an enacted operating right.

Source: DC government announcement of the proposed 2026 amendment.

The active DLCP licensing page still requires individual ownership and a primary residence. This guide follows that published route. Readers considering rental arbitrage or a nonresident investment should resolve the mismatch before paying deposits or promising dates.

The proposal page carries inconsistent page-update metadata, so this guide does not turn the search engine’s recent crawl label into the bill’s introduction date. The material distinction is its stated status as introduced legislation.

Choose hosted and vacation licenses deliberately

DLCP distinguishes host-present STR stays from host-absent vacation rentals. Individual stays are limited to 30 or fewer continuous nights. Vacation rentals have a cumulative 90-night calendar-year ceiling unless an exemption is approved.

The current fee is $99 for each two-year license. Applying for both therefore means $198 in license fees under that schedule. Older downloadable guidance quotes $104.50; use the current live schedule and confirm the charge at checkout.

Source: DLCP current STR and Vacation Rental fee schedule.

Source: DLCP category definitions and application instructions.

A two-year license does not create a two-year 180-night pool. Keep license expiry and each calendar year’s night count as separate records. Renewal eligibility and payment should be checked in the BOSS portal before expiry.

Work out the remaining vacation-rental nights

Count nights for the property across every platform and direct channel. A different listing account does not create a new annual allowance. Approved exemptions are a separate authorization, not a default extra block of nights.

An additional 30-night host-absent reservation exceeds that remaining budget by five nights. Do not accept it on the assumption that a platform will enforce the total. Review arrivals crossing December 31 night by night rather than assigning the entire booking to its reservation date.

At an assumed $200 per night, those 25 nights represent $5,000 of potential room charges only if all sell. This is not a demand estimate or profit: subtract cleaning, commissions, insurance, utilities and reserves, and keep guest taxes outside room revenue.

An exemption requires the documented reason and approval

DC Code permits an exemption for qualifying employer-required work outside DC, or travel for specified serious-health treatment or family care, exceeding 90 cumulative days in the calendar year. The statute sets documentation requirements and ties the authorized nights to the qualifying absence.

• Employment: obtain the required employer documentation; the code separately addresses self-employed hosts.
• Medical: use the prescribed health-provider documentation rather than sending sensitive records to guests or posting them in the listing.
• Approval: keep the exemption decision and permitted count with the calendar; applying is not approval.

Source: DC Code §30–201.06(f), exemption conditions and evidence.

Ask DLCP how to apply the particular decision to your proposed dates. Travel for a holiday alone is not one of the statutory reasons summarized here. Do not model a larger annual business until the exemption has actually been granted.

Prepare the unit and keep operating records

DC Code requires the license and a 24-hour emergency contact to be posted inside, working smoke and carbon monoxide detection, unobstructed exits, cleaning between guests, and two years of booking records. The license number must be supplied for display in the booking-service listing.

Source: DC Code §30–201.06(a)–(c).

DLCP also requires at least $250,000 of liability coverage and Clean Hands eligibility. Confirm coverage for the real operation, including direct bookings: platform-provided coverage should not be assumed to insure nights arranged elsewhere.

Source: DLCP insurance and application requirements.

Record approved occupancy and the lawful sleeping layout rather than adding beds to raise revenue. Maintain an operational file with the license, insurance, safety checks, emergency-contact changes and booking calendar. The printable night ledger avoids guest names; keep any required guest records securely in your business system.

DC lodging tax: identify the collector for every channel

OTR’s October 2025 tax notice extends the 15.95% transient-accommodations sales-tax rate through September 30, 2027. This is the lodging category, not the general sales-tax rate. Recheck later law before charging for a future period beyond that date.

The host remains responsible for applicable lodging taxes; DC Code allows a booking service to collect and remit on the host’s behalf. For platform stays, retain the statement identifying DC lodging tax and the taxable amount. For direct bookings, establish the OTR registration, collection and filing process before taking payment.

Source: DC Code §30–201.06(d), host tax duty and third-party remittance.

Do not remit an already collected amount twice, or treat a platform payout as tax-free revenue without checking its statement. Income and business-tax obligations are separate from this guest lodging-tax illustration.

Renewal, sale and the free night-budget worksheet

The license route depends on the individual host and primary residence. Before buying an operating rental, have DLCP determine your own eligibility and application requirements. A seller’s license, exemption or Homestead status does not establish the buyer’s right to host.

Print or save the free manual ledger. It separates completed and reserved host-absent nights, host-present stays, exemption evidence, two-year renewal and channel tax records. It calculates nothing automatically and stores no personal data.

For surrounding jurisdictions, compare Maryland’s local and safety requirements and Virginia’s local operating limits. The Washington city overview remains a separate existing route; this state-directory guide supplies the detailed operating worksheet.