STRWATCH.AI / UT / Moab

Is a short-term rental legal in Moab, UT?

MOST UNHOSTED RENTALS RESTRICTED

Moab bans the creation of new short-term/nightly rentals in essentially every zone: Moab Municipal Code 17.09.700 prohibits STR of dwellings in zones A-2, C-1, C-3, C-5, FW, I-1, R&D-1, R-2, R-3, R-4, RA-1, and every other zone where STR is not an explicitly listed permitted use.

See permits and requirements

Sources checked5 open items listed below

New whole-home nightly rentals cannot be created anywhere in the city; the only lawful whole-home operators are properties already recognized on the City's 'Established Overnight Accommodations Map' (grandfathered legal-conforming use in C-3/C-4/RC and similar zones — may renovate but not add units) per MMC 17.09.700 and 17.24.020/17.27.020. Hosted-style alternatives exist only through Ch. 17.70 (bed & breakfasts) and Ch. 17.71 (pre-existing guest apartments in R-3/R-4), which are narrow and largely legacy pathways — current openness to new entrants was not independently confirmed (see needs_review). Max occupancy 10 persons unless the Fire Chief approves a higher cap for sprinklered properties (MMC 5.67.100.D). Stays over 30 consecutive days fall outside the nightly-rental definition and are not subject to Ch. 5.67 licensing or the transient room tax.

Permits and requirements

Nightly Rental Business License $250 initial + $52/year renewal, per property
City of Moab (City Treasurer)
Renewal: Annual, due July 1 (MMC 5.67.040)
Required for any owner operating a nightly rental (MMC 5.67.020); license must be held in the property owner's name; up to 4 properties may be listed on one application but a separate fee is assessed per property. Only issuable where nightly rental is a permitted or established/grandfathered use in the underlying zone (MMC 5.67.100.A). Fee verified against Ordinance 2025-08 (Master Fee Schedule, passed June 24, 2025): https://www.moabcity.gov/DocumentCenter/View/5083/ORD-CC-2025-08. Chapter text verified via Wayback Machine capture of moab.municipal.codes/Code/5.67 dated 2023-11-10 (live site returns HTTP 403 to automated fetches) and cross-checked against the City's own hosted PDF of the chapter (2018 text, https://www.moabcity.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Item/377?fileID=586).
official source
Underlying Zoning Compliance / Established Overnight Accommodations status Cost not verified
City of Moab Planning & Zoning
Renewal: N/A (land-use status determination, not a recurring permit)
No nightly rental license may be granted unless the use is allowed in the underlying zoning district (MMC 5.67.100.A). MMC 17.09.700 prohibits STR of dwellings in A-2, C-1, C-3, C-5, FW, I-1, R&D-1, R-2, R-3, R-4, RA-1, and any other zone where STR is not a listed permitted use, except for B&Bs/guest apartments (Ch. 17.70/17.71) and adaptive-recreation qualifying-participant accommodations (MMC 17.06.020, 17.24.020(A), added by Ordinance 24-03, passed June 11, 2024). Verified via Wayback Machine capture of moab.municipal.codes/Code/17.09.700 dated 2026-01-06 (live site 403s automated fetches); Ordinance 24-03 text confirmed directly from https://www.moabcity.gov/DocumentCenter/View/4697/ORD-CC-2024-03.
official source
Pre-licensing Building/Fire/Health Inspection Cost not verified
City of Moab Building Inspector, Fire Chief, and Health Department
Renewal: As often as necessary for enforcement (MMC 5.67.030.C)
Plans and the property itself must be approved by the Building Inspector, Fire Chief, and Health Department before a nightly rental license issues. Each sleeping room must have smoke and CO detectors (MMC 5.67.100.E). Verified via Wayback Machine capture of moab.municipal.codes/Code/5.67 dated 2023-11-10.
official source
Water & Sewer Impact Fee (nightly rental dwellings) $1,566/unit (1 bedroom or smaller with kitchen) to $1,879/unit (2+ bedrooms with kitchen), one-time
City of Moab
Renewal: One-time, assessed per Chapter 13.25 at licensing/connection
MMC 5.67.100.G ties nightly-rental water/sewer impact fees to Chapter 13.25; current fee amounts confirmed in the Master Fee Schedule adopted by Ordinance 2025-08 (passed June 24, 2025).
official source

The full picture

Moab bans the creation of new short-term/nightly rentals in essentially every zone: Moab Municipal Code 17.09.700 prohibits STR of dwellings in zones A-2, C-1, C-3, C-5, FW, I-1, R&D-1, R-2, R-3, R-4, RA-1, and every other zone where STR is not an explicitly listed permitted use. The only whole-home operators who can legally operate are properties recognized as 'Established Overnight Accommodations' on the City's Established Overnight Accommodations Map (grandfathered legal-conforming uses in zones like C-3, C-4 and RC that may keep operating and renovate but may not add new units), plus narrow bed-and-breakfast (Ch. 17.70), existing R-3/R-4 guest-apartment (Ch. 17.71), and adaptive-recreation 'qualifying participant' (added by Ordinance 24-03, June 11, 2024) carve-outs. Any qualifying operator must still hold an annual Nightly Rental Business License under Chapter 5.67 ($250 initial / $52/year renewal per property as of Ordinance 2025-08, June 24, 2025, renewing every July 1), pass a building/fire/health inspection, cap occupancy at 10 guests (more with Fire Chief-approved sprinklers), and cap individual stays at 30 consecutive days. Operating without a license is a Class A misdemeanor, and operating in a zone where STR is prohibited carries a separate $750/day/infraction civil penalty. Guests pay a combined state/local sales tax of 9.35% plus a combined transient room tax of 7.07% (1.07% state + 4.50% Grand County + 1.50% Moab municipal), both current as of July 1, 2026.

Taxes on guests & hosts

TaxRateApplies toPlatform collectsOfficial source
Utah State Transient Room Tax 1.07% Lodging/nightly rental stays under 30 consecutive days Yes source
Grand County Transient Room Tax (county-wide) 4.50% Lodging/nightly rental stays under 30 consecutive days within Grand County, including the City of Moab Yes source
Moab Municipal Transient Room Tax 1.50% Lodging/nightly rental stays under 30 consecutive days within Moab city limits Yes source
Combined State & Local Sales and Use Tax (incl. Resort Community Tax) 9.35% Nightly rental charges (room charges/rentals for stays under 30 consecutive days) Yes source

Enforcement

PenaltiesOperating a nightly rental without a required business license is a Class A misdemeanor, with the fine imposed for each day the violation continues (MMC 5.67.090); the City may also pursue civil injunction and recover reasonable attorney fees and court costs. Separately, an illegal short-term rental in a zone where STR is prohibited (citing MMC 17.09.700) is subject to a $750/day/infraction penalty per the City's Master Fee Schedule (Ordinance 2025-08, https://www.moabcity.gov/DocumentCenter/View/5083/ORD-CC-2025-08). Operating a short-term rental prior to obtaining a business license is separately assessed 200% of the license fee.
Platform liabilityUtah's marketplace-facilitator sales tax rules (Utah State Tax Commission Pub 71, https://files.tax.utah.gov/tax/forms/pubs/pub-71.pdf) require facilitators like Airbnb and Vrbo to collect and remit Utah sales tax and all sales-related taxes, including transient room tax, on facilitated bookings once they exceed $100,000 in Utah sales in a year. No Moab-specific ordinance provision was found imposing liability on platforms for listings that lack a City nightly rental license or violate zoning.
NotesZoning enforcement (MMC 17.09.700, Title 17 generally) operates independently of and in addition to the Chapter 5.67 licensing scheme — a property can be in violation of zoning (and subject to the $750/day zoning penalty) even if the owner also lacks or holds a nightly rental license.

What we could not verify (5)

  • moab.municipal.codes (the City's official code portal, hosted by General Code/Code Publishing Company) returned HTTP 403 to every direct automated fetch attempt this session. All code-section text was instead verified via dated Wayback Machine captures of the exact official URLs (dates noted in each requirement's notes/sources), cross-checked where possible against directly-fetched official Moab ordinance PDFs. I could not independently confirm there have been no further amendments to Chapters 5.67 or 17.09.700 between the most recent Wayback captures (Jan 2026 for 17.09.700; Nov 2023 for 5.67) and the 2026-07-18 as-of date, though a Google-indexed snippet of the live site states the code is 'current through Ordinance 26-12, passed June 9, 2026' with no indication that ordinance touched nightly rentals or zoning Title 17.
  • The 2026 Ordinances list (moabcity.gov/713/2026-Ordinances) shows an Ordinance 2026-06 described only as a fee-schedule update; I could not access its text to confirm whether it changed the $250 initial / $52 renewal nightly rental license fee that I verified against Ordinance 2025-08 (June 24, 2025).
  • Third-party vendor guides claim Moab's nightly rental license application requires proof of insurance and a local contact; I could not verify an insurance requirement in the official code text I retrieved (MMC 5.67.030 references the general application items in MMC 5.04.030, which do not explicitly list insurance) — insurance was therefore omitted from requirements[] rather than guessed.
  • I could not fully enumerate which zones, if any, currently allow brand-new (non-grandfathered) nightly rental units to be created; I confirmed only that C-3, C-4, and RC zones permit 'Established Overnight Accommodations' as grandfathered legal-conforming uses (no new units), and did not exhaustively check every zone chapter in Title 17 for a possible zone that still permits new overnight accommodations by right.
  • Current real-world accessibility of the Ch. 17.70 (bed & breakfast) and Ch. 17.71 (guest apartment) pathways for a new host today was not independently verified — I confirmed only that these chapters exist and are cited as exceptions in MMC 17.09.700.

Sources

A markdown mirror of this page lives at /moab-ut.md for AI tools and researchers.

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