On Nov. 12, 2025, the Estes Park Board of Trustees approved Ordinance 18-25, which effects significant changes to the Municipal Code affecting short-term vacation homes and B&Bs. These changes, summarized below, took effect on Dec. 14, 2025.

Non-transferrable licensee must be a natural person and not an entity

One of the more significant changes requires all non-transferable vacation home and B&B licenses to name a natural person as the licensee, irrespective of the manner of property ownership. This is a departure from the normal requirement that a business license be held in the name of the business owner.

For clarity, even if a property is owned by an entity such as an LLC, trust, or corporation, the non-transferable license must be in the name of a natural person or up to two natural persons who have an ownership interest in the entity owning the property.

This change will be required no later than the 2027 renewal, which is due by Jan. 31, 2027, so existing license holders have one year to plan for this change.

Such non-transferable licenses include those issued after Oct. 18, 2021. Vacation home licenses issued prior to that date are considered transferable and are not affected by these changes. Consequently, such pre-October 2021 licenses can still be held in the name of an LLC or other entity, and they remain transferable.

Once a licensee is named, there is no provision to allow a change in the licensee to a successor licensee. However, if two licensees are named, one licensee can be removed by request, and the other licensee can continue.

Conversely, there is no prohibition on a change of property ownership, except that the licensee must maintain an ownership interest in the property. Thus, the non-transferability of such a license will now be essentially implemented by disallowing any change of the licensee, rather than disallowing a change in the ownership itself.

This change will provide an opportunity for limited transferability of a vacation home property to other family members, or even non-family members, as long as the licensee, who cannot be changed, maintains an ownership interest in the property.

If a property owner holds a non-transferrable license, EVSTRA suggests that owners:

  • Consider how they want to hold title to the property
  • Consider who they name as licensee and consider naming two licensees, at least one of whom is likely to survive for a time consistent with the owner’s desired license tenure, and
  • Consider making no such changes until much closer to the 2027 renewal deadline of January 31, 2027, in case there are any substantial changes to these new regulations.

Waiting List Lottery

The Town announced that the residential wait list for properties zoned for residential use, subject to the 322 cap, was cleared in 2025. The new regulations establish a lottery system for individuals interested in obtaining a residentially zoned vacation home license. Such a lottery will be held after the annual renewal process when there are 10 or fewer applications on the waitlist, and it will populate the waitlist up to a limit of 30 applications.

A non-refundable application fee of $200 is now required for all new vacation home applications. This fee will be applied to the eventual business license fee if the application process is completed and a license is issued.

If a property owner is interested in submitting a new vacation home application, it is important to monitor announcements from the Town regarding deadlines for the first lottery, which is expected to be conducted shortly after January 31, 2026.

The new regulations mention that a two-week notice will be afforded before any such deadline to apply for the lottery.

B&B Transition to Vacation Home

Another change provides an opportunity for a B&B to transition to a vacation home. There is a one-time opportunity, through the renewal period ending Jan. 31, 2026, however, for a B&B licensed on or before May 23, 2023, and continually licensed thereafter, to apply for a hosted vacation home license without being limited by the residential cap. B&Bs wishing to convert after that date would have to apply for the lottery to obtain a vacation home license.

Residency prohibition lifted

The new ordinance removes the requirement for the primary resident to be absent during a rental, thereby allowing a property to be either hosted or unhosted. This change enables property owners to use a portion of their home for short-term rentals while residing in the home.

However, the maximum occupancy of such a hosted vacation home, counting both primary residents and guests, is still limited to 2/bedroom + 2, as with an unhosted vacation home.

The workforce housing linkage fee, currently $1,500, is required for both unhosted and hosted.

Enforcement

It is now a clear violation to merely market or advertise an unlicensed property without actually renting it. The penalty for doing so can be as high as $2,650 per day that the unlicensed property is advertised.

The Town has not yet incorporated this Ordinance 18-25 into Chapter 5.20 of the Estes Park Municipal Code on its website. Click here to read the full text of the ordinance.

New Larimer County STR license renewal fee

Larimer County will implement a new $250 STR license renewal fee, beginning Jan. 1, 2026. This fee is required every two years on the original approval anniversary of your license and applies to all license types (STRs, Vacation Homes, Hosted STRs, and PELFs).

Property owners can pay by credit card, a 2.99% processing fee will be added, or by check made payable to ”Larimer County Planning.”

Since licenses renew every two years, some licenses will not need to be renewed until 2027 and will not incur this fee until then.

Click here for more information on the County’s STR license renewal fee.

Andrew Graham is an Estes Park homeowner and the president of the Estes Valley Short Term Rental Alliance.