Billings, MT Short-Term Rental Rules (2026)
Can I operate a short-term rental in Billings?
Short-term rentals, both owner-occupied and unoccupied whole-home, are lawful across most residential and mixed-use zones in Billings with a city permit and business license, and a new buyer can apply fresh. Statewide, a failed 2025 preemption bill and a property tax reclassification are the main moving parts.
Key facts
What the record says about short-term rentals in Billings, with the level of law each comes from. What do these facts mean?
Can you operate?
Stay limits
Taxes
Why this score
The main reasons Billings scores the way it does. Listed most important first.
What holds it back
Not yet known
- 11 more factors — free account
- 21 facts are not yet established, so the score leans on typical values.
Operating restrictions
What limits how, where and how often you can rent in Billings.
Occupancy / night caps / zoning limits
Permits are limited to eligible zoning districts, with one permit per dwelling unit and a ceiling per property in residential districts and a share of units in larger buildings elsewhere. Occupancy is limited per bedroom, and units may be used for lodging only, with no events or meal service.
- Eligible residential, mixed-use and commercial districts
- Per-property permit limits
- Occupancy limited per bedroom
- No events or gatherings; no meal service
Enforcement / penalties
The city scans listing sites against permit records and sent courtesy letters in 2025 with a compliance window before code enforcement referral. Operating without the permit or licence can be cited as a municipal infraction with daily escalating civil penalties, and permits can be denied or revoked after a cure period.
- Municipal infraction citations with per-day penalties
- Cure notice before revocation
- Bar on reapplying after revocation or denial
New to this? Owner-occupied vs non-owner-occupied STRs, explained
Permit requirements
What you need to file or hold before hosting in Billings.
Permits & licensing
A Short Term Rental Permit from the Planning Division and a separate city business license are both obtained and renewed annually through the city's online portal. The permit is personal to the owner and does not pass to a buyer. Montana's public accommodation law adds a state license routed through the county sanitarian, whose application to single-room hosted rentals was not confirmed.
- City short-term rental permit, renewed annually
- City business license
- Local contact who is a person, reachable around the clock
- List of all advertisement URLs
- State public accommodation licence via county sanitarian
- Seller's permit with the state revenue department
New to this? How short-term rental permits and licensing work
Taxes
Lodging, occupancy and related taxes or fees.
Taxes & fees
Operators pay a city permit fee and a business licence fee annually, plus the state lodging taxes, which major platforms remit on their bookings. Billings has no additional local resort tax. From the 2026 tax year, short-term rentals fall in the higher non-homestead property tax class.
- City permit and business licence fees (confirm current amount with the city)
- State lodging taxes with seller's permit and quarterly returns
- Higher property tax class for short-term rentals from 2026
New to this? Short-term rental lodging taxes, explained
Recent changes
The dated change history is part of the free account. Email alerts above need no account.
Market assumptions
Estimates, not lawRevenue, occupancy and returns depend on the specific property and are estimates, separate from the rules above.
Run any property in Billings through the deal analyzer for cash flow, cap rate, and long-term projections.
Sources
Last verified October 18, 2026 (23 days ago). Short-term rental rules can change between checks. Confirm current requirements with the jurisdiction before relying on this for a real decision.
- bnbcalc.com › …t-term-rental-regulation/Billings-Montana-guide
- kulr8.com
- bnbcalc.com › short-term-rental-regulation/montana-guide
- avalara.com
- mca.legmt.gov
- rentresponsibly.org
- billingsmt.gov › Item/2684
- ktvq.com
- billingsmt.gov › 755/Zoning-Information
- public.destinyhosted.com
- revenue.mt.gov
- yellowstonecountymt.gov
A free STRVE account shows which rule each source supports, plus the full jurisdiction-by-jurisdiction breakdown, change history, and rule-change alerts for Billings.
Short-term rental rules near Billings
All Montana cities →How we research this
The STRVE Score is our own regulation rating, built from seven levels of authority: state, county, town, HOA, deed restrictions, special districts, and platform rules. Each level is scored separately, with its own citations and the date we verified it. The headline number is the strictest of the seven, never an average, because the tightest rule is the one that governs you.
We keep a history of what a city's rules said before and when they changed, so a score that moves is traceable to the rule that moved it.
- Highly permissive
- 90+
- Friendly
- 70–89
- Moderate
- 45–69
- Heavily restricted
- 20–44
- Effectively banned
- 0–19
Not legal advice
STRVE is a research tool, not financial or legal advice. Always verify regulation, tax, and permitting details with the local jurisdiction and a licensed professional before you buy.
The STRVE Score and the seven-level breakdown are our own rating framework, not an official or government rating, and no jurisdiction endorses or reviews them. The rules behind them are researched from public sources with AI assistance and are current only as of the verification date shown, so they can be incomplete, outdated, or wrong. None of it substitutes for advice from local counsel. Confirm every permit, tax, occupancy, and zoning requirement against the jurisdiction's own municipal code and with an attorney licensed in that jurisdiction before you buy, list, or operate. Terms of Service