Davis, WV Short-Term Rental Rules (2026)
Can I operate a short-term rental in Davis?
Short-term rentals are allowed in Davis. The town's three-year moratorium ended in 2024 and voters rejected the cap ordinance, but the town has shown continued interest in restrictions and new applicants may still face council involvement. Sourcing is 2024-dated.
Key facts
What the record says about short-term rentals in Davis, 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 Davis scores the way it does. Listed most important first.
What holds it back
- Permit or license (Yes) lowers the score.
- Lodging tax (12%) lowers the score.
Not yet known
- 1 more factor — free account
- 25 facts are not yet established, so the score leans on typical values.
Permit requirements
What you need to file or hold before hosting in Davis.
Permits & licensing
Operators register with the state tax division and obtain a town business licence and building permit. The town said waitlisted applicants had to come before council for approval after the moratorium ended.
- State business registration certificate
- Town of Davis business licence
- Building permit where applicable
New to this? How short-term rental permits and licensing work
Taxes
Lodging, occupancy and related taxes or fees.
Taxes & fees
State sales tax and a municipal hotel occupancy tax collected by the town apply to stays within town limits. Platforms above the statutory thresholds collect and remit the occupancy tax.
- Collect and remit state sales tax
- Collect and remit municipal hotel occupancy tax to the town
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 Davis through the deal analyzer for cash flow, cap rate, and long-term projections.
Sources
Last verified October 22, 2026 (19 days ago). Short-term rental rules can change between checks. Confirm current requirements with the jurisdiction before relying on this for a real decision.
- mountainstatespotlight.org
- wvpress.org
- tax.wv.gov › TSD/tsd435.pdf
- tax.wv.gov › Pages/HotelOccupancyTax.aspx
- wvlegislature.gov
- code.wvlegislature.gov › pdf/8-42
- code.wvlegislature.gov › email/8-42-1
- checkmaterentals.com
- parsonsadvocate.com
- code.wvlegislature.gov › pdf/7-18-4
- code.wvlegislature.gov › email/7-18
A free STRVE account shows which rule each source supports, plus the full jurisdiction-by-jurisdiction breakdown, change history, and rule-change alerts for Davis.
Short-term rental rules near Davis
All West Virginia 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