Short-Term Rentals in Flathead County, Montana

Two rulebooks: city zoning versus Flathead County zoning

Where a property sits determines which agency regulates its short-term rental use. Inside Whitefish city limits, the City of Whitefish requires a Short-Term Rental Permit and business license for any dwelling rented for less than 30 days, with a completed application triggering a Fire Marshal inspection (repeated annually) before approval, plus proof of a State of Montana public accommodation license application for the property as a "tourist home." Rented units also cannot exceed the density allowed for dwelling units in the property's underlying zoning district. The city has increased enforcement noticeably since 2023 against unpermitted rentals -- don't assume an existing, long-running rental is automatically compliant.

Outside the incorporated cities, unincorporated Flathead County land is governed instead by the Flathead County Zoning Regulations (FCZR) or, in the Bigfork/Swan area, the separate Canyon Area Land Use Regulations (CALURS). Under the county code, operating a short-term rental in most zoned areas requires an administrative conditional use permit; in areas that carry no zoning designation at all, no Planning & Zoning permit is required. Flathead County Planning & Zoning publishes its own short-term rental brochure explaining the applicable process -- treat that document, not a generic national STR guide, as the starting reference for county (non-city) property.

A statewide tax change is phasing in for 2025-2026

Separately from local zoning and permitting, Montana is phasing in a new tiered property-tax structure that reclassifies second homes and short-term rentals under their own rate rather than the standard owner-occupied residential rate. Under the new system, by 2026 second homes and short-term rental properties are set to pay a flat 1.90% rate on their full assessed value -- a materially different tax bill than an owner-occupied primary residence. If you're underwriting a Flathead County property specifically for STR income, run the numbers using this new rate rather than an older, lower owner-occupied estimate, since it directly affects net yield.

HOAs can't simply ban short-term renting outright

If you're buying into a homeowners' association in Flathead County specifically to run a short-term rental, know that Montana Senate Bill 300 (2019) limits how far an HOA's covenants can go: an HOA generally cannot impose restrictions on a property owner's basic rights -- including the right to rent the property, for any length of time -- that are more onerous than what applied when that owner originally acquired the property. This doesn't override city or county permitting requirements, and older covenants recorded before 2019 may still carry grandfathered restrictions worth reading carefully, but it does mean a newly adopted, blanket HOA ban aimed at existing short-term-rental owners faces a real legal limit.